Note 208 — FIRST SECTION.
Reading edition
Catullus, LVIII. 1.,
Illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam Plusquam se atque suos amavit omnes, Nunc in quadriviis et angiportis Glubit magnanimos Remi nepotes.
(The fair Lesbia, that Catullus loved above all women, more than himself and all his friends, now at cross-ways and in alleys skins the high-souled sons of Remus). We see from this that it was partly such freed-women girls that, past their prime and come down in the world, no longer visited by rich admirers, had to seek their living on the streets.—Plautus, Cistell.,
Intro ad bonam meretricem; adstat ea in via Sola; prostibula sane est.
(I am going in to a “good” harlot; she stands in the road alone,—she is surely a common whore).—Plautus, Sticho: Prostibuli est stantem stanti suavium dare, (It’s a strumpet’s way to give a kiss standing to a standing lover); whence it might be concluded that only street-whores were called “Prostibula”.—Prudentius, Peristeph., XIV. 38.,
Sic elocutam publicitus iubet Flexu in plutea sistere virginem.
(When she had uttered this public address, he bids the maiden stand at the turn of the street).