Satyricon, vol 6, Editors Notes | Page 6

turned the

public corn mills into pernicious frauds. For, as the mill stones were
fixed in places under ground, they set up booths on either side of these
chambers and caused harlots to stand for hire in them, so that by these
means they deceived very many,--some that came for bread, others that
hastened thither for the base gratification of their wantonness." From a
passage in Festus, it would seem that this was first put into practice in
Campania:--"harlots were called 'aelicariae', 'spelt-mill girls, in
Campania, being accustomed to ply for gain before the mills of the
spelt- millers." "Common strumpets, bakers' mistresses, refuse the
spelt-mill girls," says Plautus, i, ii, 54.
There are few languages which are richer in pornographic terminology
than the Latin.
Meretrix--Nomus Marcellus has pointed out the difference between this
class of prostitutes and the prostibula. "This is the difference between a
meretrix (harlot) and a prostibula (common strumpet): a meretrix is of a
more honorable station and calling; for meretrices are so named a
merendo (from earning wages) because they plied their calling only by
night; prostibulu because they stand before the stabulum (stall) for gain
both by day and night."
Prostibula--She who stands in front of her cell or stall.
Proseda--She who sits in front of her cell or stall. She who later became
the Empress Theodora belonged to this class, if any credit is to be given
to Procopius.
Nonariae--She that is forbidden to appear before the ninth hour.
Mimae--Mime players. They were almost invariably prostitutes.
Cymbalistriae--Cymbal players. They were almost invariably
prostitutes.
Ambubiae--Singing girls. They were almost invariably prostitutes.
Citharistriae--Harpists. They were almost invariably prostitutes.
Scortum--A strumpet. Secrecy is implied, but the word has a broad
usage.
Scorta erratica | Clandestine strumpets who were street walkers.
Secuteleia |
Busturiae--Tomb frequenters and hangers-on at funerals.
Copae--Bar maids.
Delicatae--Kept mistresses.
Famosae--Soiled doves from respectable families.

Doris--Harlots of great beauty. They wore no clothing.
Lupae--She wolves. Some authorities affirm that this name was given
them because of a peculiar wolflike cry they uttered, and others assert
that the generic was bestowed upon then because their rapacity rivalled
that of the wolf. Servius, however, in his commentary on Virgil, has
assigned a much more improper and filthy reason for the name; he
alludes to the manner in which the wolf who mothered Rotnulus and
Reinus licked their bodies with her tongue, and this hint is sufficient to
confirm him in his belief that the lupa; were not less skilled in lingual
gymnastics. See Lemaire's Virgil, vol. vi, p. 521; commentary of
Servius on AEneid, lib. viii, 631.
AElicariae--Bakers' girls.
Noctiluae--Night walkers.
Blitidae--A very low class deriving their name from a cheap drink sold
in the dens they frequented.
Forariae--Country girls who frequented the roads.
Gallinae--Thieving prostitutes, because after the manner of hens,
prostitutes take anything and scatter everything.
Diobolares--Two obol girls. So called from their price.
Amasiae, also in the diminutive--Girls devoted to Venus. Their best
expression in modern society would be the "vamps."
Amatrix--Female lover, frequently in male part.
Amica--Female friend, frequently a tribad.
Quadrantariae--The lowest class of all. Their natural charms were no
longer merchantable. She of whom Catullus speaks in connection with
the lofty souled descendants of Remus was of this stripe.
From many passages in the ancient authors it is evident that harlots
stood naked at the doors of their cells: "I saw some men prowling
stealthily between the rows of name-boards and naked prostitutes,"
Petronius, chap. 7. "She entered the brothel, cozy with its crazy- quilt,
and the empty cell--her own. Then, naked she stands, with gilded
nipples, beneath the tablet of the pretended Lysisca," Juvenal, Sat. vi,
121 et seq. In some cases they had recourse to a gossamer tissue of silk
gauze, as was formerly the custom in Paris, Chicago, and San Francisco.
"The matron has no softer thigh nor has she a more beautiful leg," says
Horace, Sat. I, ii, "though the setting be one of pearls and emeralds
(with all due respect to thy opinion, Cerinthus), the togaed plebeian's is

often the finer, and, in addition, the beauties of figure are not
camouflaged; that which is for sale, if honest, is shown openly, whereas
deformity seeks concealment. It is the custom among kings that, when
buying horses, they inspect them in the open, lest, as is often the case, a
beautiful head is sustained by a tender hoof and the eager purchaser
may be seduced by shapely hocks, a short head, or an arching neck. Are
these experts right in this? Thou canst appraise a figure with the eyes of
Lynceus and discover its beauties; though blinder than Hypoesea
herself thou canst see what deformities there are. Ah, what a leg! What
arms! But how thin her buttocks are, in very truth what a huge nose she
has, she's short-waisted,