[41] Menstruation was under the protection of the goddess Mena (Augustine, De Civ. Dei, bk. XI. 11. VII. 2.; but Myllita was the Moon!
[42] Therefore in the case of the Lydians the women themselves selected their Strangers. Strabo, bk. XI. p. 533., δέχονται δὲ οὐ τοὺς τυχόντας τῶν ξένων, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα τοὺς ἀπὸ ἴσου ἀξιώματος. (but they receive not just the first-comers amongst the strangers, but by preference those of an equal position).
[43] So even in the Middle Ages, e. g. at Venice, it was quite usual for the daughters to earn their dowry by selling their bodies, and there, as in France, it was the mothers who acted as procuresses to their daughters with this object. Stephanus, “Apologie d’Herodote”, Vol. I. pp. 46-49. Fr. Jacobs, loco citato, p. 40.
[44] Memorari quoque solent causae physicae, seu marium seu feminarum corporis infirmitatis, quibus floris virginei decerpendi molestia aggravatur. (Certain physical reasons also are mentioned, connected with bodily defects whether of the man or the woman, which aggravate the difficulty of deflowering a virgin), Heyne, loco citato, p. 39. When these partly dietetic and prophylactic relations of the practice disappeared from the memory of the people, the Priapus kept only its fecundating qualities, and accordingly we read in Augustine, De Civitate Dei, bk. VI. ch. 9., Sed quid hoc dicam, cum ibi sit et Priapus nimius masculus, super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere nova nupta jubeatur more honestissimo et religiossimo matronarum? (But why tell of this, though Priapus is there, with the exaggerated penis of a man, on whose huge and foul organ the newly-wed bride is told to sit, following the custom held highly honourable and religious of matrons?) Comp. Lactantius, I. 20.—Tertullian, Adnot. II. 11. The same is related by Arnobius, bk. VI. ch. 7., of the similar god Mutuus: Etiamne Mutuus, cuius immanibus pudendis, horrentique fascino, vestras inequitare matronas, et auspicabile ducitis et optatis. (Mutuus too, on whose huge pudenda, and horrid organ you think it auspicious and desirable for your matrons to ride).
[45] Linschotten, “Orientalische Schiffahrt,” (Oriental Voyage), Pt. I. ch. 33.
[46] Orpheus, Argonaut. 422.—Lucian, De Saltat. ch. 27., Dialog. Deorum, 2.
[47] Strabo, XI. p. 495.
[48] Herodotus, bk. I. ch. 105., καὶ γὰρ τὸ ἐν Κύπρῳ ἱρὸν ἐνθεῦτεν ἐγένετο, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι Κύπριοι· καὶ τὸ ἐν Κυθήροισι Φοίνικές εἰσι οἱ ἱδρυσάμενοι, ἐκ ταύτης τῆς Συρίης ἐόντες, (for the Temple in Cyprus was built from it,—i.e. in imitation of the temple of Venus at Ascalon, as the Cyprians themselves admit; and that in Cythera was erected by the Phoenicians, who belong to this part of Syria.). Clemens Alexandrinus, Ad Gentes, p. 10., speaks of Cinyras as having been the man who introduced the temple-service in Cyprus. Comp. Jul. Firmicus, De Error. profan. relig. p. 22. Arnobius, Ad Gentes, bk. V., (for the Temple in Cyprus was built from it,—i.e. in imitation of the temple of Venus at Ascalon, as the Cyprians themselves admit; and that in Cythera was erected by the Phoenicians, who belong to this part of Syria.). Clemens Alexandrinus, Ad Gentes, p. 10., speaks of Cinyras as having been the man who introduced the temple-service in Cyprus. Comp. Jul. Firmicus, De Error. profan. relig. p. 22. Arnobius, Ad Gentes, bk. V.
[49] Ποντία, Λιμενιάς (of the Sea, of Harbours), at Hermioné, Pausanias, Attica ch. 34. Mitscherlich, on Horace, Odes bk. I. 3. 1. Also the epithet εὔπλοια (of fair Winds), Pausanias, Attica I. 3., should be mentioned here. Musaeus, Hero and Leander 245. Horace, Odes III. 26. 3. “Venus Marina”, (Venus of the Sea).
[50] Pausanias, bk. III. 23., VI. 25., VIII. 32., IX. 16.—Plato, Sympos.—Xenophon, Sympos. ch. 8.