She teaches her, when letters have been sent by a corruptor, to write back nothing rude or simple.
She deceives the guards or tames them with money; then, though her body is healthy, she calls in Archigenes and tosses off the heavy blankets.
Meanwhile, the adulterer lies hidden and secret, and impatient of delay, he keeps silent and masturbates.
§6.239scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos §6.240atque alios mores quam quos habet? utile porro
Of course, do you expect a mother to hand down decent morals, or any others than those she herself has?
§6.241filiolam turpi vetulae producere turpem.
It is useful, furthermore, for a shameful old woman to bring up a shameful little daughter.
There is almost no case in which a woman has not started the lawsuit.
accusat Manilia, si rea non est.
Manilia accuses, if she is not the defendant.
§6.244conponunt ipsae per se formantque libellos, §6.245principium atque locos Celso dictare paratae.
They themselves compose and shape the briefs on their own, ready to dictate the opening and the points to Celsus himself.
§6.246Endromidas Tyrias et femineum ceroma
Who does not know of the Tyrian wraps and the women's wrestling oil?
§6.247quis nescit, vel quis non vidit vulnera pali, §6.248quem cavat adsiduis rudibus scutoque lacessit §6.249atque omnes implet numeros dignissima prorsus §6.250Florali matrona tuba, nisi si quid in illo §6.251pectore plus agitat veraeque paratur harenae,
Or who has not seen the wounds on the post, which she hollows out with constant wooden swords and attacks with her shield, and performs all the maneuvers, a matron thoroughly worthy of the horn of the Floralia, unless in that breast of hers she is planning something more and preparing for the real arena?
§6.252quem praestare potest mulier galeata pudorem, §6.253quae fugit a sexu? vires amat: haec tamen ipsa
What shame can a helmeted woman display, who flees from her sex?
§6.254vir nollet fieri, nam quantula nostra voluptas!
She loves strength; yet she herself would not want to become a man, for how small is our pleasure!
§6.255quale decus, rerum si coniugis auctio fiat, §6.256balteus et manicae et cristae crurisque sinistri
What glory, if an auction of your wife's things should take place— her belt, her gauntlets, her crests, and the half-armor for her left leg!
Or, if she engages in other battles, how lucky you are when your young woman sells her greaves!
These are the women who sweat in a thin dress, whose delicate skin is chafed by even a scrap of silk.
§6.261aspice quo fremitu monstratos perferat ictus §6.262et quanto galeae curvetur pondere, quanta §6.263poplitibus sedeat quam denso fascia libro, §6.264et ride positis scaphium cum sumitur armis.
Look with what a roar she delivers the thrusts she was taught, and under how great a weight of the helmet she bends, how great a bandage of thick bark sits on her knees, and laugh when, having laid down her arms, the chamber-pot is taken up.
§6.265dicite vos, neptes Lepidi caecive Metelli §6.266Gurgitis aut Fabii, quae ludia sumpserit umquam §6.267hos habitus, quando ad palum gemat uxor Asyli.
Tell us, granddaughters of Lepidus or of the blind Metellus or of Gurgis or Fabius, what gladiatrix ever assumed these garments, when the wife of Asylus groaned at the post?
§6.268Semper habet lites alternaque iurgia lectus §6.269in quo nupta iacet; minimum dormitur in illo.
The bed in which a bride lies always has lawsuits and mutual quarrels; there is very little sleep in it.
§6.270tum gravis illa viro, tunc orba tigride peior, §6.271cum simulat gemitus occulti conscia facti; §6.272aut odit pueros aut ficta paelice plorat, §6.273uberibus semper lacrimis semperque paratis §6.274in statione sua atque expectantibus illam, §6.275quo iubeat manare modo;
Then she is heavy to her husband, then worse than a childless tigress, when, conscious of her hidden deed, she feigns groans; she either hates the slave-boys or weeps over a fabricated mistress, with tears always abundant and always ready at their station and waiting for her, in what manner she may command them to flow.
tu credis amorem, §6.276tu tibi tunc, uruca, places fletumque labellis §6.277exorbes, quae scripta et quot lecture tabellas, §6.278si tibi zelotypae retegantur scrinia moechae!
You believe it is love, you then please yourself, you caterpillar, and sip the tears from her lips— yet what letters and how many would you read if the writing-desks of your jealous adulteress were opened!
§6.279sed iacet in servi complexibus aut equitis.
But she lies in the embrace of a slave or a knight.
‘dic, §6.280dic aliquem sodes hic, Quintiliane, colorem. ’ §6.281haeremus. dic ipsa. olim convenerat,
inquit, §6.282‘ut faceres tu quod velles, nec non ego possem §6.283indulgere mihi.
"Say, say some defense, I pray you here, Quintilian." "We are stuck." "Say it yourself." "Once it had been agreed," she says, "that you should do what you wanted, and that I too could indulge myself.
clames licet et mare caelo §6.284confundas, homo sum. ’ nihil est audacius illis §6.285deprensis: iram atque animos a crimine sumunt.
You may shout and mix the sea with the sky, I am a human being." Nothing is bolder than these women when caught; they take their anger and courage from their crime.
§6.286Unde haec monstra tamen vel quo de fonte, requiris?
Yet do you ask whence these monsters come, or from what source?
§6.287praestabat castas humilis fortuna Latinas §6.288quondam, nec vitiis contingi parva sinebant §6.289tecta labor somnique breves et vellere Tusco §6.290vexatae duraeque manus ac proximus urbi §6.291Hannibal et stantes Collina turre mariti,
A humble fortune formerly kept Latin women chaste, nor did small dwellings allow themselves to be touched by vices— labor, short sleeps, hands calloused and hardened by the Tuscan fleece, and Hannibal very close to the city, and husbands standing on the Colline tower.
§6.292nunc patimur longae pacis mala, saevior armis §6.293luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem,
Now we suffer the evils of a long peace; luxury, more cruel than arms, has fallen upon us and avenges the conquered world.
§6.294nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis, ex quo §6.295paupertas Romana perit, hinc fluxit ad istos §6.296et Sybaris colles, hinc et Rhodos et Miletos §6.297atque coronatum et petulans madidumque Tarentum
No crime is absent, nor any deed of lust, since Roman poverty perished; hence there flowed to these hills Sybaris, hence too Rhodes and Miletus and crowned, insolent, and drunken Tarentum.
§6.298prima peregrinos obscaena pecunia mores §6.299intulit, et turpi fregerunt saecula luxu §6.300divitiae molles, quid enim Venus ebria curat?
Filthy money first introduced foreign morals, and soft wealth broke the generations with shameful luxury. For what does a drunken Venus care?
§6.301inguinis et capitis quae sint discrimina, nescit §6.302grandia quae mediis iam noctibus ostrea mordet, §6.303cum perfusa mero spumant unguenta Falerno, §6.304cum bibitur concha, cum iam vertigine tectum §6.305ambulat et geminis exsurgit mensa lucernis.
She does not know the difference between groin and head, she who already at midnight bites giant oysters, when perfumes mixed with pure Falernian wine foam, when they drink from a shell, when the house already walks in a whirl and the table rises with double lamps.
§6.306I nunc et dubita, qua sorbeat aera sanna §6.307Tullia, quid dicat notae collactea Maurae §6.308Maura, Pudicitiae veterem cum praeterit aram.
Go now and doubt with what sneer Tullia snorts the air, what Maura says to her well-known foster-sister Maura, when she passes the ancient altar of Chastity.