Note 253 — SECOND SECTION. Influences which served to hinder to a greater or less degree the inception of Diseases consequent upon the Use or Misuse of the Genital Organs.

Columella, De re rust. bk. XII. ch. 4., His autem omnibus placuit, eum, qui rerum harum officium susceperit, castum esse continentemque oportere, quoniam totum in eo sit, ne contractentur pocula vel cibi, nisi aut ab impubi aut certe abstinentissmo rebus venereis. Quibus si fuerit operatus vel vir vel femina, debere eos flumine aut perenni aqua, priusquam penora contingant, ablui. (But all were agreed upon this, that he who should undertake the performance of these duties ought to be chaste and continent, since all depends on his care that drink and food be not defiled, unless indeed they are prepared by one still immature or at any rate one extremely self-restrained in the matter of love. But if it has been indulged in by man or woman, they ought to be cleansed in the river or in flowing water, before they touch the victuals). From what precedes the words quoted, it may be conjectured that this custom prevailed also among the Carthaginians and Greeks.