Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/148

 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 ædile, she gave her correct name, her age, place of birth, and the pseudonym under which she intended practicing her calling. (Plautus, Pæn.)

If the girl was young and apparently respectable, the official sought to influence her to change her mind; Rh