COSME´TAE
COSME´TAE (
κοσμηταί), a
class of slaves among the Romans, whose duty it was to dress and adorn
ladies (Juv.
Sat. 6.476). Some writers on
antiquities, and among them Böttiger in his
Sabina (1.22), have supposed that the cosmetae were female
slaves, but the passage of Juvenal is alone sufficient to refute this
opinion; for it was not customary for female salves to take off their tunics
when a punishment was to be inflicted upon them. There was, indeed, a class
of female slaves who were employed for the same purposes as the cosmetae;
but they were called
cosmetriae, a name which
Naevius chose as the title for one of his comedies. This interpretation of
the word is in accordance with its Greek usage, for Xenophon
(
Cyr. 8.8, 20) explains
κοσμηταὶ as “those who anoint and paint” the
Persian nobles, “and perform the rest of their toilet.” (See
Heindorf,
ad Hor.
Sat. 1.2, 98.)
[
L.S] [
J.H.F]
