Venter mollis et femur _tumentibus_ Exile _suris_ additum.—Fascinum Quod ut superbo provoces ab inguine Ore allaborandum est tibi.
(Flabby belly and skinny thigh joined with swollen calves,—A tool, that requires you, in order to call it up from the supercilious groin, to work it with the mouth). _Casaubon_ in his commentary on the passage of _Persius_ is for connecting this, as well as the _Tumores Syrii_, with ἕλκεα Συριακὰ (Syrian sores), and—as quoted on p. 253 above—to regard them as a consequence of the wrath of the _Dea Syria_ (Syrian goddess). No doubt as a matter of fact the _tumores_ were a result of debauchery, one that was prevalent in Syria and was disseminated thence to Rome, for they attacked a _cunnilingue_ no less than other debauchees; but this brings us no nearer to a knowledge of their nature. We should perhaps be inclined to regard them as swellings of the tonsils or of the lympathic glands of the throat, having the same significance as the inguinal buboes in affections of the genitals.
But what are the _Berecynthii furores_ (Berecynthian frenzies)? Possibly nocturnal pains in the bones, that torment a patient to the pitch of frenzy? The metaphor, drawn from the nocturnal rites of Cybelé, must be admitted to be a happy one. Still, however acceptable conjectures of the sort may be to many, we cannot take them seriously. It appears to us most judicious to regard the _Syrii tumores_ as being ulcerations that covered the body of Coracinus, and by their violent itching reduced him to a state of frenzy. Our view as stated is confirmed by Epigram 108. of _Ausonius_:
Thermarum in solio si quis Polygitona vidit Ulcera membrorum scabie putrefacta foventem, Praeposuit cunctis spectacula talia ludis. Principio tremulis gannitibus aëra pulsat, Verbaque lascivos meretricum imitantia coetus Vibrat et obscoenae numeros pruriginis implet. _Brachia deinde rotat velut enthea daemone Maenas,_ Pectus, crura, latus, ventrem, femora, _inguina_, _suras_, Tergum, colla, humeros luteae Symplegadis antrum. Tam diversa locis vaga carnificina pererrat, Donec marcentem calidi fervore lavacri Blandus letali solvat dulcedine morbus. Desectos sic fama viros, ubi cassa libido Femineos coetus et non sua bella lacessit, Irrita vexato consumere gaudia lecto: Titillata brevi quum iam sub fine voluptas Fervet et ingesto peragit ludibria morsu. Turpia non aliter Polygiton membra resolvit, Et quia debentur suprema piacula vitae, Ad Phlegethonteas sese iam praeparat undas.