ion. The demons wear an artificial phallus outside the dress,
which fits the figure tightly.[1545] The ritual developed into the
Dionysiac rites and orgies, the main idea of which was to rejoice with
the reproductive agencies of nature, to present them dramatically to the
mind, and to stimulate hope and industry. In Greece these primitive
rites of sympathetic magic in agriculture developed into the comic
drama, and the demons became stereotyped figures of comedy, always
recognizable by their masks (faces of a vulgar type), exaggerated hips,
and above all by the phallus. The demon turned into the clown or
buffoon, but the phallus was kept as an emblem of his role, like the
later cap and bells of the fool, until the fifth century of the
Christian era in the West, and until the fall of the Byzantine empire.
In the Hellenistic period the clown took the role of the Olympic god,
and wore the phallus. The Phlyakes in lower Italy had the same emblem
and it was worn in the atellan plays of the Romans.[1546] In the early
Christian centuries the Christian martyr wore the emblem in the comedy,
since that role was always represented by the simpleton or clown.
Ecclesiastical persons also were represented with it, since the buffoon
always wore it, whatever his role. It also passed to the _karagoz_
(shadow play) of the Turks and to the _pantin_ puppets of the Javans. In
the comedy of Hindostan the phallus disappeared.[1547] In Egypt, at
least as late as the first half of the nineteenth century, a masked
figure marched at the head of the bride's procession at a wedding with
the same symbol and indecent gestures.[1548]

+474. Infibulation.+ It appears that athletes in Greece bound the organ
and tied it up to the girdle in a manner closely resembling the
primitive suspensorium. The comedians wore a leathern apron with a large
false organ of red leather on the outside. It became a sign of the trade
of boxers, athletes, gymnasts, and comedians to bind the organ and tie
it up, whereby it was twisted into a horn shape. The purpose was to
protect it from injury, and it furnishes suggestion as to the purpose of
the primitive suspensorium. The concealment was very imperfect and the
notion grew up that the part concealed ought to be concealed, but no
more. The Romans thought it indecent to lack the foreskin, and the Jews
endeavored to conceal this lack. Infibulation was practiced in two
ways,--by a ring through the prepuce or by a bandage around i