The term "venereal disease" comes from "
Venus", the
Roman goddess of
love. This is the subject of a scene in
Voltaire's satirical novel
Candide, in which the protagonist finds his
mentor, the doggedly optimistic Doctor
Pangloss, rotting away from
syphillis. Pangloss points out the
etymology of the term, and extolls the beauty of having a persistent physical reminder of love's sweet ecstacies.