[104] Oribasius, De morb. curat., edit. Eunap. bk. III. ch. 59., in Steph. collect. p. 637., Ergo quibus nihil affertur auxilii ab iis medicamentis quae mediocriter siccant et exacerbantur ab iis quae siccant vehementer, eas λειχῆνας ἄγριους vocant. (Accordingly such lichens as are in no way benefited by remedies that are moderate siccatives, and are aggravated by those that are violent ones, these they call λειχῆνας ἀγρίους (malignant lichens)).
[105] Jöhrens, in his Dissertation already cited speaks thus on the subject (p. 47): “De feminis, cum suavia maritorum evitare nequiverint, quomodo ab ista infectione liberae evaserint, maius restat dubium: nos opinamur, cum viri barbam saepius radi soliti fuerint, ea propter patentibus a novacula poris virulentum illud fermentum aut incentivum toxicum facilis sese insinuare et characterem suum imprimere; imberbes contra feminas, glabritie cutis resistente porisque minus patulis, sospitari potuisse.” (In the case of women, when they have been unable to avoid the caresses of husbands, it remains very doubtful how they have got off free from this infection. Our own opinion is that as men have always been accustomed to have the beard shaved frequently, for this reason the pores being opened more widely by the action of the razor, that virulent ferment and active poison creeps in more easily and produces its characteristic effect. On the other hand women being beardless, the baldness of the skin offering an obstacle and the pores being less open, have been able to escape).
[106] However this did happen in isolated cases, as is shown by the example of Philaenis, who indeed was a Tribad properly, in Martial, bk. VII. Epigr. 67.,
Post haec omnia cum libidinatur,
Non fellat, putat hoc parum virile.
Sed plane medias vorat puellas.
Di mentem tibi dent tuam, Philaeni,
Cunnum lingere quae putas virile.
(After all these indulgences when she still feels lustful, she does not fellate, this she deems unmanly; she just mouths girls’middles. The gods give you your desire, Philaenis, you who think it a manly vice to act the cunnilingue). Comp. bk. IV. Epigr. 41. But it was always a very exceptional thing to find this vice practised among women; in fact Juvenal, Sat. II. 47-49., denies it altogether:
Non erit ullum