Section 459

Eunuch (jLm'oi'xoQ) has, in its literal (Greek) sense, the harmless meaning of "bed-keeper," i. e. one who lias the charge of beds and bed-chambers ; but as onh' persons deprived of their virility have, from the most ancient times, been employed in Oriental harems, and a.s such persons are employed almost exclusiveh' in this kind of service, the word "bed-keeper" became synonymous with " castratus." Castration, according to Josephus (^Ant. iv, 8, 40), was not practised by the Jews upon either men or animals (see Beast) ; yet the custom is frequently referred to in the Bible by tiie Hebrew term C^iD (saris', Sept. tvvovxoQ; Vulg. spado; A. y. "eunuch," "officer," and "chamber- lain," apparently as though the word intended a class of attendants who were not alwaj'S mutilated), which (from the Arabic root saras, to he impotent ad Venereni) clearly implies the incapacity which mutilation in- volves (Isa. Ivi, 3 ; Sirach xx, 20 [21]), and perhaps includes all the classes mentioned in Matt, xix, 12, not signifying, as the Greek tiivovxoQ, an office merely. The law, Deut. xxiii, 1 (comp. Lev. xxii, 24), is repug- nant to thus treating any Israelite ; and Samuel, when describing the arbitrary power of the future king (1 Sam. viii, 15, marg.), mentions " his eitnuchs," but does not say that he would make "their sons" such. This, if we compare 2 Kings xx, 18 ; Isa. xxxix, 7, possiblj' implies that these persons would be foreign- ers. It was a barbarous custom of the East thus to treat captives (Herod, iii, 49 ; vi, 32), not only of ten- der age (when a non-development of beard, and femi- nine mould of limbs and modulation of voice ensues), but, it would seem, when past pubertj', which there occurs at an early age. Physiological considerations lead to the supposition that in the latter case a rem- nant of animal feeling is left, which may explain Ecclus. XX, 4 ; XXV, 20 (comp. Juv. vi, 36G, and ]\Iavt. vi, 07 ; Philostr. Apoll. Tj'an. i, 37 ; Ter. Eun. iv, 3, 24), where a sexual function, though fruitless, is implied. Busbecq (£/'. iii, 122, Oxf. IGGO) seems to ascribe the absence or presence of tliis to the total or partial char- acter of the mutilation ; but modern surgery would rather assign the earlier or later period of tlie opera- tion as tlie real explanation. (Comp. Juv. xii, 35; riiilo, 0pp. ii, 2G4 ; Mishna, Yehalm, viii, 2 ; Deut. xxiii, 2 ; see Gesenius, Thes. p. 338 ; Paul. yEffin. vi, 68 ; Fhcher^ ProluKS. p. 497 ; Pierer, Medic. Reahr. I, ii, 03.) It is total among modern Turks (Tournefort, ii, 8, 9, 10, ed. Par. 1717, tnille' ct, Jleur de ventre') ; a precaution arising from mixed ignorance and jealousy. The "of- ficer" Potiphar (Gen. xxxvii, 3G; xxxix, 1, marg. "eu- nuch") was an Egj'ptian, was married, and was the " captain of the guard." The Jewish tradition is that Joseph was made a eunuch on his first introduction to Egypt ; and yet the accusation of Potiphar's wife, his marriage and the birth of his children, are related sub- sequently without any explanation. (See Targum Pseudojon. on Gen. xxxix, 1 , xli, 50 ; and the details given at xxxix, 1.3.) On the Assyrian monuments a ennuch often appears, sometimes armed and in a war- like capacity, or as a scrilie, noting tlie number of heads and amount of spoil, as receiving the prisoners, and even as officiating in religious ceremonies (Lay- ard, Ninereh, ii, 324-G, 334.) A bloated beardless face and double chin is there their conventional type. See Attiuk. Chardin (Voyages en Perse, ii, 283, ed. Amst. 1711) speaks of eunuchs having a harem of their own. If Potiphar liad become such by operation for disease, by accident, or even by malice, such a marriage seems, therefore, according to Eastern notions, supposablc. (Sec Grotius on Deut. xxiii, 1 ; com)). Burckhardt, Trar. m A rah. i, 290.) Nor is- it wholly re^iugnant to that barbarous social standard to think that the pros- pect of rank, honor, and roj'al confidence might even