EUNUCH{evvovχof), an emasculated person. From remote antiquity among the Orientals, as also at a later period in Greece, eunuchs were employed to take charge of the women, or generally as chamberlains,— whence the name, oi τgv ei>vηv <∖orτ∈ς, i.e., those who have charge of the bedchamber. Their position in the harems of princes affording them the ready means of access to the royal person, it is not surprising that they were frequently enabled to exercise an important influence over princes, and even to raise themselves to stations of great trust and power. Hence the term eunuch in Egypt came to be applied to any court officer, whether a castratus or not. The vulgar notion 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; and they were frequently promoted to the highest offices. Narses, the famous general under Justinian, was a eunuch, as was also Hermias, governor of Atarnea in Mysia, to whose manes the great Aristotle offered sacrifices, besides celebrating the praises of his patron and friend in a poem (still extant), addressed to Virtue (see Lucian’s dialogue entitled Eunuchus). To multiply instances were superfluous. The capacity of this class of persons for public affairs is strikingly illustrated by tho histories of Persia, India, and China; and we need only allude to the power exercised by the euuuchs under the later Roman emperors. The hideous trade of castrating boys to be sold as eunuchs for Moslem harems has continued to modern times, the principal district whence they are taken being the inland of north-eastern Africa. As the larger proportion of children die after the operation (generally ...

The word signifies, one who guards the bed. In the courts of eastern kings, the care of the beds and apartments belonging to princes and princesses, was generally committed to eunuchs; but they had the charge chiefly of the princesses, who lived secluded. 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. xix, 12; that is, who, from a religious motive, renounced marriage or carnal pleasures.