The Satyricon — Volume 06: Editor's NotesPetronius Arbiter
General
The Satyricon — Volume 06: Editor's Notes
Petronius Arbiter
Rome -- Fiction; Satire, Latin -- Translations into English
The parasite was assiduous in his attention to the
courtesan, as procuring through her means, more easy access to his
patrons, and was probably rewarded by them both, for the gratification
which he obtained for the vices of the one and the avarice of the other.
The licensed houses seem to have been of two kinds: those owned and
managed by a pandar, and those in which the latter was merely an agent,
renting rooms and doing everything in his power to supply his renters
with custom. The former were probably the more respectable. In these
pretentious houses, the owner kept a secretary, villicus puellarum, or
superintendent of maids; this official assigned a girl her name, fixed
the price to be demanded for her favors, received the money and provided
clothing and other necessities: "you stood with the harlots, you stood
decked out to please the public, wearing the costume the pimp had
furnished you"; Seneca, Controv. i, 2. Not until this traffic had become
profitable, did procurers and procuresses (for women also carried on this
trade) actually keep girls whom they bought as slaves: "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, that he might employ her as a
prostitute"; Seneca, Controv. lib. i, 2. It was also the duty of the
villicus, or cashier, to keep an account of what each girl earned: "give
me the brothel-keeper's accounts, the fee will suit" (Ibid.)
When an applicant registered with the aedile, she gave her correct name,
her age, place of birth, and the pseudonym under which she intended
practicing her calling. (Plautus, Poen.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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