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).
[180] Juvenal, 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).
[181] Martial, 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, titulus inscriptus 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 case tibi would have to be read for tuum, it is a perfectly well known fact that frons (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). Seneca says pependit (it hung there), and afterwards is promoted onto the list of the Leno (Brothel-keeper)!
[182] This 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.
[183] Petronius Satir. 20.—Barth, on Claudian, note 1173.—Martial, XIV. 148., 152.—Juvenal, VI. 194. From this the women themselves were often called lodices meretrices (blanket harlots) in contradistinction to the Street-walkers.
[184] Martial, 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 expression consistorium libidinum (assembly-hall of lusts) for brothel is noticeable.
[185] Petronius, 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 in Gruter, “Inscript. antiq. totius orbis Romani”, (Ancient Inscriptions of the whole Roman world). Amsterdam 1616., No. DCLII. 1.—Heinsius on Ovid, Remedium Amoris 407.
[186] Seneca, 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.
[187] Seneca, 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 called togatae (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.,