Eunuch

“ So he sent an eunuch to buy it, who accosted the fowler and said to him, ‘Wilt thou sell this bird?’ ‘No,’ answered he; ‘it is a gift from me to the king.’ So the eunuch carried the bird to the king and told him what the man had said; and he took it and gave the fowler ten dinars, whereupon he kissed the earth and went away. Then the eunuch carried the bird to the king’s palace and placing him in a handsome cage, set meat and drink by him and hung him up. ”

“ I shall leave you to reflect, foolish slave, on your childishness in thus attempting to bind my pleasures by an oath made in a moment when your deceitful blandishments had softened me into a belief that your love and devotion to me was as sincere as your person is beautiful. When you have altered your opinion you can inform the chief eunuch. I may, perhaps, then pardon this insult, and restore you to favour.' He then left me, muttering the word 'pollution', unmindful of my tears, which quickly began to flow at his angry looks. ”

“ So she knew that she was with child and calling the chief of her eunuchs, bade him ‘Go to the king, wherever he may be, and say to him, “O king of the age, I bring thee the glad tidings that our lady’s pregnancy is become manifest, for the child stirs in her belly.”’ So the eunuch went out in haste, rejoicing, and finding the king alone, with his head on his hand, pondering this thing, kissed the earth before him and acquainted him with his wife’s pregnancy. ”

“ The eunuch on ordinary occasions was a prince of boon-companions, skilled in all the niceties of gastronomy, versed in the laws of drinking, overflowing with mirth and jollity, an adroit flatterer where flattery was acceptable, and a joyous buffoon who could give and take with equal readiness and good-humour, when banter was the order of the day. ”

“ Madam, said the eunuch, his sublime highness, whose erudition passes the lands of the sea, is too well acquainted with all human sciences to require information. It is therefore that his exalted wisdom prefers accounts of what never happened, to any relation either in history or divinity—You lie, said the emperor; when I exclude truth, I certainly do not mean to forbid divinity—How many divinities have you in Europe, woman? ”

“ A eunuch, himself the victim of slander, complains of his fate, and warns and denounces his enemies; appealing against them, as his last resort, to Heaven.
The proud are delighted,
And the troubled are in sorrow. ”

“ The Hebrew saris signifies a real eunuch, whether naturally born such, or rendered such. But in Scripture this word often denotes an officer belonging to a prince, attending his court, and employed in the interior of his palace, as a name of office and dignity. In the Persian and Turkish courts, the principal employments are at this day possessed by real eunuchs. Our Saviour speaks of men who “made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. ”

“ Meantime the eunuch had hastened back to the king. "Sire," he cried, "all the former doctors and astrologers were mere quacks. This man has cured the princess without even seeing her." He then told all to the king, who, overjoyed, hastened to his daughter's apartments, where, after embracing her, he placed her hand in that of the prince, saying:
"Happy stranger, I keep my promise, and give you my daughter to wife, be you who you may. But, if I am not much mistaken, your condition is above what you appear to be." ”

“ When they came to a long gallery, at the end of which was the princess's apartment, the prince, through impatience once more to see the object of his vows, who had occasioned him so much grief, got before the eunuch, walking as fast as he could.
The eunuch, redoubling his pace, with much difficulty got up with him, when, taking him by the arm, he cried, Whither away so fast, sir? you cannot be admitted without me; and it I should seem that you have a great desire for death, who can. run to it so headlong! ”

“ If an advanced life-term be appointed to me, let it not be deferred, and if a deferred one, let it not be advanced!” On this wise she passed some days, whilst the king fell into bewilderment and forsware meat and drink and sleep, and abode, knowing not what he should do and saying to himself, “An I slay the Eunuch and the youth, my soul will not be solaced, for they are not to blame, seeing that she sent to fetch him, and my heart careth not to kill them all three. But I will not be hasty in doing them die, for that I fear repentance.” ”

“ Presently up came a number of eunuchs with staves in their hands, followed by nigh thirty women, and amongst them a lady as she were a willow-wand or a thirsty gazelle, perfect in beauty and elegance and amorous grace. When she came to the mouth of the passage where I stood, she turned right and left and calling one of the eunuchs, whispered in his ear; whereupon he came up to me and laying hold of me, bound me with a rope and haled me along after him, whilst another eunuch took my ass and made off with it. ”

“ XXI. And there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. Others, too, who have not met with teachers, have been laudable teachers to themselves. No father nor mother, no Priest or Bishop, nor any of those commissioned to teach, taught you your duty; but by moving reason in yourself and by kindling the spark of good by your free will, you made yourself a eunuch, and acquired such a habit of virtue that impulse to vice became almost an impossibility to you. ”

“ I carried each of the merchants their money, and waited some days with impatience for the eunuch. At last he came.
I received the eunuch very kindly, and inquired after his mistress's health. "You are," said he, "the happiest lover in the world; she is impatient to see you; and were she mistress of her own conduct, would not fail to come to you herself, and willingly pass in your society all the days of her life." "Her noble mien and graceful carriage," I replied, "convinced me, that she was a lady beyond the common rank." "You have not erred in your judgment on that head," said the eunuch ”

“ By the divine wisdom of our predecessors on the Throne, not only have eunuchs been forbidden to meddle in all business of State, but they have never been permitted to gain the ear of the sovereign, or to influence him in any way, so that, for the past two hundred years, eunuch influence has been a thing of the past, and these fawning sycophants have enjoyed no opportunity of practising their evil arts of intrigue. ”

“ As soon as the crowd saw the eunuchs, they made way, and the magician perceiving also that they were coming for him, advanced to meet them, overjoyed to find his plot proceeded so well. "Holy woman," said one of the eunuchs, "the princess wants to see you, and has sent us for you." "The princess does me too great an honor," replied the false Fatima; "I am ready to obey her command," and at the same time followed the eunuchs to the palace. ”

“ Hege the king's chamberlain - הגא סריס המלך Hege seris hammelech, "Hege, the king's eunuch;" so the Septuagint, Vulgate, Targum, and Syriac. In the Eastern countries the women are intrusted to the care of the eunuchs only. ”

“ The eunuch does not enter where she is, but tells it to the female guards, who make known to the queen that there is a message from the king, and then comes one of her maidens or chamber-women and learns what is wanted, and then the queen goes where the king is, or the king comes where she is, and so passes the time as it seems good to him without any of the others knowing. Amongst these eunuchs the king has some who are great favourites, and who sleep where he sleeps; they receive a large salary. ”

“ Generally, however, the cares of government were devolved upon some favorite adviser, a relative, or a eunuch, who was entrusted by the monarch with the entire conduct of affairs, in order that he might give himself up to sensual pleasures, to the sports of the field, or to light and frivolous amusements. ”

“ Sometimes a number of the women will playfully resent the eunuch's authority and push him against a wall or knock his high hat down over his eyes. Once they picked an old fellow up and threw him into a pool of water greatly damaging his fine suit of clothes. At times they give a valuable present to a eunuch such as a nice robe. ”

“ O Prince of True Believers, wottest thou not that all men are thy lieges and under thy rule and that it is not meet for the Caliph to rise to any man?” Presently the Eunuch went out before him and the little white slaves behind him, and they ceased not going till they raised the curtain and brought him into the hall of judgment and the throne-room of the Caliphate. ”

“ They say that the slave who has charge of it has been bribed; and that, on the day before your wives arrived, he concealed two men in a secret recess in the wall of the principal room, from which they came out at night, when we had retired. The old eunuch, who is at present our chief, is an imbecile, who can be made to believe anything. ”

“ Deformed persons, and eunuchs, and old men, and bastards, are envious. For he that cannot possibly mend his own case, will do what he can, to impair another's; except these defects light upon a very brave, and heroical nature, which thinketh to make his natural wants part of his honor; in that it should be said, that an eunuch, or a lame man, did such great matters; affecting the honor of a miracle; as it was in Narses the eunuch, and Agesilaus and Tamberlanes, that were lame men. ”

“ Each eunuch carried something in his hand, such as Her Majesty's clothes, shoes, handkerchiefs, combs, brushes, powder boxes, looking glasses of different sizes, perfumes, pins, black and red ink, yellow paper, cigarettes, water pipes, and the last one carried her yellow satin-covered stool. Besides this there were two amahs (old women servants) and four servant girls all carrying something. This procession was most interesting to see and made one think it a lady's dressing room on legs. The Emperor walked on Her Majesty's right and the Young Empress on the left, as did also the Court ladies. ”

“ The princes of blood, confined within its walls and separated from general society, deprived of every honorable ambition, with eunuchs for their teachers and slaves for their companions, resigned themselves to guilty pleasures to dissipate the tedium of such an existence, and were only fitted, if raised to the throne, to act the part of timid puppets or unmanly tyrants. ”

“ If the eunuch state be imposed in infancy, the shape of the body, its hairiness, the quality of the voice and the character are altered in characteristic manner. The eunuch essentially is neither man nor woman, but a repelling Something intermediate. ”

“ In every house of any consequence, there is a eunuch, called nazir, steward, with whom the mistress of the house daily consults, and decides on every thing relating to the servants and domestic concerns. ”

“ Why have they wives, you will ask, since they are only half men, and cannot perform the duties of the male? Well, I can only answer as did my teacher once when I asked him years ago. "Eunuchs are still men," he said, smiling doubtfully, "insomuch as they like homes of their own beyond the Palace walls and desire children to play with. ”

“ So he ate his fill and refreshed himself and drank water, after which he hung the budget up in its place and drawing the eunuch’s sword from its sheath, took it, whilst the latter slept on, knowing not whence destiny should come to him. Then the prince fared on into the palace, till he came to another door, with a curtain drawn before it; so he raised the curtain and entering, saw a couch of ivory, inlaid with pearls and jacinths and jewels, and four slave-girls sleeping about it. ”

“ We withdrew, and found the Young Empress on the veranda. We courtesied to her, and said good-bye to the Court ladies and came to our rooms to get ready to start. Our eunuchs were very good, and had everything packed up ready for us. We gave ten taels to each of our eunuchs, for that was the custom, and gave four taels to each chair bearer of the Palace. When we arrived at the Palace Gate our own chairs were waiting for us. We said good-bye to our eunuchs. ”

“ These eunuchs derive their imaginable pleasure, and their livelihood from this kind of congress, and they lead the life of courtezans. So much concerning eunuchs disguised as females.
Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret, and when they wish to do anything they lead the life of shampooers. Under the pretence of shampooing, an eunuch of this kind embraces and draws towards himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after this he touches the joints of his thighs and his jaghana, or central portions of his body. ”

“ The common idea that eunuchs are necessarily deficient in courage and in intellectual vigour is amply refuted by history. We are told, for example, by Herodotus that in Persia they were especially prized for their fidelity ”