Note 001 Ammianus (1. xiv. c. 6) imputes the first practice of castration to the cruel ingenuity of Semiramis, who is supposed to have reigned above nine-teen hundred years before Christ. The use of eunuchs is of high antiquity, both in Asia and Egypt. They are mentioned in the law of Moses, Deuteron. xxiii. 1. See Goguet, Origines des Loix, etc., Part i. 1. i. c. 3.

---

Note to Chapter 19 of DECLINE & FALL by Gibbon