Note 5 — AUTHORITIES.

Celsus, De re medica Bk. VI. ch. 18., “Proxima sunt ea, quae ad partes obscoenas pertinent, quarum apud Graecos vocabula et tolerabilius se habent et accepta iam usu sunt, cum omni fere medicorum volumine atque sermone iactentur, apud nos foediora verba, ne consuetudine quidem aliqua verecundius loquentium commendata sunt.”

(Next are particulars relating to the unmentionable parts; the name of these among the Greeks are less objectionable and are now accepted by usage, as they are freely employed by physicians both in books and speech, whereas with ourselves the words are coarse, not approved by any customary use on the part of those who speak with any regard to modesty.) How strictly the words, especially in the case of the poets, were scrutinised in this respect even in later times still, is shown by the passage in Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. Bk. X. ch. 10.; and in Petronius, Satir. 132, Polyaenus says: Ne nominare quidem te (scil. penem) inter res serias fas est. Poenitentiam agere sermonis mei coepi, secretoque rubore perfundi, quod oblitus verecundiae meae cum ea parte corporis verba contulerim, quam ne ad cogitationem quidem admittere severioris notae homines solent.”

(It is forbidden even to mention thee (viz. the penis) in serious discourse. I have begun to do penance for my words and to feel the glow of a secret blush, because forgetful of my modesty I expressed in words that part of the body, which men of the stricter type refuse to admit even into their thoughts.) So the collector of Priapeia appeals to the reader: Conveniens Latio pone supercilium! (Lay aside the disapproving frown that befits Latium); and later on people used to say of such talk, they wished to speak plain Latin, just as we say, speak plain English; while the Greek would excuse himself by his ἄγροικος καὶ ἄμουσός εἰμι, (I am but am unpolished rustic).