197 Sartorial Attractiveness and Poetic Finesse on Sulpician Corpus Rose Smith known because the ‘it sneak regarding a woman,’5 and you may whom we realize having been originated out-of several of one’s eldest aristocratic family from the Rome, we wish to mention the brand new sexual innuendo of your own past term out-of the poem (sperm digno digna fuisse ferar, ‘worthy me personally, I will feel thought to was indeed that have a deserving man’). Varro comments on the diminishing currency of your words sperm esse due to the fact a respectful metonymy getting intercourse inside the date (aeque eadem modestia potius jizz muliere fuisse quam concubuisse dicebant, ‘just as they used to state with the exact same modesty which they had been which have a female in lieu of they’d lain which have a woman,’ Ling. 6.80). But Ovid, Sulpicia’s modern and you can eg the lady a beneficiary out of Messala’s literary fellowship, employs the phrase during the correctly that it feel on the witty finishing couplet out of Amores dos.8 (lines 27–28): quoque loco tecum fuerim quotiensque, Cypassi, narrabo dominae quotque quibusque modis. I shall tell your domme in which I did they with you and you will how frequently, Cypassis, how many times and in just what positions!6
] step 3.16: gratum est, securus multum quod iam tibi de myself permittis, subito ne men inepta cadam. sit tibi cura togae potior pressumque quasillo scortum quam Servi filia Sulpicia. solliciti sunt expert nobis quibus illa dolori est ne cedam ignoto, maxima causa, toro. I am pleased that, secure in your reputation, you allow yourself a whole lot out-of myself lest I might suddenly hit in a few let down folly.
Using this basic portrait regarding Sulpicia just like the each other desiring poet-partner and preferred beloved, adumbrated as a result of sartorial innuendo, we pass so you can the lady lofty phrase from societal level when you look at the [Tib
Right here Sulpicia contrasts her own elevated public updates toward degradation of your own Roman prostitute who wears new toga (3.16.3–4).eight The lady societal elevation is marked as frequently of the suggested respectability out-of her gown having said that into the toga, disreputable when donned by prostitutes, as it is by the the girl proud state they Servian ancestry during the the definition of Servi filia Sulpicia. That it
He’s nervous to my behalf, to own just who top reason behind sadness would be the fact I may submit to an ignoble mate
198 Alison Keith emphasis on her personal level is 
actually in keeping with brand new thinking-fashioning of your elegiac poets Propertius, Tibullus, and you may Ovid, whom require the equestrian reputation whilst it length by themselves from the political work expected out of members of you to definitely purchase.8 However, Sulpicia claims on class variations within an excellent sartorially created opposition out of toga-dressed in prostitute and you can daughter of Roman elites. The brand new sophistication from Sulpicia’s manipulation out of public and elegiac skirt requirements seemingly have drawn the attention of your own poet just who honors their as the an enthusiastic elegiac puella regarding the about three third-person poems of the very-titled Garland regarding Sulpicia.nine The initial of these poems, [Tib.] step three.8, brings up a keen elegantly clad Sulpicia towards occasion of Kalends off March (step 3.8.1–2): Sulpicia est tibi culta tuis, Mars magne, Kalendis, spectatum age caelo, au moment ou sapis, ipse veni. Sulpicia was dressed up for your requirements, great Mars, in your Kalends; when you yourself have people liking, you are able to come from eden to look at the lady.
The newest poet honors Sulpicia’s charm in a variety of elegiac postures: styling the lady locks right up or down (seu solvit crines, fusis decet esse capillis; / seu compsit, comptis est veneranda comis, ‘in the event the she loosens this lady hair, flowing hair become their; if the she outfits they, this woman is lovely together with her tresses right up,’ 3.8.9–10); using red or light robes (urit, seu Tyria voluit procedere palla: / urit, seu nivea candida veste venit, ‘she inflames your if she desired to appear inside the a great Tyrian mantle; she inflames you if she appear radiant when you look at the light clothes,’ step 3.8.11–12); anointed which have Arabian fragrances (possideatque metit quicquid bene olentibus arvis / cultor odoratae dives Arabs segetis, ‘[she actually is worthwhile] . to have any sort of fragrant crop brand new rich Arabian character harvests from his nice-smell sphere,’ step 3.8.17–18); or bedecked having Eastern gems (ainsi que quascumque niger rubro de- litore gemmas / proximus Eois colligit Indus aquis, ‘and any kind of treasures the fresh new black Indian, next to eastern oceans, accumulates from the reddish beach,’ step 3.8.19–20). Once we have experienced, but not, particularly magnificent clothes, in addition to the steeped tones and you can delicate information (sola puellarum digna est cui mollia caris / vellera det sucis bis madefacta Tyros, ‘alone among lady are she value receiving out of Tyre smooth wool dipped double inside the costly dyes,’ step 3.8.15–16), perfumes, and you will accessories she wears, was somewhere else associated not having respected aristocratic Roman ladies but with new toilette of your own elegiac courtesan. Hence Propertius censures their mistress’s operate to make by herself out in costly layout (step 1.dos.1–six, cited over), and you may Tibullus furthermore deprecates the specialized and expensive outfit of one’s puer delicatus Marathus,
