The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
(The brothel and greasy cookshop make you long for the city, I can
see; and the fact that this little nook (i.e. Horace’s Sabine farm)
will yield the pepper-plant and thyme sooner than the grape, and
no neighbourly tavern is at hand to give you wine, and no harlot
flute-player to whose din you may thump the floor with your heavy
feet). _Martial_, VII. 60., complains of the great number of such
places. Here and at the money changer’s shops, but especially the
latter, the Procurers were to be found. _Plautus_, Trucul. I. 1. 47.,
Nam nusquam alibi si sunt, circum argentarias
Scorti lenones quasi sedent quotidie.
(For if they are nowhere else, at any rate round the banks harlots
and pandars sit as it were daily). Comp. _Stockmann_ “De Popinis” (Of
Cookshops). Leipzig 1805. 8vo.
[202] Codex Theodos. bk. IX. tit. VII. 1. p. 60. edit. Ritter.
[203] _Horace_, Epodes, XVII. 20., Amata nautis multum et institoribus
(A woman much loved by sailors and traders).—_Petronius_, Satir.
99.—_Juvenal_, Sat. VIII. 173-175. _Seneca_, Controv., I. 3.
[204] _Columella_, Res Rustica, I. ch. 8., Socors et somniculosum
genus id mancipiorum, otiis, campo, circo, theatris, aleae, popinae,
lupanaribus consuetum, nunquam non easdem ineptias somniat. (That
slothful and sleepy tribe of domestic slaves, habituated to ease,
games, circus, theatres, dice, cookshop, brothels, would ever be
dreaming the same sort of follies).
[205] _Suetonius_, Claudius, ch. 40., Nero, ch. 27—_Tacitus_, Annal.,
XIII. 25.
[206] _Paulus Diaconus_, XIII. 2., Horum mancipes tempore procedente
pistrina publica latrocinia esse fecerunt: cum enim essent molae
in locis subterraneis constitutae, per singula latera earum domuum
tabernas instituentes, meretrices in eis prostare faciebant, quatenus
per eas plurimos deciperent, alios qui pro pane veniebant, alios qui
pro luxuriae turpitudine ibi festinabant. (The owners of these as time
went on turned the public corn-mills into mischievous frauds. For the
mill-stones being fixed in places underground, they set up stalls on
either side of these chambers and caused harlots to stand for hire in
them, so that by their means they deceived very many,—some that came
for bread, others that hastened thither for the base gratification of
their wantonness).
[207] _Festus_, p. 7., Alicariae meretrices appellabantur in Campania
solitae ante pistrina alicariorum versari quaestus gratia. (Harlots
were called alicariae (spelt-mill girls) in Campania, being accustomed
to ply for gain in front of the mills of the spelt-millers).—_Plautus_,
Poenul., I. 2. 54., Prosedas, pistorum amicas, reliquias alicarias.
(Common strumpets, bakers’ mistresses, refuse of the spelt-mill girls).
[208] _Catullus_, LVIII. 1.,
Illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam
Plusquam se atque suos amavit omnes,
Nunc in quadriviis et angiportis
Glubit magnanimos Remi nepotes.
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