[p. 131]
among the Scythians for such a reason as I have
stated, and other men too are equally liable to it, for
wherever men ride very much and very frequently,
there the majority are attacked by swellings at the
joints, sciatica and gout, and are sexually very weak.
These complaints come upon the Scythians, and they
are the most impotent of men, for the reasons I have
given, and also because they always wear trousers
and spend most of their time on their horses, so that
they do not handle the parts, but owing to cold and
fatigue forget about sexual passion, losing their
virility before any impulse is felt.
PART 23
XXIII. Such is the condition of the Scythians.
The other people of Europe differ from one another
both in stature and in shape, because of the changes
of the seasons, which are violent and frequent,
while there are severe heat waves, severe winters,
copious rains and then long droughts, and winds,
causing many changes of various kinds. Wherefore
it is natural to realize that generation too varies
in the coagulation of the seed,
|
I. e. "in the formation of the foetus." |
and is not the same
for the same seed in summer as in winter nor in
rain as in drought. It is for this reason, I think, that
the physique of Europeans varies more than that of
Asiatics, and that their stature differs very widely in
each city. For there arise more corruptions in the
coagulation of the seed when the changes of the seasons
