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hospitals for wounded soldiers, or those disabled by age orinfirmity ; notwithstanding Peter von Andlo, canon of Col-mer, the German jurist, has asserted that the iaberna tneri-toria was a house of that description.
Valerius Maximus says, that a traveller was murdered inthat place, where he lodged; certainly, judging from hence,the most probable conjecture will be, that it was a publictavern or inn, which expressed passage coming in conjunc-tion with an assertion of Donat us, that this place was aspecies of lodging, or perhaps an hotel purposely for the ac-commodation of the people of Ravenna, when they came toRome to see any public spectacle.
Hardouin was also of opinion that there were in ancientRome establishments of this description; to support hisassertion, he quotes that of Metellus, the son-in-law ofPompey : the first he refers to, in support of this opinion, isfounded upon a coin with the image of Metellus ; on thereverse is the figure of a naked man walking, who holds inbis right hand the palladium, and upon his left shoulder is anaked man; the inscription on the face of the medal isQ. Metellus Pius . And hence Hardouin infers, that bebuilt a college for invalids, which he dedicated to Pallas, theprotectress; on which account he surmises he obtained thesurname of Pius. It really is very well for coins, or anyother ambiguous hieroglyphic, to come in support of anhistorical fact; but it is very much liable to question, whe-ther doubtful points can be supported from these alone.And the matter is still more questionable, when they opposepositively recorded verbal testimony.
For these reasons it is inferred, that in ancient Rome there was no such establishment so denominated, or anyother establishment answering to that purpose, beyond thosealready mentioned.
The first establishment for invalids, with which we are atpresent acquainted, under the Romans, occurs under thereign of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, at Constantinople .A complete description of it is found in the history of thisprince, written by his fair daughter Anna Comnena , whosays, the Emperor caused a great number of buildings,standing round a church, to be fitted up as an hospital,which undoubtedly never was exceeded in size; althoughother historians relate, that Alexius only revived and en-larged in an uncommon degree an old institution. It was,indeed, called the Orphan-house; but sick and indigentpersons, of both sexes and every age, and, as the royal his-