1Does that neighbourhood then give off no scent, does common talk say nothing, does Baiae itself, in short, say nothing? 1Indeed it does not merely speak but resounds with the news that the lust of one woman has sunk so low that she not only does not seek solitude and darkness and these usual cloaks of vice, but rejoices in the most shameful conduct amid the greatest crowds and in the clearest light of day. 48But if there is anyone who thinks that young men should be forbidden even love affairs with courtesans, he is very strict indeed — I cannot deny it — but he is at odds not only with the licence of this age but also with the custom and indulgence of our ancestors.
48For when was this not commonly done, when was it censured, when was it not permitted, when, in short, was it the case that what is lawful was not lawful? 48Here I shall define the matter itself, I shall name no woman; 48I shall merely leave it open. 49If some unmarried woman has thrown open her house to the desires of all and openly set herself up in the life of a courtesan, has made a practice of attending the banquets of men quite unrelated to her, if she does this in the city, in her gardens, amid those crowds at Baiae, if finally she so conducts herself, not only in her gait but in her dress and her company, not only in the fire of her eyes and the freedom of her talk but also in embraces, kisses, beach parties, boating parties, banquets, that she seems not only a courtesan but a wanton and forward courtesan: if some young man should happen to have been with her, would he seem to you, Lucius Herennius, an adulterer or a lover, to have wished to storm her chastity or to satisfy his desire?
50I now forget your wrongs, Clodia, I lay aside the memory of my own pain; 50what was cruelly done by you against my family in my absence I disregard; 50let these things that I have said not be said against you. 50But I put the question to you yourself, since the accusers say that they have from you both the charge and, in you yourself, the witness to that charge. 50If there were some woman of the kind I described a little earlier, unlike you, with the life and habits of a courtesan, would it seem to you utterly shameful or utterly scandalous that a young man had had some dealings with her?
50If you are not that woman, as I prefer to think, what is it that they charge against Caelius? 50But if they want you to be that woman, what reason is there for us to dread this charge, if you despise it? 50So give us the way and the method of our defence. 50For either your modesty will prove that nothing too wanton was done by Marcus Caelius, or your shamelessness will give both him and the rest great means of defending themselves.