[p. 38]
PART 21
It is impossible that persons of such a constitution could be prolific,
for, with the man, the sexual desires are not strong, owing to the
laxity of his constitution, the softness and coldness of his belly,
from all which causes it is little likely that a man should be given
to venery; and besides, from being jaded by exercise on horseback,
the men become weak in their desires. On the part of the men these
are the causes; but on that of the women, they are embonpoint and
humidity; for the womb cannot take in the semen, nor is the menstrual
discharge such as it should be, but scanty and at too long intervals;
and the mouth of the womb is shut up by fat and does not admit the
semen; and, moreover, they themselves are indolent and fat, and their
bellies cold and soft. From these causes the Scythian race is not
prolific. Their female servants furnish a strong proof of this; for
they no sooner have connection with a man than they prove with child,
owing to their active course of life and the slenderness of body.
PART 22
And, in addition to these, there are many eunuchs among the Scythians,
who perform female work, and speak like women. Such persons are called
effeminates. The inhabitants of the country attribute the cause of
their impotence to a god, and venerate and worship such persons, every
one dreading that the like might befall himself; but to me it appears
that such affections are just as much divine as all others are, and
that no one disease is either more divine or more human than another,
but that all are alike divine, for that each has its own nature, and
that no one arises without a natural cause. But I will explain how
I think that the affection takes its rise. From continued exercise
on horseback they are seized with chronic defluxions in their joints
owing to their legs always hanging down below their horses; they afterwards
become lame and stiff at the hip-joint, such of them, at least, as
are severely attacked with it. They treat themselves in this way:
when the disease is commencing, they open the vein behind either ear,
and when the blood flows, sleep, from feebleness, seizes them, and
afterwards they awaken, some in good health and others not. To me
it appears that the semen is altered by this treatment, for there
are veins behind the ears which, if cut, induce impotence; now, these
veins would appear