Chap. 23.] THE MENSTRUAL DISCHARGE. 305 



tharides being found to breed there, it is the practice for 

 women to walk through the middle of the fields with their 

 garments tucked up above the thighs.^^ In other places, again, 

 it is the usage for women to go barefoot, with the hair 

 dishevelled and the girdle loose : due precaution must be taken, 

 however, that this is not done at sun-rise, for if so, the crop 

 will wither and dry up. Young vines, too, it is said, are in- 

 jured irremediably by the touch of a woman in this state ; and 

 both rue and ivy, plants possessed of highly medicinal virtues, 

 will die instantly upon being touched by her. 



Much as I have already stated on the virulent effects of this 

 discharge, I have to state, in addition, that bees, it is a well- 

 known fact, will forsake their hives if touched by a menstruous 

 woman ; that linen boiling in the cauldron will turn black, that 

 the edge of a razor will become blunted, and that copper ves- 

 sels will contract a fetid smell and become covered with verdi- 

 grease, on coming in contact with her. A mare big with foal, 

 if touched by a woman in this state, will be sure to miscarry ; 

 nay, even more than this, at the very sight of a woman, 

 though seen at a distance even, should she happen to be 

 menstruating for the first time after the loss of her virginity, 

 or for the first time, while in a state of virginity. The bitu- 

 men" that is found in Judaea, will yield to nothing but the 

 menstrual discharge ; its tenacity being overcome, as already 

 stated, by the agency of a thread from a garment which has 

 been brought in contact with this fluid. Fire itself even, an 

 element which triumphs over every other substance, is unable 

 to conquer this ; for if reduced to ashes and then sprinkled 

 upon garments when about to be scoured, it will change their 

 purple tint, and tarnish the brightness of the colours. Indeed 

 so pernicious are its properties, that women themselves, the 

 source fi*om which it is derived, are far from being proof against 

 its effects ; a pregnant woman, for instance, if touched with 

 it, or indeed if she so much as steps over it, will be liable to 

 miscarry. 



Lais and Elephantis^ have given statements quite at va- 

 riance, on the subject of abortives ; they mention the efficacy 



^' Columella describes this practice in verse, in E. x., and in B. xi. c. 3* 

 iElian also mentions it. 

 2' See B. vii. c. 13. Tacitus tells the same wonderful story. 

 ^^ See the end of this Book. 

 VOL. V. X 



