Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/138

 the second century B. C. (Livy xxxix, 9–17), and the comedies of Plautus and Terence, in which the pandar and the harlot are familiar characters. Cicero, Pro Cælio, chap. xx, says: “If there is anyone who holds the opinion that young men should be interdicted from intrigues with the women of the town, he is indeed austere! That, ethically, he is in the right, I cannot deny: but nevertheless, he is at loggerheads not only with the licence of the present age, but even with the habits of our ancestors and what they permitted themselves. For when was this done? When was it rebuked? When found fault with?” The Floralia, first introduced about 238 B. C., had a powerful influence in giving impetus to the spread of prostitution. The account of the origin of this festival, given by Lactantius, while no credence is to be placed in it, is very interesting. “When Flora, through the practice of prostitution, had come into great wealth, she made the people her heir, and bequeathed a certain fund, the income of which was to be used to celebrate her birthday by the exhibition of the games they call the Floralia” (Instit. Divin. xx, 6). In chapter x of the same book, he describes the manner in which they were celebrated: “They were solemnized with every form of licentiousness. For in addition to the freedom of speech that pours forth Rh