Nondum linga suum, dextra peregit opus."
Lib. 14, Epig. 208.
[8] In imitation of the Auburn (American) prison, the Middlesex magistrates, in their judicial wisdom, have adopted an entirely opposite system; by imposing an awful silence in their house of correction. This penance must press sorely on the criminals of the softer sex, to whom tea and conversation (errors excepted) constitute the principal comforts of life. Catullus seems to allude to this infernal art of exasperating the miseries of incarceration.
"Nulla fugæ ratio, nulla spes: OMNIA MUTA,
Omnia sunt deserta: ostentant omnia Lethum."