The erogenous power of the breast was not utterly neglected: in comparing sex with a woman to sex with a boy, a Greek novel of the Roman Imperial era notes that "her breast when it is caressed provides its own particular pleasure". Propertius connects breast development with girls reaching an age to "play". Tibullus observes that a woman just might wear loose clothing so that her breasts "flash" when she reclines at dinner. An astrological tradition held that mammary intercourse was enjoyed by men born under the conjunction of Venus, Mercury, and Saturn. Even in the most sexually explicit Roman paintings, however, the breasts are sometimes kept covered by the "strophium" (breast band). The women so depicted may be prostitutes, but it can be difficult to discern why an artist decides in a given scenario to portray the breasts covered or exposed.