Chap. IV.

ROMAN.

129

nothing is wanting but the water to fit it for its purposes, which gushed from a copperpipe, about 4 feet from the floor, and fell into the cistern. The plan of this room is acircle enclosed in a square; in the angles are four alcoves; the diameter is 18 feet6 inches, and round the whole runs a walk about 2 feet 4£ inches wide. The piscina,12 feet 10 inches in diameter, is surrounded by a seat, 11 inches wide, at abou: 10inches below the lip, and 2 feet 4 inches from the bottom; so that the water was about

3 feet in depth. A convenient step led out of the bath, and proper channels wereprovided to empty it. The whole of this arrangement was of white marble. Thedome or roof was conical, painted blue, and had an aperture near the top towardthe south-west, which admitted light and air; the side walls were painted yellowwith portions green. The alcoves, which were 5 feet 2 inches wide, and 2 feet in depth,were painted blue, and the hemispherical parts red. The cornice surrounding the roomwas 8 feet from the floor, 18 inches high, and coloured red; this was ornamented withstuccoed figures on foot, on horseback, and in chariots.

The tepidarium, a beautiful vaulted apartment, discovered in 1824, contained threebronze seats, inscribed with the name of the donor, Marcus Negidius Vacula. The legs re-sembled those of the cow, the head of the animal forming an ornament to the upper parts.This apartment was warmed by a large foculare or brasier given by the same person. Thisbronze vessel with thirteen battlemented summits, and a lotus at the angles, was 7 feet long,and 2 feet 6 inches broad. In the centre was a bronze cow. To resist the heat of the embersthe bottom had brass bars, on which were bricks, supporting pumice-stone, for the receptionof the wood ashes or embers. The pavement of the tepidarium was of white mosaic withtwo small black borders; the ceiling was painted, the walls crimson. Under the pave-ment was a continued hypocaustum to warm the apartment.

Round this rOom, 4 feet 3 inches above the pavement, and 1 foot 2 inches in height, wasa small cornice, on which figures of giants, about 2 feet in height, formed of terra cotta,were placed, projecting about a foot from the wall, and distant about fifteen inches apart;their arms stretched out to assist in bearing the superimposed weight of an entablature 1foot 5 inches in height, which rested upon the heads of these telami.

The caldarium, on account of the steam that was produced by the laconicum, was notvery highly decorated ; there was not only an hypocaustum under the floor, but the wallswere constructed so as to allow warm air to circulate around it. This was effected, not byflues, but by a lining of tiles, connected with the outer wall by cramps of iron, a space of

4 inches being left for the hot air to ascend from the furnace below; it was lighted by win-dows from the top. The walls are painted yellow, the pilasters and cornice red, and thealcove blue and red. In the centre of the latter was the labrum, of white marble, 8 feetin diameter and 8 inches in depth, in the middle of which was placed a brass tube forthrowing up the water. This chamber was 37 feet long and 17 feet 4 inches in width.

From the pavement of the caldarium, which was of white tessera* with two small blackborders, the bathers ascended by two steps to a third, also of marble, 16 inches in breadth,which formed the brink of the vase of hot water. A step, dividing the whole depth of thecistern, which did not exceed two feet, permitted them to immerse themselves by degreesin the hot water.

The entire length of this cistern is 15 feet, and the breadth 4 feet, so that ten personsmight at one time occupy it. The hot water entered at the angles immediately from acauldron placed on the other side of the wall. In the roof were four openings for the ad-mission of light, which probably were glazed or closed with vela of linen cloth.

The caldarium was the bath, or the vessel containing the hot water, adjoining whichwas the laconicum, for the purpose of producing respiration. The furnace containedthree cauldrons, placed one above another, in which were three varieties of water, that at thetop being the coldest, that immediately over the furnace always boiling, and as it was dis-charged, a fresh supply was obtained from the middle cauldron, which was in a tepid state.These cauldrons were supplied by pipes from leaden cisterns called Miliaria.

When we survey the ruins of the baths, we cannot but regret that we have not es-tablishments in all modern cities, where the inhabitants, both rich and poor, might attainthe first elements of health: cleanliness by the ancients seems to have been much moreconsidered and encouraged than by us, for there were hot and cold water baths establishedin every town. The following verses of one of the poets give some idea of w'hat a Romanunderwent before he commenced his toilet.

“ Scabor, suppilor, desquamor, pumicor, ornor,

Expilor, pingor,” &c. &c.

And to accommodate the multitude, many of these washing and bathing establishments w r ereupon such a scale as to resemble towns, where every citizen, whatever his condition, couldenjoy daily, without trouble or expense, the luxury of the bath. Our crow’ded andpopulous manufacturing tow r ns need the use of thermos more than the provinces of theImperial city ; the workmen, early and late, should have the opportunity as well as induce-