Chapter 19

136Athenaeus, XII. p. 547., states it of the Peripatetic philosopherLycon: καὶ πόσον ἑκάστη τῶν ἑταιρουσῶν ἐπράττετο μίσθωμα, (and how much pay each of the hetaerae-girls charged).137Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. chs. 44, 45.138Horace, Epist. I. 17. 36.—Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. bk. I. ch. 8. Comp. above p. 63. note 1.139Aeschines, Orat. in Timarch. p. 134. ed. Reisk., Ἀποθαυμάζει γὰρ, εἰ μὴ πάντες μέμνησθ’,ὅτι καθ’ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἡ βουλὴ πωλεῖ τὸ πορνικὸν τέλος· καὶ τοὺς πριαμένους τὸ τέλος τοῦτο οὐκ εἰκάζειν, ἀλλ’ ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι τοὺς ταύτῃ χρωμένους τῇ ἐργασίᾳ· ὁπότε οὖν δὴ τετόλμηκα ἀντιγράψασθαι, πεπορνευμένῳ Τιμάρχῳ μὴ ἐξεῖναι δημηγορεῖν, ἀπαιτεῖν φησὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτὴν οὐκ αἰτίαν κατηγόρου, ἀλλὰ μαρτυρίαντελώνουτοῦ παρὰ Τιμάρχουτοῦτο ἐκλέξαντος τὸ τέλος· ἀλλὰ τοὺς τόπους ἐπερωτήσει ὅπου ἐκαθέζετο, καὶ τοὺς τελώνας, εἰ πώποτε παρ’ αὐτοῦπορνικὸν τέλοςεἰλήφασιν. (He expresses extreme surprise, though possibly you don’t all remember, at the fact thatevery year the senate sells the lease of the prostitution-tax; and that the purchasers do not conjecture, but know precisely, those who practise this calling. So when I have the audacity to counter-plead, that Timarchus as having exercised the trade of prostitution is not competent to address the people, he does not deny the fact charged against his client by the accuser, but says, ‘I demand the evidence of anytax-collector who collected this taxfrom Timarchus.’ ... but he will cross-examine as to the localities where he was established in the business, and will question the collectors as to whether they have ever levied prostitution-tax upon him).This passage shows at the same time in the clearest way thatSchneideris wrong, when in his Lexicon he explains πορνοτελώνης, occurring inPollux. Onomast. VII. 202., IX. 29., as meaning a privileged or licenced whore-master, paying a duty to the magistrates on his trade. Besides, anything like a sanitary police supervision on the part of the Agoranomi at this period is of course out of the question. For the word ἀσφαλῶς (safely) in the fragment ofEubulus, (Athenaeus bk. XIII. p. 568), where it is said of the brothel-girls:παρ’ ὧν βεβαίωςἀσφαλῶςτ’ ἔξεστί σοιμικροῦ πριάσθαι κέρματος τὴν ἡδονήν(from whom surely andsafelyyou may buy your pleasure for a small coin), admits of an easy explanation, if we consider that these common women are contrasted here not with the hetaerae but with the free women of the city, illicit intercourse with whom was always dangerous for the voluptuary, being punished as rape or adultery. The most telling proof is afforded by the passage ofDiogenes Laertius, bk. VI. ch. 4., where he says: “WhenAntisthenessaw a man accused of adultery, he said to him, Unhappy man, what serious risk you might have avoided for an obol! (ὦ δυστυχὴς, πηλίκον κίνδυνον ὀβολοῦ διαφυγεῖν εδύνασο). Also the passage ofXenarchus, (Athenaeus, bk. XIII. p. 569.), is pertinent, where it is said, καὶ τῶν δ’ ἑκάστην ἐστὶν ἀδεῶς, εὐτελῶς, (and of the women each can be enjoyed without fear, cheaply). Hence too the verses ofMenander(Lucian, Amor. 33.) should read,καὶ φαρμακεῖαι, καὶ νόσων χαλεπωτάτηφθόνος, μεθ’ οὗ ζῇ πάντα τὸν βίον γυνὴ(and medicines, and hardest of diseases—envy, wherewith a woman dwells all her life long) and not, as the received text has it,καὶ φαρμακεῖα, καὶ νόσοι· χαλεπώτατοςφθόνος.(and medicine, and disease; hardest is envy).140Comp. above p. 70. note 2.Harpocration, Lexicon X. rhetor.—Eustathius, Comment. on Homer’s Iliad XIX. 282., p. 1185., Quod auro gaudeat Venus, de qua est in fabula, ille quoque manifestum facit, qui tradit: Solonem Veneris vulgaris templum dedicasse e mulierum quaestu, quas coemtas prostituerat in cellis, in adolescentum gratiam, (That Venus, of whom is question in the tale, rejoices in gold, is manifest from the historian who relates, how Solon dedicated a temple of the Common (Pandemian) Venus from the gains of the women that he had bought and established in chambers as prostitutes, to gratify the young men). Comp.Boeckh, Corp. Inscript. I. p. 470.141How clean and neat they were can be gathered from the fact that a certain Phanostrata got thesobriquetof Phtheiropyle (doorlouser), ἐπειδήπερ ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας ἑστῶσα ἐφθειρίζετο, (because she used to stand at the door and pick the lice off her).142Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. ch. 37. Comp.Palmerius, Exercitat. p. 523.143Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. ch. 27.—Suidas, s. v. χαμαιτύπη· ἡ πόρνη, ἀπὸ τοῦ χαμαὶ κειμένη ὀχεύεσθαι, (under the word χαμαιτύπη: harlot, from her copulating lying on the ground).144Here they reckoned “Money for house-room”, ἐνοίκιον for στεγανόμιον (Pollux, Onomast. I. 75.), the same in fact as thepretium mansionis(price of house-room) of the Romans in their inns. Comp.Casaubon, on Athenaeus I. ch. 14.145Bergler, on Alciphron VI. p. 25.146Zell, “Ferienschriften,” (Holiday Papers), First Series. Freiburg 1826. No. 1., “Die Wirthshäuser der Alten,” (Inns of the Ancients), pp. 3-53.147Athenaeus, Deipnosoph. bk. XIII. p. 567., Σὺ δὲ ὦ Σοφιστὰ, ἐν τοῖς καπηλείοις συναναφύρῃ οὐ μετὰ ἑταίρων, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἑταιρῶν,μαστροπευούσαςπερὶ ταυτὸν οὐκ ὀλίγας ἔχων. (But you, Sophist, wallow in the inns not with companions but with female-companions (hetaerae), keeping a host of womenpandaringfor your pleasure).148Lysistrat. 467.149Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 567.150Areopagit. p. 350. ed. Wolf.—Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 567., ἐν καπηλείῳ δὲ φαγεῖν ἢ πινεῖν οὐδεὶς οὐδ’ ἂν οἰκέτης ἐτόλμησεν. (But no one, not even a servant, would have dared to eat or drink in an inn).151This can best be seen from the Speech ofDemosthenes, In Neaeram. ed. H. Wolf. Bâle 1572. fol., p. 519., where we read as follows in the Latin translation: Iam peregrinam esse Neaeram, id vobis ab ipso primordio demonstrabo. Septem puellas ab ipsa infantia emit Nicareta, Charisii Elei liberta, Hippiae coqui eius uxor, gnara et perita perspiciendae venustae parvulorum naturae et eos sollerter educandi instituendique scia, ut quae artem eam exerceret, atque ex ea re victum collegisset, filiarum autem eas nomine compellavit, ut quam maximas ab iis, qui earum consuetudinem, tanquam ingenuarum appetebant, mercedes exigeret, posteaquam autem florem aetatis earum magno cum quaestu prostituit: uno, ut dicam, fasce, corpora etiam earum, cum septem essent, vendidit: Antiae, Stratolae, Aristoclae, Metanirae, Philae, Isthmiadis et Neaerae. Quam igitur unusquisque earum emerit, et ut ab iis qui eos a Nicareta emerant, libertate donatae sint. (That Neaera was a foreigner by birth, I will make it my first business to prove. Seven girls were bought in earliest childhood by Nicareta, freed-woman of Charisius of Elis, wife of his cook Nicias,—a knowing woman, astute at noting the promise of beauty in children and skilful in their clever upbringing and instruction, as might be expected of one who practised that art as a profession and had made her living thereby. Her daughters however she called them, that she might demand the greater fees from such as sought to enjoy their favours, as being free-born maidens. Then when they had reached the flower of their age, she prostituted them with great profit to herself, selling their persons, seven as they were, in one bundle, so to express it,—whose names were Antia, Stratole, Aristoclea, Metanira, Phile, Isthmias, and Neaera. Thus each of them found a purchaser, and on such conditions that they were presented with their freedom by the lovers who had bought them from Nicareta).152Comp. the list, compiled chiefly from Athenaeus, of the most renowned hetaerae inMusonius Philosophus, “De luxu Graecorum” ch. XII. inGronovius’Thesaurus Antiq. Graecor. vol. VIII. pp. 2516 sqq.153Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 577. μεταβάλλουσαι γὰρ τοιαῦται εἰς τὸ σῶφρον, τῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ σεμνυνομένων εἰσὶ βελτίους. (For women of this class when they change and adopt an honest life, are of better character than those who pride themselves on this account).154Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 569., Καὶ Ἀσπασία δὲ ἡ Σωκρατικὴ ἐνεπορεύετο πλήθη καλῶν γυναικῶν καὶ ἐπλήθυνεν ἀπὸ τῶν ταύτης ἑταιρίδων ἡ Ἑλλὰς. (And Aspasia too, the preceptress of Socrates, used to import multitudes of handsome women, and Greece was filled with her hetaerae). Even the King of the Sidonians,Strato, had his wants supplied from there.Athenaeus, bk. XII. P. 531.155Hesychius, s. v.πέζας μοίχους· οὕτως ἐκάλουν τὰς μισθαρνούσας ἑταίρας χωρὶς ὀργάνου. (under the expression πέζας μοίχους,—common, prose fornicators: this was the name given to hetaerae who were prostitutes without playing any instrument). Comp.Photius, Lexicon, under same word.—ProcopiusAnecdot. p. 41.—CuperiObservat I. 16. p. 116.—Casaubon, on Sueton. Nero. ch. 27.156Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XIII. p. 582.157Chares took flute-players, singing-girls and πέζαι ἑταίραι with him, according toAthenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 532.158Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XIII. p. 573. When Darius was marching to take the field against Alexander, he had 350 παλλακὰς (concubines) in his train (Athenaeus, XIII. p. 557.), of whom 329 understood music. (ibid. p. 608).159“Vermischte Schriften,” (Miscellaneous Writings), Vol. IV. pp. 311 sqq.160Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 533. Θεμιστοκλῆς δ’, οὔπω Ἀθηναίων μεθυσκομένων,οὐδ’ ἑταίραις χρωμένων, ἐκφανῶς τέθριππον ζεύξας ἑταιρίδων κ. τ. λ. (But Themistocles, at a period when Athenians were not yet in the habit of getting drunk,nor frequenting harlots, openly put in harness a four-horse team of hetaerae, etc.).161Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 532.162Comp. Bernhardy, “Grundiss der Griechischen Literatur,” (First Sketch of Greek Literature), Pt. I. p. 40.163Hetaerae were bound by law to wear gay, party-coloured clothes,Suidas, s. v. ἑταιρῶν ἄνθινον. Νόμος Ἀθήνησι, τὰς ἑταίρας ἄνθινα φέρειν· (under the expression ἑταιρῶν ἄνθινον—flowered robe of hetaerae: it was a law at Athens that the hetaerae must wear flowered robes); at Locri Zaleucus prescribed the same costume,Suidas, s. v. Ζάλευκος (under the word Zaleucus); it was also law among the Syracusans,Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. ch. 4. Comp.Petit, “Legg. Attic.,” (Laws of Athens), p. 476. The same is stated of the Lacedaemonians byClemens Alexandrinus, Paedog., bk. II. ch. 10. Comp.Wesseling, on Diodorus Sic., IV. 4.—Sidon. Apoll., Epist., XX. 3.Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagor., ch. 31.—A. Borremans. Var. Lect., ch. 10. p. 94.—Artemidorus, Oneirocrit., bk. II. ch. 3.164Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic., bk. I. ch. 6.165Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic., bk. X. ch. 23.166Livy, Hist. I. 4., II. 18.167Cicero, Orat. pro Coelio, ch. 20., Si quis est, qui etiam meretriciis amoribus interdictum iuventuti putet, est ille quidem valde severus, negare non possum: sedabhorret non modo ab huius seculi licentia, verum etiam a maiorum consuetudine atque concessis. Quando enim factum non est? quando reprehensum, quando non permissum?(If any is found to think that young men should be forbidden to indulge simple intrigues with harlots, I can only say he is an exceedingly stern moralist, I cannot deny he is right in the abstract.But his view is opposed not merely to the free habits of the present age, but also to the usage and permitted licence of our fathers? When, I ask, has this not been done? when rebuked, when not allowed?Horace, Sat., bk. I. 2. vv. 31-35.,Quidam notus homo, cum exiret fornice: MacteVirtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis.Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido,Huc iuvenesaequumest descendere; non alienasPermolere uxores.(When a certain well-known citizen came out of a brothel, “Bravo! go on and prosper!” was the word of Cato, great and wise. For when fierce desire has swollen the veins,rightit is that young men should resort hither, and not grind their neighbours’ wives),—a passage that involuntarily reminds us of the fragment ofPhilemonquoted above.168They had indiscriminate intercourse with the women, who did not hold it disgraceful to appear half-naked (γυμναὶ) and to practise both among themselves and in common with the men gymnastic exercises, and this in the presence of spectators, even in that of young men. These were actually enjoined to practise copulation, and to have the whole body polished and freed from hair by professional male artistes).Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. pp. 517, 518.169The law was in the first instance made only with a view to the future, in order to ensure the state a sufficiently large number of citizens;Sozomenes, Histor. Eccles., I. 9., Vetus lex fuit apud Romanos, quae vetabat coelibes ab anno aetatis quinto et vigesimo pari iure essent cum maritis.—Tulerant hanc legem veteres Romani, cum sperarent, futurum hac ratione, ut urbs Roma et reliquae provinciae imperii Romani hominum multitudine abundarent. (There was an old law among the Romans, which forbad bachelors after the age of 25 to enjoy equal political rights with married men.—The old Romans had passed this law in the hopes that in this way the city of Rome, and the provinces of the Roman empire as well, might be ensured an abundant population). For the same reasonCaesar, after the African War when the city was much depopulated through the great number of the slain, established prizes for such citizens as had the most children).—Dio Cassius, Bk. XLIII. 226.—All this availed little. The CensorsCamillusandPosthumiuswere soon obliged to introduce a tax on celibacy,—the “old-bachelors’ tax” (Aes uxorium).—Festus, p. 161.,L. Valerius Maximus, bk. II. ch. 9.—Augustus endeavoured in vain by the Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus (Julian Law concerning marriage in the different classes) to counteract the tendency; till the Lex Papia Poppaea originating with the Senate (B.C. 9.) was ratified; (Tacitus, Annal. III. 25.—Dio Cassius, (LIV. 16., LVI. 10.), though even this did not long remain in force. Comp.Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tacit. Annal. III. 25.—Heineccius, Antiquit. Roman. Jurispr. (Antiquities of Roman Law), I. 25. 6. p. 209.—Hugo, “Geschichte des römischen Rechts,” (History of Roman Law), I. p. 237., II. p. 861.170Instit Divin., I. 20. 6., Flora cum magnas opes ex arte meretricia quaesivisset, populum scripsit haeredem, certamque pecuniam reliquit, cuius ex annuo foenere suus natalis dies celebraretur editione Ludorum, quos appelant Floralia. (Flora having acquired great riches by the harlot’s calling made the people her heir, and left a certain sum of money, the interest of which was to be applied to celebrating her birth-day by the exhibition of the games which are called Floralia.—I. 20. 10., Celebrantur cum omni lascivia. Nam praeter verborum licentiam, quibus obscoenitas omnis effunditur, exuuntur etiam vestibus populo flagitante meretrices, quae tunc mimarum funguntur officio et in conspectu populi, usque ad satietatem impudicorum hominum cum pudendis motibus detinentur. (They are solemnized with every form of licentiousness. For over and above the looseness of speech that pours forth every obscenity, harlots strip themselves of their clothing at the importunities of the mob, and then act as mimes,—pantomimic actors,—and in full view of the crowd indulge in indecent posturings, till their shameless audience is satisfied). It may be noted that scarcely 40 years after the introduction of the Floralia, P. Scipio Africanus in his Speech in defence of Tib. Asellus could say: Si nequitiam defendere vis, licet: sed tu in uno scorto maiorem pecuniam absumsisti, quam quanti omne instrumentum fundi Sabini in censum dedicavisti. Ni hoc ita est: qui spondet mille nummum? Sed tu plus tertia parte pecuniae perdidisti atque absumsisti in flagitiis. (If you choose to defend your profligacy, well and good! but as a matter of fact you have wasted on one strumpet more money than the total value, as you declared it to the Census commissioners, of all the plenishing of your Sabine farm. If you deny my assertion, I ask who dare wager a thousand sesterces on its untruth? You have squandered more than a third of the property you inherited from your father, and thrown it away in debauchery).—Gellius, Noct. Attic., VII. 11.—As not only did hetaerae build a temple to Aphrodité, but a similar one was also erected in their honour at Abydos (Athenaeus, XIII. p. 573.), and Phryné wished to rebuild Thebes at her own cost, on the condition that an inscription should be set up to the effect, “Alexander destroyed it; Phryné the hetaera restored it”, there is not the slightest reason for counting the above story as merely one of the ridiculous inventions common in the Fathers.171Valerius Maximus, II. 10. 8.—Seneca, Epist 97.—Martial, Epigr. I. 1 and 36.172Read the Speech of Cato inLivy, Hist., bk. XXXIV. 4., where the following passage is found amongst others: Haec ego, quo melior lactiorque in dies fortuna rei publicae est, imperiumque crescit, et iam in Graeciam Asiamque transcendimus, omnibus libidinum illecebris repletas, et regias etiam attrectamus gazas, eo plus horreo, ne illae magis res nos ceperint, quam nos illas. (All these changes, as day by day the fortune of the State is higher and more prosperous and her Empire grows greater, and our conquests extend over Greece and Asia, lands replete with every allurement of the senses, and we appropriate treasures that may well be called royal,—all this I dread the more from my fear that such high fortune may rather master us than we master it). Scarcely 10 years later the same author says (bk. XXXIX. 6.): Luxuriae enim peregrinae origo ab exercitu Asiatico invecta in urbem est. (For the beginnings of foreign luxury were brought into the city by the Asiatic army).Juvenal, Sat. VI. 299.:Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia moresIntulit et turpi fregerunt secula luxuDivitiae molles.(Foul money it was that first brought in foreign manners; wealth weakened and broke down the vigour of the age with base luxury). But pre-eminently applicable are the following words (III. 60 sqq.) of the same poet:Non possum ferre, Quirites!Graecam urbem, quamvis quota portio faecis Achaeae?Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,Et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordasObliquas, nec non gentilia tympana secumVexit et ad Circum iustas prostare puellas.(I cannot bear, Quirites, to see Rome a Greek city,—and yet how mere a fraction of the whole corruption is found in these dregs of Achaea? Long since has the Syrian Orontes flowed into the Tiber, and brought along with it the Syrian tongue and manners and cross-stringed harp—and harper, and exotic timbrels, and girls bidden stand for hire at the Circus).173The usual derivation of the wordlupanar(brothel) is from Lupa, the wife of Faustulus (Livy, I. 4.); thusLactantius, Divin. Instit., bk. I. 20 sqq., says, fuit enim Faustuli uxor et, propter vulgati corporis vilitatem, Lupa inter pastores, id est meretrix, nuncupata est, unde etiam lupanar dicitur. (For she was the wife of Faustulus, and because of the easy rate at which her person was held at the disposal of all, was called among the shepherds Lupa, (she-wolf), that is harlot, whence also Lupanar—a brothel—is so called). Comp.Isidore, bk. XVIII. etymol. 42.Jerome, in Eusebius’ Chronicle. However it is a fruitless effort to try and connect lupar and lupanar with lupus, the wolf. If we are not mistaken, the root-word is the Greek λῦμα, filth, and so, shameless person; from this comeslupa, just as from λῦμαρ was formedlupar, the oldest form for lupanar, which has maintained itself in the adjectiveluparius, and inlupariaeinRufusandA. Victoras synonyms of lupanar. IndeedLactantiusspeaks of the hetaerae Leaena and Cedrenus as γυναῖκας λυκαίνας.174The common derivation offornix(brothel) is fromfurnusor fornax (an oven), or else makes it identical with fornix, an archway.Isidore, bk. X. 110., writes: afornicatrixis one whose person is public and common. These women used to lie under archways, and such places are calledfornices, whence alsofornicariae(whores). Granted that the women used to resort in numbers to the arches in the town-walls through which sorties were made (Livy, XXXVI. 23., XLIV. 11.), yet several passages in ancient authors prove clearly that theforniceswerehouses(especiallyPetronius, Satir. 7.,MartialXI. 62.). Theancient Glosseshave:—“fornicaria”: πορνὴ ἀπὸ καμάρας ᾗ ἵστανται, (a harlot, from the chamber where they take their stand). But in all probability the brothels took their name from the circumstance of their being situated in the neighbourhood of the town-wall and its arches; for which reason the women were also calledSummoenianae(women of the Summoenium,—district under the walls). Martial, XI. 62., III. 82., I. 35., XII. 32. Or should we say thatfornixwas formed from πορνικὸν?175Adler, “Beschreibung der Stadt Rom,” (Description of the City of Rome), pp. 144 sqq.176Martial, bk. VII. Epigr. 30., bk. X. Epigr. 94.177Martial, bk. II. Epigr. 17.178Hence Martial’s expression (XII. 18.), clamosa Subura (the clamorous Subura).179Horace, Satir. I. 2. 30., Contra alius nullam nisi olenti in fornice stantem. (On the other hand another man cares for no woman but such as stand in the foul-smelling brothel).—Priapeia,Quilibet huc, licebit, intretNigra fornicis oblitus favilla.(All that please, none will say nay, may enter here, smeared with the black spot of the brothel).—Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, bk. II., spurcam redolente fornice cellam, (a filthy chamber in the stinking brothel).—Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Redoles adhuc fuliginem fornicis. (You reek still of the soot of the brothel).—Juvenal, Sat VI. 130., says of the Empress Messalina:Obscurisque genis turpis, fumoque lucernaeFoeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar odorem.(And disfigured and dim-eyed, fouled with the smoke of the lamp, she bore back the stink of the brothel to the imperial couch).180Juvenal, Sat. VI. 122., 127.—Petronius, Sat. 8.—Lipsius, Saturn. I. 14. Hence Cella and Cellae (chambers) are constantly used in the sense of lupanar (brothel).181Martial, bk. XI. 46., Intrasti quoties inscripta limina cellae, (As oft as you have crossed the thresholds of a “chamber” with inscription over).Seneca, Controv., bk. I. 2., Deducta es in lupanar, accepisti locum, pretium constitutum est,titulusinscriptus est, (You were taken away to a brothel, you received your stand, your price was fixed,your name written up).—Meretrix vocata es, in communi loco stetisti,superpositus est cellae tuae titulus, venientes recepisti, (You were called a harlot, you took your stand in a public brothel,your name-ticket was put up above your chamber, you received such as came).—Nomen tuum pedendit in fronte, pretia stupri accepisti, et manus, quae diis datura erat sacra, capturas tulit, (Your name hung on your door, you took the price of fornication, and your hand, that was meant to offer sacred gifts to the gods, held the fees). This last passage interpreters have wished to understand as if the name-ticket were fastened on the woman’s forehead; but, not to mention that in this casetibiwould have to be read fortuum, it is a perfectly well known fact thatfrons(front, forehead) was used in Latin for the face of a door (Ovid, Fasti, I. 135., Omnis habet geminas, hinc atque hinc, ianua frontes, (Every door has two faces, inside and out).Senecasayspependit(it hung there), and afterwards is promoted onto the list of the Leno (Brothel-keeper)!182This is seen most clearly from the following passage in the “Vita Apollonii Tyrii”, (Life of Apollonius of Tyre), p. 695., Puella ait, prosternens se ad pedes eius: miserere, domine, virginitatis meae, ne prostituas hoc corpus sub tam turpi titulo. Leno vocavit villicum puellarum et ait, ancilla, quae praesens est et exornetur diligenter et scribatur et titulus, quicunque Tarsiam deviolaverit, mediam liberam dabit: postea ad singulos solidos populo patebit. (Says the girl, throwing herself at his feet: “Sir! have pity on my maidenhood, and do not prostitute this fair body under so ugly a name.” The Brothel-keeper (Leno) called the Superintendent (villicus) of the girls and says, “Let the maid here present be decked out with every care, and a name-ticket written for her; the man that takes Tarsia’s virginity shall pay half a “libera” (?), afterwards she shall be at the disposal of all comers at a “solidus” or “aureus”, gold coin worth 25 denarii, say 20 shillings—each). So we see even in the name there prevailed a certain luxury; and a young girl of handsome person would fain have a handsome-sounding name to match.183PetroniusSatir. 20.—Barth, on Claudian, note 1173.—Martial, XIV. 148., 152.—Juvenal, VI. 194. From this the women themselves were often calledlodices meretrices(blanket harlots) in contradistinction to the Street-walkers.184Martial, XIV. 39-42. XI. 105.—Apuleius, Metam., V. p. 162.—Horace, Satir. II. 7. v. 48.—Juvenal, Sat. VI. 131.—Tertullian, Ad Uxor., II. 6., Dei ancilla in laribus alienis—et procedet de ianua laureata et lucernata, ut de novo consistorio libidinum publicarum, (The handmaid of God in strange dwellings,—and she shall go forth from the door that is laurel-decked and lamp-lit, as it were from a new assembly-hall of public lusts), where the expressionconsistorium libidinum(assembly-hall of lusts) for brothel is noticeable.185Petronius, Satir. 95., Vos me hercule ne mercedem cellae daretis, (Ye would not, by heavens, give even the hire of the chamber). The fee amounted usually to an As.Petronius, Satir. 8., Iam pro cella meretrix assem exegerat, (Already had the harlot demanded the As for the chamber).Martial, I. 104., Constat et asse Venus, (And an As is the recognised price of Love). II. 53., Si plebeia Venus gemino tibi vincitur asse, (If you win for yourself a base-born Love for a couple of Asses). Comp. the inscription inGruter, “Inscript. antiq. totius orbis Romani”, (Ancient Inscriptions of the whole Roman world). Amsterdam 1616., No. DCLII. 1.—HeinsiusonOvid, Remedium Amoris 407.186Seneca, Controv. I. 2., Nuda in litore stetit ad fastidium emptoris, omnes partes corporis et inspectae et contrectatae sunt. Vultis auctionis exitum audire? Vendit pirata, emit leno.—Ita raptae pepercere piratae, ut lenoni venderetur: sic emit leno, ut prostituerit. (Naked she stood on the shore at the pleasure of the purchaser; every part of her body was examined and felt. Would you hear the result of the sale? The pirate sold, the pandar bought.—For this the pirates spared their captive, that she might be sold to a pandar; for this the pandar bought her, that he might employ her as a prostitute).—Quintilian, Declam. III., Leno etiam servis excipitur, fortasse hac lege captivos vendes, (A pandar too is supplied with slaves; perhaps in this way you will sell your captives).—Lex § 1. de in ius vocando: Prostituta contra legem venditionis venditorem habet patronum, si hac lege venierat, ut, si prostituta esset, fieret libera, (Law § 1. Of the right of appeal: A female slave prostituted contrary to the condition of sale has the seller for patron, if she was sold on this condition, that, should she be prostituted, she should become free). These sales took place in the Subura.Martial, VI. 66.187Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Stetisti cum meretricibus, stetisti sic ornata ut populo placere posses,ea veste quam leno dederat, (You stood with the harlots, you stood decked out so as to please the public, wearing the dress that the leno had given you). The dress of the public women was always gay-coloured and very bold; they had to wear the male toga (gown).Cicero, Philipp. II., Sompsisti virilem togam, quam statim muliebrem reddidisti. Primo vulgare scortum: certa flagitii merces, nec ea parva. (You assumed the man’s toga, which straightway you made a woman’s. First a common strumpet; sure was the profit of your shame, and not small either.)—Tibullus, IV. 10.Martial, II. 30. Hence public women were also calledtogatae(wearing the toga or man’s gown).Martial, VI. 64.Horace, Sat I. 2. 63., Quid interest in matrona, ancilla, peccesque togata? (What difference does it make whether it is with a married woman, or a serving-maid, or a toga’d harlot (togata), that you offend?) Ibidem 80-83.,Nec magis huic inter niveos viridesque lapillos(Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum,) tenerum est femur aut crusRectius; atque etiam melius persaepetogatae est.(Nor amidst all her showy gems and green jewels is her thigh more soft (though it is your belief, Cerinthus, that it is) or her leg straighter; nay! very often that of the toga’d harlot is the better limb).It is well-known what troubleBentleygave himself to explain thislocus implicatissimus(most intricate passage), as he calls it, because he supposed the common reading to be corrupt and accordingly altered the text, all to bring out a comparison of Cerinthus’ thigh—a comparison that never was in Horace’s mind at all. Several years ago in our Work, “De Sexuali Organismorum Fabrica,” (On the Sexual Fabric of Organisms), Spec. I., Halle 1832. large 8vo., p. 61., we disentangled the matter and showed exactly how it stood, proving that the “Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum” (Though this be your (opinion), Cerinthus) must be taken as a parenthesis, consequently that the usual reading is the right one. But as the book would seem to have come into few hands, and least of all into those of Philologists, we may be allowed to take this opportunity of once more developing our view. The comparison is between the matron and the “togata”, and it is maintained that the matron, i. e. the noble Roman lady, possesses for all her jewelry neither a softer thigh nor a straighter leg than the “togata”, the girl of common stamp; that the latter in fact can often make a better show of both, even though her leg is as crooked as the matron’s is,—a peculiarity thateveryfemale leg has, because in a woman the knee projects more forwards.Aristotle, Hist. Anim., IV. 11. 6., even in his time notes this fact: τὸ θῆλυ τῶν ἀῤῥένων καὶ γονυκροτώτερον. (the female is more knock-kneed also than the male). Comp. same author’s Physiognom., 3. 5. 6.Adamant., Physiognom., II. 107. ed. Sylb.Polemo, Physiognom., p. 179. Anatomical investigation moreover proves this most clearly. But as Cerinthus seems to be ignorant of it, in spite of its being a well known Act, he lets himself be deluded by the outward magnificence of attire and distinguished birth, and believes the matron to be the better built, and it is for this mistake the poet taunts him. Horace in this passage is merely giving a commentary on v. 63 above. Now compare whatPlautus, Mostell., I. 3. 13, makes Scopha say to Philemation, Non vestem amatores mulieris amant, sed vestis fartum (’Tis not the dress of a woman that lovers love, but theliningof the dress); alsoMartial, III. Epigr. 33.; and the folly ofCerinthusis made quite obvious. The phrase—Sit licet hoc tuum (Though this be yours) in the sense, “though you look at it this way, take the dazzle of jewels as the criterion of a woman’s beauty”, surely needs no further confirmation.188Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Da mihi lenonis rationes; captura conveniet. (Give me the brothel-keeper’s accounts; the fee will suit).189Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Deducta es in lupanar, accepisti locum,pretium constitutum est. (You were taken to a brothel, you took your place, your price was fixed).Ovid, Amores, I. 10., Stat meretrix cuiviscertomercabilis aere. (There stands the harlot that any man can buy for afixedsum). The fee was calledcaptura(fee) (compareSchulting, on Seneca, loco citato, andCasaubonon Suetonius, Caligula 40.),quaestus meretricius(harlot’s hire) (Cicero, Philipp. II. 18.) or simplyquaestus(hire);merces(cost) andpretium stupri(price of fornication);aurum lustrale(brothel, literallyden, money). The women used to demand its payment.Juvenal, Sat. VI. 125. Excepit blanda intrantes atque aera poposcit. (Blandly she welcomed her visitors as they entered and asked for the fee). Hence the expression “basia meretricum poscinummia” (harlots kisses that ask for money) inApuleius, Met., X. p. 248. For the rest prices were very various among the brothel-harlots as they were with the others. Comp.Martial, X. 75., IX. 33., III. 54. The lowest fee was one As or 2 obols (three pence); hence girls of the sort were called by the Romans alsodiobolares meretrices(two-obol harlots) (Festus) ordiobolaria scorta(two-obol whores) (Plautus, Poen., I. 2. 58.). Comp. p. 90 above.190Plautus, Trinum., IV. 2. 47., Quae adversum legem accepisti a plurimis pecuniam. (You who contrary to the regulation accepted money from a great many men).191Hence the women were also calledNonariae(Ninth-hour women).Persius, Sat. I. 133. The Scholiast observes on the passage: Nonaria dicta meretrix, quia apud veteres a nona hora prostabant, ne mane omissa exercitatione illo irent adolescentes. (A harlot was called “Nonaria”, because in former times they used to act as prostitutes from the ninth hour only, for fear the young men should resort thither in the morning to the neglect of their athletic exercises).192Nonius Marcellus, V. § 8., Intermeretricemetprostibulumhoc interest: quod meretrix honestioris loci est et quaestus: nammeretricesa merendo dictae sunt, quod copiam sui tantummodo noctu facerent:prostibula, quod ante stabulum stent quaestus diurni et nocturni causa. (This is the difference between ameretrix(harlot) and aprostibulum(common strumpet): a meretrix is of a more honorable station and calling; formeretriceswere so named amerendo(from earning wages), because they plied their calling only by night;prostibula, because they stand before thestabulum(stall, “chamber”) for gain both by day and night).—Plautus, Cistell. fragm., Adstat ea in via sola: prostibula sane est. (She stands there in the way alone: surely she is aprostibula—common whore).

137Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. chs. 44, 45.

138Horace, Epist. I. 17. 36.—Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. bk. I. ch. 8. Comp. above p. 63. note 1.

139Aeschines, Orat. in Timarch. p. 134. ed. Reisk., Ἀποθαυμάζει γὰρ, εἰ μὴ πάντες μέμνησθ’,ὅτι καθ’ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἡ βουλὴ πωλεῖ τὸ πορνικὸν τέλος· καὶ τοὺς πριαμένους τὸ τέλος τοῦτο οὐκ εἰκάζειν, ἀλλ’ ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι τοὺς ταύτῃ χρωμένους τῇ ἐργασίᾳ· ὁπότε οὖν δὴ τετόλμηκα ἀντιγράψασθαι, πεπορνευμένῳ Τιμάρχῳ μὴ ἐξεῖναι δημηγορεῖν, ἀπαιτεῖν φησὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτὴν οὐκ αἰτίαν κατηγόρου, ἀλλὰ μαρτυρίαντελώνουτοῦ παρὰ Τιμάρχουτοῦτο ἐκλέξαντος τὸ τέλος· ἀλλὰ τοὺς τόπους ἐπερωτήσει ὅπου ἐκαθέζετο, καὶ τοὺς τελώνας, εἰ πώποτε παρ’ αὐτοῦπορνικὸν τέλοςεἰλήφασιν. (He expresses extreme surprise, though possibly you don’t all remember, at the fact thatevery year the senate sells the lease of the prostitution-tax; and that the purchasers do not conjecture, but know precisely, those who practise this calling. So when I have the audacity to counter-plead, that Timarchus as having exercised the trade of prostitution is not competent to address the people, he does not deny the fact charged against his client by the accuser, but says, ‘I demand the evidence of anytax-collector who collected this taxfrom Timarchus.’ ... but he will cross-examine as to the localities where he was established in the business, and will question the collectors as to whether they have ever levied prostitution-tax upon him).This passage shows at the same time in the clearest way thatSchneideris wrong, when in his Lexicon he explains πορνοτελώνης, occurring inPollux. Onomast. VII. 202., IX. 29., as meaning a privileged or licenced whore-master, paying a duty to the magistrates on his trade. Besides, anything like a sanitary police supervision on the part of the Agoranomi at this period is of course out of the question. For the word ἀσφαλῶς (safely) in the fragment ofEubulus, (Athenaeus bk. XIII. p. 568), where it is said of the brothel-girls:παρ’ ὧν βεβαίωςἀσφαλῶςτ’ ἔξεστί σοιμικροῦ πριάσθαι κέρματος τὴν ἡδονήν(from whom surely andsafelyyou may buy your pleasure for a small coin), admits of an easy explanation, if we consider that these common women are contrasted here not with the hetaerae but with the free women of the city, illicit intercourse with whom was always dangerous for the voluptuary, being punished as rape or adultery. The most telling proof is afforded by the passage ofDiogenes Laertius, bk. VI. ch. 4., where he says: “WhenAntisthenessaw a man accused of adultery, he said to him, Unhappy man, what serious risk you might have avoided for an obol! (ὦ δυστυχὴς, πηλίκον κίνδυνον ὀβολοῦ διαφυγεῖν εδύνασο). Also the passage ofXenarchus, (Athenaeus, bk. XIII. p. 569.), is pertinent, where it is said, καὶ τῶν δ’ ἑκάστην ἐστὶν ἀδεῶς, εὐτελῶς, (and of the women each can be enjoyed without fear, cheaply). Hence too the verses ofMenander(Lucian, Amor. 33.) should read,καὶ φαρμακεῖαι, καὶ νόσων χαλεπωτάτηφθόνος, μεθ’ οὗ ζῇ πάντα τὸν βίον γυνὴ(and medicines, and hardest of diseases—envy, wherewith a woman dwells all her life long) and not, as the received text has it,καὶ φαρμακεῖα, καὶ νόσοι· χαλεπώτατοςφθόνος.(and medicine, and disease; hardest is envy).

This passage shows at the same time in the clearest way thatSchneideris wrong, when in his Lexicon he explains πορνοτελώνης, occurring inPollux. Onomast. VII. 202., IX. 29., as meaning a privileged or licenced whore-master, paying a duty to the magistrates on his trade. Besides, anything like a sanitary police supervision on the part of the Agoranomi at this period is of course out of the question. For the word ἀσφαλῶς (safely) in the fragment ofEubulus, (Athenaeus bk. XIII. p. 568), where it is said of the brothel-girls:

παρ’ ὧν βεβαίωςἀσφαλῶςτ’ ἔξεστί σοιμικροῦ πριάσθαι κέρματος τὴν ἡδονήν

παρ’ ὧν βεβαίωςἀσφαλῶςτ’ ἔξεστί σοι

μικροῦ πριάσθαι κέρματος τὴν ἡδονήν

(from whom surely andsafelyyou may buy your pleasure for a small coin), admits of an easy explanation, if we consider that these common women are contrasted here not with the hetaerae but with the free women of the city, illicit intercourse with whom was always dangerous for the voluptuary, being punished as rape or adultery. The most telling proof is afforded by the passage ofDiogenes Laertius, bk. VI. ch. 4., where he says: “WhenAntisthenessaw a man accused of adultery, he said to him, Unhappy man, what serious risk you might have avoided for an obol! (ὦ δυστυχὴς, πηλίκον κίνδυνον ὀβολοῦ διαφυγεῖν εδύνασο). Also the passage ofXenarchus, (Athenaeus, bk. XIII. p. 569.), is pertinent, where it is said, καὶ τῶν δ’ ἑκάστην ἐστὶν ἀδεῶς, εὐτελῶς, (and of the women each can be enjoyed without fear, cheaply). Hence too the verses ofMenander(Lucian, Amor. 33.) should read,

καὶ φαρμακεῖαι, καὶ νόσων χαλεπωτάτηφθόνος, μεθ’ οὗ ζῇ πάντα τὸν βίον γυνὴ

καὶ φαρμακεῖαι, καὶ νόσων χαλεπωτάτη

φθόνος, μεθ’ οὗ ζῇ πάντα τὸν βίον γυνὴ

(and medicines, and hardest of diseases—envy, wherewith a woman dwells all her life long) and not, as the received text has it,

καὶ φαρμακεῖα, καὶ νόσοι· χαλεπώτατοςφθόνος.

καὶ φαρμακεῖα, καὶ νόσοι· χαλεπώτατος

φθόνος.

(and medicine, and disease; hardest is envy).

140Comp. above p. 70. note 2.Harpocration, Lexicon X. rhetor.—Eustathius, Comment. on Homer’s Iliad XIX. 282., p. 1185., Quod auro gaudeat Venus, de qua est in fabula, ille quoque manifestum facit, qui tradit: Solonem Veneris vulgaris templum dedicasse e mulierum quaestu, quas coemtas prostituerat in cellis, in adolescentum gratiam, (That Venus, of whom is question in the tale, rejoices in gold, is manifest from the historian who relates, how Solon dedicated a temple of the Common (Pandemian) Venus from the gains of the women that he had bought and established in chambers as prostitutes, to gratify the young men). Comp.Boeckh, Corp. Inscript. I. p. 470.

141How clean and neat they were can be gathered from the fact that a certain Phanostrata got thesobriquetof Phtheiropyle (doorlouser), ἐπειδήπερ ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας ἑστῶσα ἐφθειρίζετο, (because she used to stand at the door and pick the lice off her).

142Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. ch. 37. Comp.Palmerius, Exercitat. p. 523.

143Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. ch. 27.—Suidas, s. v. χαμαιτύπη· ἡ πόρνη, ἀπὸ τοῦ χαμαὶ κειμένη ὀχεύεσθαι, (under the word χαμαιτύπη: harlot, from her copulating lying on the ground).

144Here they reckoned “Money for house-room”, ἐνοίκιον for στεγανόμιον (Pollux, Onomast. I. 75.), the same in fact as thepretium mansionis(price of house-room) of the Romans in their inns. Comp.Casaubon, on Athenaeus I. ch. 14.

145Bergler, on Alciphron VI. p. 25.

146Zell, “Ferienschriften,” (Holiday Papers), First Series. Freiburg 1826. No. 1., “Die Wirthshäuser der Alten,” (Inns of the Ancients), pp. 3-53.

147Athenaeus, Deipnosoph. bk. XIII. p. 567., Σὺ δὲ ὦ Σοφιστὰ, ἐν τοῖς καπηλείοις συναναφύρῃ οὐ μετὰ ἑταίρων, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἑταιρῶν,μαστροπευούσαςπερὶ ταυτὸν οὐκ ὀλίγας ἔχων. (But you, Sophist, wallow in the inns not with companions but with female-companions (hetaerae), keeping a host of womenpandaringfor your pleasure).

148Lysistrat. 467.

149Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 567.

150Areopagit. p. 350. ed. Wolf.—Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 567., ἐν καπηλείῳ δὲ φαγεῖν ἢ πινεῖν οὐδεὶς οὐδ’ ἂν οἰκέτης ἐτόλμησεν. (But no one, not even a servant, would have dared to eat or drink in an inn).

151This can best be seen from the Speech ofDemosthenes, In Neaeram. ed. H. Wolf. Bâle 1572. fol., p. 519., where we read as follows in the Latin translation: Iam peregrinam esse Neaeram, id vobis ab ipso primordio demonstrabo. Septem puellas ab ipsa infantia emit Nicareta, Charisii Elei liberta, Hippiae coqui eius uxor, gnara et perita perspiciendae venustae parvulorum naturae et eos sollerter educandi instituendique scia, ut quae artem eam exerceret, atque ex ea re victum collegisset, filiarum autem eas nomine compellavit, ut quam maximas ab iis, qui earum consuetudinem, tanquam ingenuarum appetebant, mercedes exigeret, posteaquam autem florem aetatis earum magno cum quaestu prostituit: uno, ut dicam, fasce, corpora etiam earum, cum septem essent, vendidit: Antiae, Stratolae, Aristoclae, Metanirae, Philae, Isthmiadis et Neaerae. Quam igitur unusquisque earum emerit, et ut ab iis qui eos a Nicareta emerant, libertate donatae sint. (That Neaera was a foreigner by birth, I will make it my first business to prove. Seven girls were bought in earliest childhood by Nicareta, freed-woman of Charisius of Elis, wife of his cook Nicias,—a knowing woman, astute at noting the promise of beauty in children and skilful in their clever upbringing and instruction, as might be expected of one who practised that art as a profession and had made her living thereby. Her daughters however she called them, that she might demand the greater fees from such as sought to enjoy their favours, as being free-born maidens. Then when they had reached the flower of their age, she prostituted them with great profit to herself, selling their persons, seven as they were, in one bundle, so to express it,—whose names were Antia, Stratole, Aristoclea, Metanira, Phile, Isthmias, and Neaera. Thus each of them found a purchaser, and on such conditions that they were presented with their freedom by the lovers who had bought them from Nicareta).

152Comp. the list, compiled chiefly from Athenaeus, of the most renowned hetaerae inMusonius Philosophus, “De luxu Graecorum” ch. XII. inGronovius’Thesaurus Antiq. Graecor. vol. VIII. pp. 2516 sqq.

153Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 577. μεταβάλλουσαι γὰρ τοιαῦται εἰς τὸ σῶφρον, τῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ σεμνυνομένων εἰσὶ βελτίους. (For women of this class when they change and adopt an honest life, are of better character than those who pride themselves on this account).

154Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. p. 569., Καὶ Ἀσπασία δὲ ἡ Σωκρατικὴ ἐνεπορεύετο πλήθη καλῶν γυναικῶν καὶ ἐπλήθυνεν ἀπὸ τῶν ταύτης ἑταιρίδων ἡ Ἑλλὰς. (And Aspasia too, the preceptress of Socrates, used to import multitudes of handsome women, and Greece was filled with her hetaerae). Even the King of the Sidonians,Strato, had his wants supplied from there.Athenaeus, bk. XII. P. 531.

155Hesychius, s. v.πέζας μοίχους· οὕτως ἐκάλουν τὰς μισθαρνούσας ἑταίρας χωρὶς ὀργάνου. (under the expression πέζας μοίχους,—common, prose fornicators: this was the name given to hetaerae who were prostitutes without playing any instrument). Comp.Photius, Lexicon, under same word.—ProcopiusAnecdot. p. 41.—CuperiObservat I. 16. p. 116.—Casaubon, on Sueton. Nero. ch. 27.

156Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XIII. p. 582.

157Chares took flute-players, singing-girls and πέζαι ἑταίραι with him, according toAthenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 532.

158Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XIII. p. 573. When Darius was marching to take the field against Alexander, he had 350 παλλακὰς (concubines) in his train (Athenaeus, XIII. p. 557.), of whom 329 understood music. (ibid. p. 608).

159“Vermischte Schriften,” (Miscellaneous Writings), Vol. IV. pp. 311 sqq.

160Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 533. Θεμιστοκλῆς δ’, οὔπω Ἀθηναίων μεθυσκομένων,οὐδ’ ἑταίραις χρωμένων, ἐκφανῶς τέθριππον ζεύξας ἑταιρίδων κ. τ. λ. (But Themistocles, at a period when Athenians were not yet in the habit of getting drunk,nor frequenting harlots, openly put in harness a four-horse team of hetaerae, etc.).

161Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. p. 532.

162Comp. Bernhardy, “Grundiss der Griechischen Literatur,” (First Sketch of Greek Literature), Pt. I. p. 40.

163Hetaerae were bound by law to wear gay, party-coloured clothes,Suidas, s. v. ἑταιρῶν ἄνθινον. Νόμος Ἀθήνησι, τὰς ἑταίρας ἄνθινα φέρειν· (under the expression ἑταιρῶν ἄνθινον—flowered robe of hetaerae: it was a law at Athens that the hetaerae must wear flowered robes); at Locri Zaleucus prescribed the same costume,Suidas, s. v. Ζάλευκος (under the word Zaleucus); it was also law among the Syracusans,Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. ch. 4. Comp.Petit, “Legg. Attic.,” (Laws of Athens), p. 476. The same is stated of the Lacedaemonians byClemens Alexandrinus, Paedog., bk. II. ch. 10. Comp.Wesseling, on Diodorus Sic., IV. 4.—Sidon. Apoll., Epist., XX. 3.Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagor., ch. 31.—A. Borremans. Var. Lect., ch. 10. p. 94.—Artemidorus, Oneirocrit., bk. II. ch. 3.

164Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic., bk. I. ch. 6.

165Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic., bk. X. ch. 23.

166Livy, Hist. I. 4., II. 18.

167Cicero, Orat. pro Coelio, ch. 20., Si quis est, qui etiam meretriciis amoribus interdictum iuventuti putet, est ille quidem valde severus, negare non possum: sedabhorret non modo ab huius seculi licentia, verum etiam a maiorum consuetudine atque concessis. Quando enim factum non est? quando reprehensum, quando non permissum?(If any is found to think that young men should be forbidden to indulge simple intrigues with harlots, I can only say he is an exceedingly stern moralist, I cannot deny he is right in the abstract.But his view is opposed not merely to the free habits of the present age, but also to the usage and permitted licence of our fathers? When, I ask, has this not been done? when rebuked, when not allowed?Horace, Sat., bk. I. 2. vv. 31-35.,Quidam notus homo, cum exiret fornice: MacteVirtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis.Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido,Huc iuvenesaequumest descendere; non alienasPermolere uxores.(When a certain well-known citizen came out of a brothel, “Bravo! go on and prosper!” was the word of Cato, great and wise. For when fierce desire has swollen the veins,rightit is that young men should resort hither, and not grind their neighbours’ wives),—a passage that involuntarily reminds us of the fragment ofPhilemonquoted above.

Horace, Sat., bk. I. 2. vv. 31-35.,

Quidam notus homo, cum exiret fornice: MacteVirtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis.Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido,Huc iuvenesaequumest descendere; non alienasPermolere uxores.

Quidam notus homo, cum exiret fornice: Macte

Virtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis.

Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido,

Huc iuvenesaequumest descendere; non alienas

Permolere uxores.

(When a certain well-known citizen came out of a brothel, “Bravo! go on and prosper!” was the word of Cato, great and wise. For when fierce desire has swollen the veins,rightit is that young men should resort hither, and not grind their neighbours’ wives),—a passage that involuntarily reminds us of the fragment ofPhilemonquoted above.

168They had indiscriminate intercourse with the women, who did not hold it disgraceful to appear half-naked (γυμναὶ) and to practise both among themselves and in common with the men gymnastic exercises, and this in the presence of spectators, even in that of young men. These were actually enjoined to practise copulation, and to have the whole body polished and freed from hair by professional male artistes).Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. XII. pp. 517, 518.

169The law was in the first instance made only with a view to the future, in order to ensure the state a sufficiently large number of citizens;Sozomenes, Histor. Eccles., I. 9., Vetus lex fuit apud Romanos, quae vetabat coelibes ab anno aetatis quinto et vigesimo pari iure essent cum maritis.—Tulerant hanc legem veteres Romani, cum sperarent, futurum hac ratione, ut urbs Roma et reliquae provinciae imperii Romani hominum multitudine abundarent. (There was an old law among the Romans, which forbad bachelors after the age of 25 to enjoy equal political rights with married men.—The old Romans had passed this law in the hopes that in this way the city of Rome, and the provinces of the Roman empire as well, might be ensured an abundant population). For the same reasonCaesar, after the African War when the city was much depopulated through the great number of the slain, established prizes for such citizens as had the most children).—Dio Cassius, Bk. XLIII. 226.—All this availed little. The CensorsCamillusandPosthumiuswere soon obliged to introduce a tax on celibacy,—the “old-bachelors’ tax” (Aes uxorium).—Festus, p. 161.,L. Valerius Maximus, bk. II. ch. 9.—Augustus endeavoured in vain by the Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus (Julian Law concerning marriage in the different classes) to counteract the tendency; till the Lex Papia Poppaea originating with the Senate (B.C. 9.) was ratified; (Tacitus, Annal. III. 25.—Dio Cassius, (LIV. 16., LVI. 10.), though even this did not long remain in force. Comp.Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tacit. Annal. III. 25.—Heineccius, Antiquit. Roman. Jurispr. (Antiquities of Roman Law), I. 25. 6. p. 209.—Hugo, “Geschichte des römischen Rechts,” (History of Roman Law), I. p. 237., II. p. 861.

170Instit Divin., I. 20. 6., Flora cum magnas opes ex arte meretricia quaesivisset, populum scripsit haeredem, certamque pecuniam reliquit, cuius ex annuo foenere suus natalis dies celebraretur editione Ludorum, quos appelant Floralia. (Flora having acquired great riches by the harlot’s calling made the people her heir, and left a certain sum of money, the interest of which was to be applied to celebrating her birth-day by the exhibition of the games which are called Floralia.—I. 20. 10., Celebrantur cum omni lascivia. Nam praeter verborum licentiam, quibus obscoenitas omnis effunditur, exuuntur etiam vestibus populo flagitante meretrices, quae tunc mimarum funguntur officio et in conspectu populi, usque ad satietatem impudicorum hominum cum pudendis motibus detinentur. (They are solemnized with every form of licentiousness. For over and above the looseness of speech that pours forth every obscenity, harlots strip themselves of their clothing at the importunities of the mob, and then act as mimes,—pantomimic actors,—and in full view of the crowd indulge in indecent posturings, till their shameless audience is satisfied). It may be noted that scarcely 40 years after the introduction of the Floralia, P. Scipio Africanus in his Speech in defence of Tib. Asellus could say: Si nequitiam defendere vis, licet: sed tu in uno scorto maiorem pecuniam absumsisti, quam quanti omne instrumentum fundi Sabini in censum dedicavisti. Ni hoc ita est: qui spondet mille nummum? Sed tu plus tertia parte pecuniae perdidisti atque absumsisti in flagitiis. (If you choose to defend your profligacy, well and good! but as a matter of fact you have wasted on one strumpet more money than the total value, as you declared it to the Census commissioners, of all the plenishing of your Sabine farm. If you deny my assertion, I ask who dare wager a thousand sesterces on its untruth? You have squandered more than a third of the property you inherited from your father, and thrown it away in debauchery).—Gellius, Noct. Attic., VII. 11.—As not only did hetaerae build a temple to Aphrodité, but a similar one was also erected in their honour at Abydos (Athenaeus, XIII. p. 573.), and Phryné wished to rebuild Thebes at her own cost, on the condition that an inscription should be set up to the effect, “Alexander destroyed it; Phryné the hetaera restored it”, there is not the slightest reason for counting the above story as merely one of the ridiculous inventions common in the Fathers.

171Valerius Maximus, II. 10. 8.—Seneca, Epist 97.—Martial, Epigr. I. 1 and 36.

172Read the Speech of Cato inLivy, Hist., bk. XXXIV. 4., where the following passage is found amongst others: Haec ego, quo melior lactiorque in dies fortuna rei publicae est, imperiumque crescit, et iam in Graeciam Asiamque transcendimus, omnibus libidinum illecebris repletas, et regias etiam attrectamus gazas, eo plus horreo, ne illae magis res nos ceperint, quam nos illas. (All these changes, as day by day the fortune of the State is higher and more prosperous and her Empire grows greater, and our conquests extend over Greece and Asia, lands replete with every allurement of the senses, and we appropriate treasures that may well be called royal,—all this I dread the more from my fear that such high fortune may rather master us than we master it). Scarcely 10 years later the same author says (bk. XXXIX. 6.): Luxuriae enim peregrinae origo ab exercitu Asiatico invecta in urbem est. (For the beginnings of foreign luxury were brought into the city by the Asiatic army).Juvenal, Sat. VI. 299.:Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia moresIntulit et turpi fregerunt secula luxuDivitiae molles.(Foul money it was that first brought in foreign manners; wealth weakened and broke down the vigour of the age with base luxury). But pre-eminently applicable are the following words (III. 60 sqq.) of the same poet:Non possum ferre, Quirites!Graecam urbem, quamvis quota portio faecis Achaeae?Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,Et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordasObliquas, nec non gentilia tympana secumVexit et ad Circum iustas prostare puellas.(I cannot bear, Quirites, to see Rome a Greek city,—and yet how mere a fraction of the whole corruption is found in these dregs of Achaea? Long since has the Syrian Orontes flowed into the Tiber, and brought along with it the Syrian tongue and manners and cross-stringed harp—and harper, and exotic timbrels, and girls bidden stand for hire at the Circus).

Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia moresIntulit et turpi fregerunt secula luxuDivitiae molles.

Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia mores

Intulit et turpi fregerunt secula luxu

Divitiae molles.

(Foul money it was that first brought in foreign manners; wealth weakened and broke down the vigour of the age with base luxury). But pre-eminently applicable are the following words (III. 60 sqq.) of the same poet:

Non possum ferre, Quirites!Graecam urbem, quamvis quota portio faecis Achaeae?Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,Et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordasObliquas, nec non gentilia tympana secumVexit et ad Circum iustas prostare puellas.

Non possum ferre, Quirites!

Graecam urbem, quamvis quota portio faecis Achaeae?

Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,

Et linguam et mores et cum tibicine chordas

Obliquas, nec non gentilia tympana secum

Vexit et ad Circum iustas prostare puellas.

(I cannot bear, Quirites, to see Rome a Greek city,—and yet how mere a fraction of the whole corruption is found in these dregs of Achaea? Long since has the Syrian Orontes flowed into the Tiber, and brought along with it the Syrian tongue and manners and cross-stringed harp—and harper, and exotic timbrels, and girls bidden stand for hire at the Circus).

173The usual derivation of the wordlupanar(brothel) is from Lupa, the wife of Faustulus (Livy, I. 4.); thusLactantius, Divin. Instit., bk. I. 20 sqq., says, fuit enim Faustuli uxor et, propter vulgati corporis vilitatem, Lupa inter pastores, id est meretrix, nuncupata est, unde etiam lupanar dicitur. (For she was the wife of Faustulus, and because of the easy rate at which her person was held at the disposal of all, was called among the shepherds Lupa, (she-wolf), that is harlot, whence also Lupanar—a brothel—is so called). Comp.Isidore, bk. XVIII. etymol. 42.Jerome, in Eusebius’ Chronicle. However it is a fruitless effort to try and connect lupar and lupanar with lupus, the wolf. If we are not mistaken, the root-word is the Greek λῦμα, filth, and so, shameless person; from this comeslupa, just as from λῦμαρ was formedlupar, the oldest form for lupanar, which has maintained itself in the adjectiveluparius, and inlupariaeinRufusandA. Victoras synonyms of lupanar. IndeedLactantiusspeaks of the hetaerae Leaena and Cedrenus as γυναῖκας λυκαίνας.

174The common derivation offornix(brothel) is fromfurnusor fornax (an oven), or else makes it identical with fornix, an archway.Isidore, bk. X. 110., writes: afornicatrixis one whose person is public and common. These women used to lie under archways, and such places are calledfornices, whence alsofornicariae(whores). Granted that the women used to resort in numbers to the arches in the town-walls through which sorties were made (Livy, XXXVI. 23., XLIV. 11.), yet several passages in ancient authors prove clearly that theforniceswerehouses(especiallyPetronius, Satir. 7.,MartialXI. 62.). Theancient Glosseshave:—“fornicaria”: πορνὴ ἀπὸ καμάρας ᾗ ἵστανται, (a harlot, from the chamber where they take their stand). But in all probability the brothels took their name from the circumstance of their being situated in the neighbourhood of the town-wall and its arches; for which reason the women were also calledSummoenianae(women of the Summoenium,—district under the walls). Martial, XI. 62., III. 82., I. 35., XII. 32. Or should we say thatfornixwas formed from πορνικὸν?

175Adler, “Beschreibung der Stadt Rom,” (Description of the City of Rome), pp. 144 sqq.

176Martial, bk. VII. Epigr. 30., bk. X. Epigr. 94.

177Martial, bk. II. Epigr. 17.

178Hence Martial’s expression (XII. 18.), clamosa Subura (the clamorous Subura).

179Horace, Satir. I. 2. 30., Contra alius nullam nisi olenti in fornice stantem. (On the other hand another man cares for no woman but such as stand in the foul-smelling brothel).—Priapeia,Quilibet huc, licebit, intretNigra fornicis oblitus favilla.(All that please, none will say nay, may enter here, smeared with the black spot of the brothel).—Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, bk. II., spurcam redolente fornice cellam, (a filthy chamber in the stinking brothel).—Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Redoles adhuc fuliginem fornicis. (You reek still of the soot of the brothel).—Juvenal, Sat VI. 130., says of the Empress Messalina:Obscurisque genis turpis, fumoque lucernaeFoeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar odorem.(And disfigured and dim-eyed, fouled with the smoke of the lamp, she bore back the stink of the brothel to the imperial couch).

179Horace, Satir. I. 2. 30., Contra alius nullam nisi olenti in fornice stantem. (On the other hand another man cares for no woman but such as stand in the foul-smelling brothel).—Priapeia,

Quilibet huc, licebit, intretNigra fornicis oblitus favilla.

Quilibet huc, licebit, intret

Nigra fornicis oblitus favilla.

(All that please, none will say nay, may enter here, smeared with the black spot of the brothel).—Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, bk. II., spurcam redolente fornice cellam, (a filthy chamber in the stinking brothel).—Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Redoles adhuc fuliginem fornicis. (You reek still of the soot of the brothel).—Juvenal, Sat VI. 130., says of the Empress Messalina:

Obscurisque genis turpis, fumoque lucernaeFoeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar odorem.

Obscurisque genis turpis, fumoque lucernae

Foeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar odorem.

(And disfigured and dim-eyed, fouled with the smoke of the lamp, she bore back the stink of the brothel to the imperial couch).

180Juvenal, Sat. VI. 122., 127.—Petronius, Sat. 8.—Lipsius, Saturn. I. 14. Hence Cella and Cellae (chambers) are constantly used in the sense of lupanar (brothel).

181Martial, bk. XI. 46., Intrasti quoties inscripta limina cellae, (As oft as you have crossed the thresholds of a “chamber” with inscription over).Seneca, Controv., bk. I. 2., Deducta es in lupanar, accepisti locum, pretium constitutum est,titulusinscriptus est, (You were taken away to a brothel, you received your stand, your price was fixed,your name written up).—Meretrix vocata es, in communi loco stetisti,superpositus est cellae tuae titulus, venientes recepisti, (You were called a harlot, you took your stand in a public brothel,your name-ticket was put up above your chamber, you received such as came).—Nomen tuum pedendit in fronte, pretia stupri accepisti, et manus, quae diis datura erat sacra, capturas tulit, (Your name hung on your door, you took the price of fornication, and your hand, that was meant to offer sacred gifts to the gods, held the fees). This last passage interpreters have wished to understand as if the name-ticket were fastened on the woman’s forehead; but, not to mention that in this casetibiwould have to be read fortuum, it is a perfectly well known fact thatfrons(front, forehead) was used in Latin for the face of a door (Ovid, Fasti, I. 135., Omnis habet geminas, hinc atque hinc, ianua frontes, (Every door has two faces, inside and out).Senecasayspependit(it hung there), and afterwards is promoted onto the list of the Leno (Brothel-keeper)!

182This is seen most clearly from the following passage in the “Vita Apollonii Tyrii”, (Life of Apollonius of Tyre), p. 695., Puella ait, prosternens se ad pedes eius: miserere, domine, virginitatis meae, ne prostituas hoc corpus sub tam turpi titulo. Leno vocavit villicum puellarum et ait, ancilla, quae praesens est et exornetur diligenter et scribatur et titulus, quicunque Tarsiam deviolaverit, mediam liberam dabit: postea ad singulos solidos populo patebit. (Says the girl, throwing herself at his feet: “Sir! have pity on my maidenhood, and do not prostitute this fair body under so ugly a name.” The Brothel-keeper (Leno) called the Superintendent (villicus) of the girls and says, “Let the maid here present be decked out with every care, and a name-ticket written for her; the man that takes Tarsia’s virginity shall pay half a “libera” (?), afterwards she shall be at the disposal of all comers at a “solidus” or “aureus”, gold coin worth 25 denarii, say 20 shillings—each). So we see even in the name there prevailed a certain luxury; and a young girl of handsome person would fain have a handsome-sounding name to match.

183PetroniusSatir. 20.—Barth, on Claudian, note 1173.—Martial, XIV. 148., 152.—Juvenal, VI. 194. From this the women themselves were often calledlodices meretrices(blanket harlots) in contradistinction to the Street-walkers.

184Martial, XIV. 39-42. XI. 105.—Apuleius, Metam., V. p. 162.—Horace, Satir. II. 7. v. 48.—Juvenal, Sat. VI. 131.—Tertullian, Ad Uxor., II. 6., Dei ancilla in laribus alienis—et procedet de ianua laureata et lucernata, ut de novo consistorio libidinum publicarum, (The handmaid of God in strange dwellings,—and she shall go forth from the door that is laurel-decked and lamp-lit, as it were from a new assembly-hall of public lusts), where the expressionconsistorium libidinum(assembly-hall of lusts) for brothel is noticeable.

185Petronius, Satir. 95., Vos me hercule ne mercedem cellae daretis, (Ye would not, by heavens, give even the hire of the chamber). The fee amounted usually to an As.Petronius, Satir. 8., Iam pro cella meretrix assem exegerat, (Already had the harlot demanded the As for the chamber).Martial, I. 104., Constat et asse Venus, (And an As is the recognised price of Love). II. 53., Si plebeia Venus gemino tibi vincitur asse, (If you win for yourself a base-born Love for a couple of Asses). Comp. the inscription inGruter, “Inscript. antiq. totius orbis Romani”, (Ancient Inscriptions of the whole Roman world). Amsterdam 1616., No. DCLII. 1.—HeinsiusonOvid, Remedium Amoris 407.

186Seneca, Controv. I. 2., Nuda in litore stetit ad fastidium emptoris, omnes partes corporis et inspectae et contrectatae sunt. Vultis auctionis exitum audire? Vendit pirata, emit leno.—Ita raptae pepercere piratae, ut lenoni venderetur: sic emit leno, ut prostituerit. (Naked she stood on the shore at the pleasure of the purchaser; every part of her body was examined and felt. Would you hear the result of the sale? The pirate sold, the pandar bought.—For this the pirates spared their captive, that she might be sold to a pandar; for this the pandar bought her, that he might employ her as a prostitute).—Quintilian, Declam. III., Leno etiam servis excipitur, fortasse hac lege captivos vendes, (A pandar too is supplied with slaves; perhaps in this way you will sell your captives).—Lex § 1. de in ius vocando: Prostituta contra legem venditionis venditorem habet patronum, si hac lege venierat, ut, si prostituta esset, fieret libera, (Law § 1. Of the right of appeal: A female slave prostituted contrary to the condition of sale has the seller for patron, if she was sold on this condition, that, should she be prostituted, she should become free). These sales took place in the Subura.Martial, VI. 66.

187Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Stetisti cum meretricibus, stetisti sic ornata ut populo placere posses,ea veste quam leno dederat, (You stood with the harlots, you stood decked out so as to please the public, wearing the dress that the leno had given you). The dress of the public women was always gay-coloured and very bold; they had to wear the male toga (gown).Cicero, Philipp. II., Sompsisti virilem togam, quam statim muliebrem reddidisti. Primo vulgare scortum: certa flagitii merces, nec ea parva. (You assumed the man’s toga, which straightway you made a woman’s. First a common strumpet; sure was the profit of your shame, and not small either.)—Tibullus, IV. 10.Martial, II. 30. Hence public women were also calledtogatae(wearing the toga or man’s gown).Martial, VI. 64.Horace, Sat I. 2. 63., Quid interest in matrona, ancilla, peccesque togata? (What difference does it make whether it is with a married woman, or a serving-maid, or a toga’d harlot (togata), that you offend?) Ibidem 80-83.,Nec magis huic inter niveos viridesque lapillos(Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum,) tenerum est femur aut crusRectius; atque etiam melius persaepetogatae est.(Nor amidst all her showy gems and green jewels is her thigh more soft (though it is your belief, Cerinthus, that it is) or her leg straighter; nay! very often that of the toga’d harlot is the better limb).It is well-known what troubleBentleygave himself to explain thislocus implicatissimus(most intricate passage), as he calls it, because he supposed the common reading to be corrupt and accordingly altered the text, all to bring out a comparison of Cerinthus’ thigh—a comparison that never was in Horace’s mind at all. Several years ago in our Work, “De Sexuali Organismorum Fabrica,” (On the Sexual Fabric of Organisms), Spec. I., Halle 1832. large 8vo., p. 61., we disentangled the matter and showed exactly how it stood, proving that the “Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum” (Though this be your (opinion), Cerinthus) must be taken as a parenthesis, consequently that the usual reading is the right one. But as the book would seem to have come into few hands, and least of all into those of Philologists, we may be allowed to take this opportunity of once more developing our view. The comparison is between the matron and the “togata”, and it is maintained that the matron, i. e. the noble Roman lady, possesses for all her jewelry neither a softer thigh nor a straighter leg than the “togata”, the girl of common stamp; that the latter in fact can often make a better show of both, even though her leg is as crooked as the matron’s is,—a peculiarity thateveryfemale leg has, because in a woman the knee projects more forwards.Aristotle, Hist. Anim., IV. 11. 6., even in his time notes this fact: τὸ θῆλυ τῶν ἀῤῥένων καὶ γονυκροτώτερον. (the female is more knock-kneed also than the male). Comp. same author’s Physiognom., 3. 5. 6.Adamant., Physiognom., II. 107. ed. Sylb.Polemo, Physiognom., p. 179. Anatomical investigation moreover proves this most clearly. But as Cerinthus seems to be ignorant of it, in spite of its being a well known Act, he lets himself be deluded by the outward magnificence of attire and distinguished birth, and believes the matron to be the better built, and it is for this mistake the poet taunts him. Horace in this passage is merely giving a commentary on v. 63 above. Now compare whatPlautus, Mostell., I. 3. 13, makes Scopha say to Philemation, Non vestem amatores mulieris amant, sed vestis fartum (’Tis not the dress of a woman that lovers love, but theliningof the dress); alsoMartial, III. Epigr. 33.; and the folly ofCerinthusis made quite obvious. The phrase—Sit licet hoc tuum (Though this be yours) in the sense, “though you look at it this way, take the dazzle of jewels as the criterion of a woman’s beauty”, surely needs no further confirmation.

Nec magis huic inter niveos viridesque lapillos(Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum,) tenerum est femur aut crusRectius; atque etiam melius persaepetogatae est.

Nec magis huic inter niveos viridesque lapillos

(Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum,) tenerum est femur aut crus

Rectius; atque etiam melius persaepetogatae est.

(Nor amidst all her showy gems and green jewels is her thigh more soft (though it is your belief, Cerinthus, that it is) or her leg straighter; nay! very often that of the toga’d harlot is the better limb).

It is well-known what troubleBentleygave himself to explain thislocus implicatissimus(most intricate passage), as he calls it, because he supposed the common reading to be corrupt and accordingly altered the text, all to bring out a comparison of Cerinthus’ thigh—a comparison that never was in Horace’s mind at all. Several years ago in our Work, “De Sexuali Organismorum Fabrica,” (On the Sexual Fabric of Organisms), Spec. I., Halle 1832. large 8vo., p. 61., we disentangled the matter and showed exactly how it stood, proving that the “Sit licet hoc, Cerinthe, tuum” (Though this be your (opinion), Cerinthus) must be taken as a parenthesis, consequently that the usual reading is the right one. But as the book would seem to have come into few hands, and least of all into those of Philologists, we may be allowed to take this opportunity of once more developing our view. The comparison is between the matron and the “togata”, and it is maintained that the matron, i. e. the noble Roman lady, possesses for all her jewelry neither a softer thigh nor a straighter leg than the “togata”, the girl of common stamp; that the latter in fact can often make a better show of both, even though her leg is as crooked as the matron’s is,—a peculiarity thateveryfemale leg has, because in a woman the knee projects more forwards.Aristotle, Hist. Anim., IV. 11. 6., even in his time notes this fact: τὸ θῆλυ τῶν ἀῤῥένων καὶ γονυκροτώτερον. (the female is more knock-kneed also than the male). Comp. same author’s Physiognom., 3. 5. 6.Adamant., Physiognom., II. 107. ed. Sylb.Polemo, Physiognom., p. 179. Anatomical investigation moreover proves this most clearly. But as Cerinthus seems to be ignorant of it, in spite of its being a well known Act, he lets himself be deluded by the outward magnificence of attire and distinguished birth, and believes the matron to be the better built, and it is for this mistake the poet taunts him. Horace in this passage is merely giving a commentary on v. 63 above. Now compare whatPlautus, Mostell., I. 3. 13, makes Scopha say to Philemation, Non vestem amatores mulieris amant, sed vestis fartum (’Tis not the dress of a woman that lovers love, but theliningof the dress); alsoMartial, III. Epigr. 33.; and the folly ofCerinthusis made quite obvious. The phrase—Sit licet hoc tuum (Though this be yours) in the sense, “though you look at it this way, take the dazzle of jewels as the criterion of a woman’s beauty”, surely needs no further confirmation.

188Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Da mihi lenonis rationes; captura conveniet. (Give me the brothel-keeper’s accounts; the fee will suit).

189Seneca, Controv., I. 2., Deducta es in lupanar, accepisti locum,pretium constitutum est. (You were taken to a brothel, you took your place, your price was fixed).Ovid, Amores, I. 10., Stat meretrix cuiviscertomercabilis aere. (There stands the harlot that any man can buy for afixedsum). The fee was calledcaptura(fee) (compareSchulting, on Seneca, loco citato, andCasaubonon Suetonius, Caligula 40.),quaestus meretricius(harlot’s hire) (Cicero, Philipp. II. 18.) or simplyquaestus(hire);merces(cost) andpretium stupri(price of fornication);aurum lustrale(brothel, literallyden, money). The women used to demand its payment.Juvenal, Sat. VI. 125. Excepit blanda intrantes atque aera poposcit. (Blandly she welcomed her visitors as they entered and asked for the fee). Hence the expression “basia meretricum poscinummia” (harlots kisses that ask for money) inApuleius, Met., X. p. 248. For the rest prices were very various among the brothel-harlots as they were with the others. Comp.Martial, X. 75., IX. 33., III. 54. The lowest fee was one As or 2 obols (three pence); hence girls of the sort were called by the Romans alsodiobolares meretrices(two-obol harlots) (Festus) ordiobolaria scorta(two-obol whores) (Plautus, Poen., I. 2. 58.). Comp. p. 90 above.

190Plautus, Trinum., IV. 2. 47., Quae adversum legem accepisti a plurimis pecuniam. (You who contrary to the regulation accepted money from a great many men).

191Hence the women were also calledNonariae(Ninth-hour women).Persius, Sat. I. 133. The Scholiast observes on the passage: Nonaria dicta meretrix, quia apud veteres a nona hora prostabant, ne mane omissa exercitatione illo irent adolescentes. (A harlot was called “Nonaria”, because in former times they used to act as prostitutes from the ninth hour only, for fear the young men should resort thither in the morning to the neglect of their athletic exercises).

192Nonius Marcellus, V. § 8., Intermeretricemetprostibulumhoc interest: quod meretrix honestioris loci est et quaestus: nammeretricesa merendo dictae sunt, quod copiam sui tantummodo noctu facerent:prostibula, quod ante stabulum stent quaestus diurni et nocturni causa. (This is the difference between ameretrix(harlot) and aprostibulum(common strumpet): a meretrix is of a more honorable station and calling; formeretriceswere so named amerendo(from earning wages), because they plied their calling only by night;prostibula, because they stand before thestabulum(stall, “chamber”) for gain both by day and night).—Plautus, Cistell. fragm., Adstat ea in via sola: prostibula sane est. (She stands there in the way alone: surely she is aprostibula—common whore).

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