In Praise of the Whip A Cultural History of Arousal Niklaus LargierCharter Ercnr Pico’s Friend; or, The Basis of Flagellomania “The mont frequently cited ancedot in Mlagellaton scholarship comes from a work om astecogy by the Remaisance author Gio ‘aan Pico della Miranda Th it ale beloved by bth doc- tors and mater scientists, since explicly pores the question of why humans enjoy being whipped. ln this {492 polemic agent, sutrology, Pico reports the cate ofan acquaintance who wat dn ‘thle co perorm coitus without being whipped betorehand. The ‘tory i already knows tous inthe versions relsted by Meibom {nd Bartoli, When Pce sed his acqantance about the origin ofthis peculiar connection of dei and pa, the ans was ta hheand his fends bad mutually whipped a aroused one another ‘n youth By tlling this stor, Pio doesnot mean to raise a question of seul pathology. Rather he wishes to demonstrate thatthe extie OF his ren Behavior didnot ein the position of the star, He ‘want to extabish for posterity not so much the effects of fagl- lotion at an aphredia, butte power of eustorn ot bait in out behavior epecially i the case of custom tat reaches Back to childhood, In thie way, a model i established that exphins the borigins of desire far dhe whip, a leas in certain cases. Al ofthe texts concerned with flagellation discuss this cae and Pic's ccount a: Caelus Rhodinigus in 154? (in his Leetonu ont- {oor bs ripinta, bok 1, chapter 18), Andress Traquel in es