[180] _Juvenal_, Sat. VI. 122., 127.—_Petronius_, Sat. 8.—_Lipsius_, Saturn. I. 14. Hence Cella and Cellae (chambers) are constantly used in the sense of lupanar (brothel).
[181] _Martial_, bk. XI. 46., Intrasti quoties inscripta limina cellae, (As oft as you have crossed the thresholds of a “chamber” with inscription over). _Seneca_, Controv., bk. I. 2., Deducta es in lupanar, accepisti locum, pretium constitutum est, _titulus_ inscriptus est, (You were taken away to a brothel, you received your stand, your price was fixed, _your name written up_).—Meretrix vocata es, in communi loco stetisti, _superpositus est cellae tuae titulus_, venientes recepisti, (You were called a harlot, you took your stand in a public brothel, _your name-ticket was put up above your chamber_, you received such as came).—Nomen tuum pedendit in fronte, pretia stupri accepisti, et manus, quae diis datura erat sacra, capturas tulit, (Your name hung on your door, you took the price of fornication, and your hand, that was meant to offer sacred gifts to the gods, held the fees). This last passage interpreters have wished to understand as if the name-ticket were fastened on the woman’s forehead; but, not to mention that in this case _tibi_ would have to be read for _tuum_, it is a perfectly well known fact that _frons_ (front, forehead) was used in Latin for the face of a door (_Ovid_, Fasti, I. 135., Omnis habet geminas, hinc atque hinc, ianua frontes, (Every door has two faces, inside and out). _Seneca_ says _pependit_ (it hung there), and afterwards is promoted onto the list of the Leno (Brothel-keeper)!
[182] This is seen most clearly from the following passage in the “Vita Apollonii Tyrii”, (Life of Apollonius of Tyre), p. 695., Puella ait, prosternens se ad pedes eius: miserere, domine, virginitatis meae, ne prostituas hoc corpus sub tam turpi titulo. Leno vocavit villicum puellarum et ait, ancilla, quae praesens est et exornetur diligenter et scribatur et titulus, quicunque Tarsiam deviolaverit, mediam liberam dabit: postea ad singulos solidos populo patebit. (Says the girl, throwing herself at his feet: “Sir! have pity on my maidenhood, and do not prostitute this fair body under so ugly a name.” The Brothel-keeper (Leno) called the Superintendent (villicus) of the girls and says, “Let the maid here present be decked out with every care, and a name-ticket written for her; the man that takes Tarsia’s virginity shall pay half a “libera” (?), afterwards she shall be at the disposal of all comers at a “solidus” or “aureus”, gold coin worth 25 denarii, say 20 shillings—each). So we see even in the name there prevailed a certain luxury; and a young girl of handsome person would fain have a handsome-sounding name to match.