Rufus of Ephesus was likely practicing in ancient Alexandria or in ancient Ephesus. Some of his writings are preserved by Oribasius and Aetius, and in some of those, Rufus preserves patient concerns. Here, he records his interactions with several young men who are concerned about their sexual health, and the testimony provides some examples of how Rufus thinks through diagnosis and treatment. The text is part of a larger section in book 11 of Aetius on drugs related to sexual health and well-being.

Oribasius’ Sexual Stimulants

Equal parts of pepper, parsley, filings from dried deer’s testicle, and terebinth. Combine with honey and give with wine to drink.

Another. Burn a gecko, grind, then add it to oil. Rub the oil onto the big toe of your right foot and have sexual intercourse. If you want to stop the effects, wash your toe.

Another from the same. Rub hare’s suet or lion’s lard onto your genitals. Then take three grains of pepper together with juice of tragacanth gum, and apply to your testicles, perineum, and lower back.

From the works of Rufus, an effective ointment that excites the genitals.

Take one drachma of myrrh, unburnt sulphur, and the inner part of the knēkō plant, two obols of pyrethrum, two drachmas of melanthinon, thirty grains of pepper, and twenty grains of nettle, cleaned. Chop them up and grind with one drachma of squill, melt one ounce of wax and with eight ounces of castor oil; add also three ounces of honey and use [1]. After intercourse, the areas are wiped clean with a cloth. Some also apply this ointment to their buttocks.

Rufus also adds the following: “it is easy,” he says, “to find a therapy here for those who are unable to engage in sexual activity. A youth came to me once and said that he really wanted to have sex, but when he enaged in it, he could not ejaculate and lost a great deal of breath. I took this as an indication of dryness of the spermatic vessels and the treatment showed that I was right. For by using a moist diet productive of good humours, he was able to ejaculate. Another twenty-year-old youth said that when he had sex with a woman, he was not able to ejaculate, but when he was asleep, he frequently had wet dreams. It seemed to me that the spermatic parts we not being heated during intercourse due to the excessive moisture accompanied by cooling [2], since the heat is being dissipated along the surface of the body. During sleep, on the other hand, they become hotter, because dreams are able to heat the inside parts of the body and cool the outside parts. So I recommended that this man exercise his lower parts and ride horses, drink castoreum, and adopt a diet that was wholly warm and dry.”

Ὀριβασίου ἐντατικόν.

Πεπέρεως, πετροσελίνου, ἐλαφείου αἰδοίου ῥινίσματος ξηροῦ, τερεβινθίνης ἴσα· μέλιτι ἀναλάμβανε καὶ δίδου πίνειν μετ' οἴνου.

Ἄλλο· Ἀσκαλαβώτην καύσας, λεάνας, εἶτα ἐπιβαλὼν ἔλαιον, χρίσον τοῦ δεξιοῦ ποδὸς τὸν μεγαδάκτυλον καὶ συγγίνου· εἰ δὲ βούλει παύσασθαι, ἀπόπλυνε τὸν δάκτυλον.

Ἄλλο τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Λαγωοῦ πιτύαν ἢ λέοντος στέαρ χρίε τὸ αἰδοῖον· εἶτα τρία ἅμα πεπέρεα μετὰ χυλοῦ τραγακάνθης, χρίε τοὺς διδύμους καὶ περίναιον καὶ ὀσφῦν.

Ἐκ τῶν Ῥούφου χρίσμα ἐνεργὸν, ἐντεῖνον τὸ αἰδοῖον.

Σμύρνης, θείου ἀπύρου, κνήκου τοῦ ἐντὸς ἀνὰ 𐅻 αʹ, πυρέθρου ὀβολοὺς βʹ, μελάνθιον 𐅻 βʹ, πεπέρεως κόκκοι λʹ, κνίδιοι κόκκοι κεκαθαρμένοι κʹ· κόψας καὶ λεάνας ἅμα σκίλλης 𐅻 αʹ, καὶ τήξας κηροῦ οὐγγ. αʹ μετὰ ἐλαίου κικίνου οὐγγ. ηʹ ἐπίβαλε καὶ μέλιτος οὐγγ. γʹ, καὶ χρῶ· μετὰ δὲ τὴν μίξιν ὀθονίῳ ἀκριβῶς ἐκμασσέσθωσαν οἱ τόποι· ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τῷ χρίσματι τούτῳ τῆς ἕδρας προσάπτονται.

Προστίθησι δὲ ὁ Ῥοῦφος καὶ ταῦτα· εὔκολον δέ φησι κἀντεῦθεν θεραπείας εὑρίσκεσθαι τοῖς οὐ δυναμένοις ἀφροδισιάζειν· νεανίσκος γάρ τις ἀφικόμενος πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔφη, καὶ πάνυ μὲν ἐφίεσθαι μιγῆναι, μισγόμενος δὲ γονὴν μὲν μὴ ἀφιέναι, πνεύματα δὲ πολλὰ ἀπολλύειν. Τούτῳ ἐτεκμαιρόμην ξηρότητα εἶναι τῶν σπερματικῶν ἀγγείων, καὶ ἔδειξεν ἡ ἴασις· ὑγρᾷ γὰρ καὶ εὐχύμῳ διαίτῃ χρησάμενος ἐξέκρινε τὴν γονήν. Ἕτερος δὲ νεανίσκος εἰκοσαέτης ἔλεγεν, εἰ μὲν μίσγοιτο γυναικὶ, μὴ δύνασθαι γονὴν ἀφιέναι, καθεύδοντι δὲ πολὺ ὑπέρχεσθαι τοῦ σπέρματος. Ἐδόκει δέ μοι διὰ πολλὴν ὑγρότητα μετὰ ψύξεως μὴ θερμαίνεσθαι τὰ σπερματικὰ μόρια, ἐν ταῖς μίξεσι χεομένης περὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς θερμασίας, ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις δὲ θερμαίνεσθαι πλέον, καθότι δύνανται ὕπνοι τὰ μὲν ἔσωθεν θερμαίνειν, τὰ δὲ ἔξωθεν ψύχειν. Ἐκέλευσα δὲ τοῦτον γυμνάζεσθαι τὰ κάτω μέρη καὶ ἱππάζεσθαι, καστόριον δὲ πίνειν καὶ διαίτῃ πάσῃ κεχρῆσθαι θερμῇ καὶ ξηρᾷ.

Aetius of Amida, Medical Books XI.35, p. 581 & 126 Rouelle

[1] It is not stated explicitly when the ingredients are mixed in with the oil.

[2] The word can also mean “embarassment,” but I’m wary to read it this way.