It is said these holy persons
were in some places so venerated that people came on their knees,
and bowing below the ring, asked forgiveness--possibly for sexual
excesses.
Rhodius mentions the usage of infibulation in antiquity, and
Fabricius d'Aquapendente remarks that infibulation was usually
practiced in females for the preservation of chastity. No Roman
maiden was able to preserve her virginity during participation in
the celebrations in the Temples of Venus, the debauches of Venus
and Mars, etc., wherein vice was authorized by divine injunction;
for this reason the lips of the vagina were closed by rings of
iron, copper, or silver, so joined as to hinder coitus, but not
prevent evacuation. Different sized rings were used for those of
different ages. Although this device provided against the coitus,
the maiden was not free from the assaults of the Lesbians. During
the Middle Ages, in place of infibulation, chastity-girdles were
used, and in the Italian girdles, such as the one exhibited in
the Musee Cluny in Paris, both the anus and vulva were protected
by a steel covering perforated for the evacuations. In the
Orient, particularly in India and Persia, according to old
travelers, the labia were sewed together, allowing but a small
opening for excretions.
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