Now this
breaking of the voice is the more apparent in those who are making
trial of their sexual powers; for in those who are prone to
lustfulness the voice turns into the voice of a man, but not so in the
continent. For if a lad strive diligently to hinder his voice from
breaking, as some do of those who devote themselves to music, the
voice lasts a long while unbroken and may even persist with little
change. And the breasts swell and likewise the private parts, altering
in size and shape. (And by the way, at this time of life those who try
by friction to provoke emission of seed are apt to experience pain
as well as voluptuous sensations.) At the same age in the female,
the breasts swell and the so-called catamenia commence to flow; and
this fluid resembles fresh blood. There is another discharge, a
white one, by the way, which occurs in girls even at a very early age,
more especially if their diet be largely of a fluid nature; and this
malady causes arrest of growth and loss of flesh. In the majority of
cases the catamenia are noticed by the time the breasts have grown
to the height of two fingers' breadth. In girls, too, about this
time the voice changes to a deeper note; for while in general the
woman's voice is higher than the man's, so also the voices of girls
are pitched in a higher key than the elder women's, just as the
boy's are higher than the men's; and the girls' voices are shriller
than the boys', and a maid's flute is tuned sharper than a lad's.
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