COURTESANS

Form: called in Latin meretrices

were tolerated in Rome as in Greece; and no objection was raised to the intercourse of unmarried men with these persons. They were under the charge of the aediles, and from the time of Caligula they had to pay a tax to the imperial exchequer. Steeped as they were in infamy, the law even refused to accept their testimony as valid. They were distinguishable from respectable women by their costume; they wore neither stola nor palla, but a shorter tunic without fringe, over which was a toga of darker colour; they were not permitted to adopt the characteristic head-gear of matrons. In the best times the trade was only carried on by slaves and freed-women, but afterwards by free-born women also.