The best houses were abundantly supplied with servants and luxuries. A swarm of pimps and runners sought custom for them in every part of the city. Women--_ancillæ ornatrices_--were in readiness to repair with skill the ravages which amorous conflicts caused in the toilets of the prostitutes. Boys--_bacariones_--attended at the door of the cell with water for ablution. Servants, who bore the inconsistent title of _aquarii_, were ready to supply wine and other refreshments to customers. And not a few of the lupinaria kept a cashier, called _villicus_, whose business it was to discuss bargains with visitors, and to receive the money before turning the tablet. Under many public and some of the best private houses at Rome were arches, the tops of which were only a few feet above the level of the street. These arches, dark and deserted, became a refuge for prostitutes. Their name, _fornices_, at last became synonymous with _lupanar_, and we have borrowed from it our generic word fornication.[101] There is reason to believe that there were several score of arches of this character, and used for this purpose, under the great circus and other theatres at Rome,[102] besides those under dwelling-houses and stores. The want of fresh air was severely felt in these vile abodes. Frequent allusions to the stench exhaled from the mouth of a fornix are made in the Roman authors.[103] Establishments of a lower character still were the _pergulæ_, in which the girls occupied a balcony above the street; the _stabula_, where no cells were used, and promiscuous intercourse took place openly;[104] the _turturilla_, or pigeon-houses;[105] the _casauria_, or suburb houses of the very lowest stamp. The clearest picture of a Roman house of ill fame is that given in the famous passage of Juvenal, which may be allowed to remain in the original. The female, it need hardly be added, was Messalina: "Dormire virum quum senserat uxor, Ausa Palatino tegetem præferre cubili, Sumere nocturnas meretrix Augusta cucullos, Linquebat comite ancilla non amplius una, Sed _nigrum flavo crinem abscondente galero_, Intravit calidum veteri centone lupanar, Et _cellam vacuam_ atque suam. Tune nuda capillis Constitit auratis, titulum mentita Lyciscæ, _Ostendit que tuum_, generose Britannice, ventrem. Excepit blanda intrantes, atque _æra poposcit_, Et resupina jacens multorum absorbuit ictus. _Mox lenone suas jam dimittente puellas_, Tristris abit, et quod potuit, tamen ultima cellam Clausit, adhuc ardens rigidæ tentigine vulvæ, Et lassata viris necdum satiata recessit; Obscurrisque genis turpis fumoque lucernæ Foeda lupanaris tulit ad pulvinar adorem."[106]