Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

Roman morality, and for noble women to be acting (in both senses…) as
prostitutes is utterly appalling. Note how they appear in the midst of low,
seedy vocabulary: lupanaria and, in the next sentence, scorta (‘whores’). Also,
Tacitus does not simply say that there were noble women in the brothel:
they were filled (completa) with them.
contra is here used as an
adverb, not a preposition; scorta is the subject of the sentence. 142 nudis
corporibus, delayed emphatically to the end, paints a vivid and rude picture
and completes the inversions of proper female conduct that Nero’s orgy
apparently celebrated: ‘Facing each other on the banks of Agrippa’s lake
were upper-class women and low-class prostitutes (37. 3). Normally the
former would be parading themselves, behaviour to which inlustribus
perhaps partly alludes; but scorta visebantur suggests that the feminae are
indoors, as the reference to their housing implies (‘lupanaria adstabant ...
completa’). Conversely, the nakedness of the scorta would normally mean
that they were out of sight; yet it is they who are on display (visebantur).
These paradoxes and reversals lead to another. Since the scorta are naked
(nudis corporibus), the suggestion is that the feminae are clothed; and, since
the feminae are also inlustres, there is a contrast between their presumed haute
couture and their incongruous surroundings (lupanaria).’ 143 Put differently,
in the topsy-turvey world Nero created what ought to be out is in, what out
to be in is out; what should be in sight isn’t, and what is oughtn’t.
[Extra information:
With Tacitus’ account, compare Suetonius, Nero 27.2–3, who sketches
a general picture of debauchery: Epulas a medio die ad mediam noctem
protrahebat, refotus saepius calidis piscinis ac tempore aestivo nivatis; cenitabatque
nonnumquam et in publico, naumachia praeclusa vel Martio campo vel Circo
Maximo, inter scortorum totius urbis et ambubaiarum ministeria. quotiens Ostiam
Tiberi deflueret aut Baianum sinum praeternavigaret, dispositae per litora et ripas
deversoriae tabernae parabantur insignes ganea et matronarum institorio copas
imitantium atque hinc inde hortantium ut appelleret. indicebat et familiaribus
cenas, quorum uni mitellita quadragies sestertium constitit, alteri pluris aliquanto
rosaria. (‘He prolonged his revels from midday to midnight, often livening
142 For Latin terms for ‘prostitute’ see Adams (1983).
143 Woodman (1998) 175–76.