Satyricon, vol 6, Editors Notes | Page 9

stealing fruit under
penalty of being assaulted from the rear, and the God adds that, should
this punishment hold no terrors, there is still the possibility that his
mentule may be used as a club by the irate landowner. Again, in
Catullus, 100, the Roman paederasty shows itself "Caelius loves
Aufilenus and Quintus loves Aufilena--madly." As we approach the
Christian era the picture darkens. Gibbon (vol. i, p. 313) remarks, in a
note, that "of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one
whose taste in love was entirely correct," but Claudius was a moron.
We come now to the bathing establishments. Their history in every
country is the same, in one respect: the spreading and fostering of
prostitution and paederastia. Cicero (Pro Coelio) accuses Clodia of
having deliberately chosen the site of her gardens with the purpose of
having a look at the young fellows who came to the Tiber to swim.
Catullus (xxxiii) speaks of the cimaedi who haunt the bathing
establishments: Suetonius (Tib. 43 and 44) records the desperate
expedients to which Tiberius had recourse to regain his exhausted
virility: the scene in Petronius (chap. 92). Martial (lib. i, 24)
"You invite no man but your bathing companion, Cotta, only the baths
supply you with a guest. I used to wonder why you never invited me,
now I know that you did not like the look of me naked." Juvenal (ix, 32
et seq.), "Destiny rules over mankind; the parts concealed by the front
of the tunic are controlled by the Fates; when Virro sees you naked and
in burning and frequent letters presses his ardent suit, with lips foaming
with desire; nothing will serve you so well as the unknown measure of
a long member." Lampridius (Heliogab. v), "At Rome, his principal
concern was to have emissaries everywhere, charged with seeking out
men with huge members; that they might bring them to him so that he
could enjoy their impressive proportions." The quotations given above
furnish a sufficient commentary upon the bathing establishments and
the reasons for lighting them. In happier times, they were badly lighted
as the apertures were narrow and could admit but little light. Seneca
(Epist. 86) describes the bath of Scipio: "In this bath of Scipio there
were tiny chinks, rather than windows, cut through the stone wall so as
to admit light without detriment to the shelter afforded; but men
nowadays call them 'baths-for-night-moths.'" Under the empire,

however, the bathing establishments were open to the eye of the
passer-by; lighted, as they were by immense windows. Seneca (Epist.
86), "But nowadays, any which are disposed in such a way as to let the
sunlight enter all day long, through immense windows; men call
baths-for-night-moths; if they are not sunburned as they wash, if they
cannot look out on the fields and sea from the pavement. Sweet clean
baths have been introduced, but the populace is only the more foul." In
former times, youth and age were not permitted to bathe together
(Valer. Max. ii, 7.), women and men used the same establishments, but
at different hours; later, however, promiscuous bathing was the order of
the day and men and women came more and more to observe that
precept, "noscetur e naso quanta sit hasta viro," which Joan of Naples
had always in mind. Long-nosed men were followed into the baths and
were the recipients of admiration wherever they were. As luxury
increased, these establishments were fitted up with cells and attendants
of both sexes, skilled in massage, were always kept upon the premises,
in the double capacity of masseurs and prostitutes (Martial, iii, 82, 13);
(Juvenal, vi, 428), "the artful masseur presses the clitoris with his
fingers and makes the upper part of his mistress thigh resound under his
hands." The aquarioli or water boys also included pandering in their
tour of duty (Juvenal, Sat. vi, 331) "some water carrier will come, hired
for the purpose," and many Roman ladies had their own slaves
accompany them to the baths to assist in the toilette: (Martial, vii, 3.4)
"a slave girt about the loins with a pouch of black leather stands by you
whenever you are washed all over with warn water," here, the mistress
is taking no chances, her rights are as carefully guarded as though the
slave were infibulated in place of having his generous virility concealed
within a leather pouch. (Claudianus, 18, 106) "he combed his mistress'
hair, and often, when she bathed, naked, he would bring water, to his
lady, in a silver ewer." Several of the emperors attempted to correct
these evils by executive order and legislation, Hadrian (Spartianus, Life
of Hadrian, chap. 18) "he assigned separate baths for the two sexes";
Marcus Aurelius (Capitolinus, Life of Marcus Antoninus, chap. 23) "he
abolished the mixed baths and