[250] Persius, Sat. II. 15.,
Haec sancte ut poscas, Tiberino in gurgite mergis
Mane caput bis terque et noctem flumine purgas.
(That you may make this request free from taint, you plunge your head in Tiber’s flood twice and three times at dawn, and purge away your night in the stream). Gregory the Great, Answers to ten Questions of Augustine, first English Bishop: Vir cum propria uxore dormiens, intrare ecclesiam, non debet, sed neque lotus intrare statim debet.... Et quamvis de hac re diversae hominum nationes diversa sentiant, atque custodire videantur, Romanorum tamen semper atque ab antiquioribus usus fuit, post ad mixtionem propriae coniugis et lavacrii purificationem ab ingressu ecclesiae paullatim reverenter abstinere. (A man sleeping with his own wife, ought not to enter a church, and not even when washed ought he to enter immediately after.... And although on this matter different nations of mankind hold different opinions and appear to keep different customs, yet the Romans’practice always and from the most ancient times has ever been, that subsequently to intercourse with his lawful wife and the purification of the bath a man reverently abstain for a while from entering a church). For the same reason Tibullus says, Carmina bk. II. 1.,
Vos quoque abesse procul jubeo discedite ab aris,
Queis tulit hesterna gaudia nocte, Venus.
(You too I bid stand afar off, depart ye from the altars, to whom yesternight Venus brought her joys). Comp. Ovid, Amor., bk. III. eleg. 6.
[251] Ovid, Amor., bk. III. eleg. 7. 84.
Neve suae possent intactam scire ministrae,
Dedecus hoc sumta dissimulavit aqua.