Note 157 — Second Part. (continued 2)

Palladius, Lausiaca historia, ch. 39. in Magna Bibliotheca Patrum (Great Library of the Fathers), Vol. XIII., Paris 1644. fol., p. 950.: Οὕτως δὲ γαστριμαργῶν καὶ οἰνοφλυγῶν ἐνέπεσεν καὶ εἰς τὸν βόρβυρον τῆς γυναικείης ἐπιθυμίας· καὶ ὡς ἐσκέπτετο ἁμαρτῆσαι μιμάδι τινὶ προσομιλῶν συνεχῶς τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο· τούτων οὕτως ὑπ’αὐτοῦ διαπραττομένων γέγονεν αὐτῷ κατά τινα οἰκονομίαν ἄνθραξ κατὰ τῆς βαλάνου· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνόσησεν ἑξαμηνιαῖον χρόνον, ὡς κατασαπῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ μορία καὶ αὐτομάτως ἀποπεσεῖν· ὕστερον δὲ ὑγιάνας καὶ ἐπανελθών ἄνευ τούτων τῶν μελῶν, καὶ εἰς φρόνημα θεϊκὸν ἐλθὼν καὶ εἰς μνήμην τῆς οὐρανίου πολιτείας, καὶ ἐξομολογησάμενος πάντα τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν, ἐνεργῆσαι μὴ φθάσας ἐκοιμήθη μετὰ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας. (for translation see text above). For κατὰ τινὰ οἰκονομίαν (by a certain providence) we ought probably to read κατὰ θινὰν or θείαν οἰκονομίαν, a collocation of words constantly found in Palladius, and occurring in this very chapter a few lines before, in the sense of “by Divine providence”. On the other hand the words τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος ἑαυτοῦ διελέγετο are to us absolutely unintelligible. Helvetius translates the passage: Incidit in coenum femineae cupiditatis et cum peccare constituisset cum quadam mima assidue colloquutus, ulcus suum aperuit, (He fell into the mire of lust after women, and having set his mind on sinning, constantly conversing with a certain actress, he opened his sore. Indeed the γυναικείη ἐπιθυμία (womanly lust) itself is ambiguous, as strictly speaking it points to something unmanly, and if we compare with it the γυναικεία νοῦσος (womanly disease) of Dio Chrysostom (p. 209.), our thoughts cannot but turn to the vice of the pathic,—which however Hero could not very well practise with an actress, and to which he could hardly owe an anthrax on the glans penis. But ch. 35. shows us plainly enough that Palladius in using the phrase means lust, indulgence with women, accomplishing coition. It is related in that chapter of the Abbot Elias, how he had founded a nunnery, and was thereupon assailed by violent desire to abuse the nuns; wherefore he prayed, ἀπόκτεινόν με, ἵνα μὴ ἴδω αὐτὰς θλιβομένας. ἢ τὸ πάθος μου λάβε, ἵνα αὐτῶν φροντίζω κατὰ λόγον. (Kill me, that I may not see them troubled, or else take away my passion, that I may look upon them with reason and moderation). Thereafter he fell asleep and dreamed the angels had castrated him, and on waking found indeed that he still possessed his genitals, but he declared, ὅτι οὐκέτι ἀνέβη εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου πάθος γυναικὸς ἐπιθυμίας. (there no more entered into my heart the passion of lust after women). But now what does τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος mean? Guided by the general sense, we might take it as meaning the genital organs, though we have searched in vain for analogous passages. But in that case it could be made to apply only to the female genitals or to the rectum, because these only exhibit a breach of continuity (ἕλκος,—a wound); or else we should have to suppose the seed to be looked upon in a sort of way as matter discharged, and the male genitals, which secrete it, therefore called ἕλκος (a wound), for otherwise the ἑαυτοῦ (his own) cannot be got in. No less uncertain is the meaning of διελέγετο; “to converse” cannot possibly be taken as the sense here. Suidas and Hesychius explain διαλέγεσθαι by συνουσιάζειν (to associate with). Pollux, Onomast. V. 93. περὶ μίξεως ζώων (On the intercourse of Animals) says, διαλεχθῆναι.—οὐδ’ ἡ διάλεξις, ἀλλὰ διειλέχθην αὐτῇ καὶ διειλεγμένος εἰμὶ ὡς Ὑπερίδης. II. 125. Ὑπερίδης δὲ διειλεγμένος, ἐπ’ἀφροδισίων. Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ διαλέξασθαι ἔφη. (διελεχθῆναι,—not ordinary conversation, but it means “I had converse with her”, or “I am conversant”, as says Hyperides, II. 125. Now Hyperides says “conversant with”, speaking of love intercourse; and Aristophanes “to have converse with”). Comp. Küster and Brunck on Aristophanes’ Plut. 1083. Moeris p. 131. Abresch, lect. Aristaenet. p. 50. But the meaning of accomplishing coition is implied already in προσομιλῶν (associating with), so that διαλέγεσθαι must here indicate some other more special circumstance. The Scholiast of Aristophanes on Lys. 720 interprets διαλέγουσιν by διορύττουσιν (bore through), penetrate); accordingly we must take διαλέγεσθαι as deponent, in which case we should have to read τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος αὐτῆς διελέγετο (he penetrated her private parts), and make the τὰ πρὸς ἕλκος refer to the actress and her hymen (or fibula?), just as in the passage cited from Josephus on p. 315. the expression περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον (about the privates) signifies the foreskin. If we would keep ἑαυτοῦ (his own), then we must take διαλέγομαι in the sense of καθαίρειν (to purify) (Hesychius says διαλέγειν, ἀνακαθαίρειν,—to purify), and put in an οὐκ (not),—i.e. he did not purify his genitals. If we keep to the meaning of separation, division, we might understand the sentence as saying that Hero tore apart his foreskin; though really ἕλκος could scarcely be applied with any propriety to the male genitals at all. For its being used of the female genitals on the other hand a good analogy is offered by ἐσχάρα (a scab), which occurs in Aristophanes, Knights 1286. and often elsewhere. Eustathius, on Odyss. p. 1523., says: δῆλον δ’ὅτι ἐσχάραν καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐκάλουν μόριον. (Now it is evident they used to call the female part ἐσχάρα). However in this case the learned reader must be left to decide for himself.]