open air; beyond it a great hall, where 1600 marble seats were placed for the convenience of the bathers: at each end of this hall were libraries. This building terminated on both sides in a court surrounded with porticoes, with a spacious odeum for music, and in the middle a spacious basin for swimming. Round this edifice were walks shaded by rows of trees, particularly the plane; and in its front extended a gymnasium for running, wrestling, &c. in fine weather. The whole was bounded by a vast portico, opening into exedræ, or spacious halls, where the poets declaimed and philosophers gave lectures to their auditors. This immense fabric was adorned within and without with pillars, stucco work, paintings, and statues. The stucco and paintings, though faintly indeed, are yet in many places perceptible. Pillars have been dug up, and some still remain amidst the ruins; while the Farnesian bull and the famous Hercules, found in one of these halls, announce the multiplicity and beauty of the statues which adorned the therma of Caracalla. The flues and reservoirs of water still remain. The height of the pile was proportioned to its extent, and still appears very considerable, even though the ground be raised at least 12 ft. above its ancient level. It is now changed into gardens and vineyards; its high massive walls form separations, and its limy ruins, spread over the surface, burn the soil and check its natural fertility." 235. Returning to the plan of the baths in question, we have now to explain that the circular apartment, lettered A, was called the solar cell. It was 111 ft. in diameter, and contained the different labra of the baths. This solar cell, Spartianus says, could not be equalled by the best architects of that age. The dome was lined with brass, of which material also were the lattices to the windows. B, the apodyterium, or undressing room. C, a xystus, or apartment for exercise in unfavourable weather. D contained the piscina, or large reservoir for swimming. E, vestibule for spectators and the dresses of the bathers. F, entrance vestibule of the thermæ, having libraries on each side. G G, rooms wherein the athleta prepared for their exercises. H, a court, having a piscina for bathing in the centre. I, ephebeum, place of exercise for the youth. K K, the elæotherium, or apartment for anointing the bathers with oil. L L, vestibules. M, laconicum, an apartment so called, as it is said, from the name of the stove by which it was heated, and from the custom of the sudatio, or sweating, having originated in Laconia. N, caldarium, or hot water bath, which was most frequented. O, tepidarium, or tepid water bath. P, frigidarium, or cold water bath. Q, exedræ for seats for the use of the philosophers and their scholars. W, rooms for conversation. RR, exedra, or large recesses for the use of the philosophers. Y, conisterium, or place where, after anointing, the wrestlers were sprinkled with dust. 236. We have just given the common explanation to the word laconicum; but it is right the reader should know that its true meaning is in some doubt. Galiani considers it a great chamber wherein the people underwent sweating. To this Cameron adds, "I for myself hold it certain that the apartment for this purpose has been by some authors improperly termed; the laconicum is nothing more than a little cupola which covered an aperture in the pavement of the hot bath, through which the vivid flame of the hypocaustum, or furnace, passed and heated the apartment at pleasure. Without this means," continues that author, "the hot bath would not have had a greater heat than the other chambers, the temperature of which was milder. I have been induced to form this opinion, not only from the ancient paintings found in the baths of Titus, but also by the authority of Vitruvius, who says that the hot bath (concamerata sudatio) had within it, in one of the corners, or rather ends, the laconicum. Now, if the laconicum was in the corner of the hot bath, it is clear that it is not the bath itself, but merely a part of it; and if, as others have thought, it was the hot bath itself, to what purpose served the concamerata sudatio?" 237. The baths and therma of the Romans, like the gymnasia of the Greeks, were highly ornamented with bassi relievi, statues, and paintings. The basins were of marble, and the beautiful mosaic pavements were only equalled by the decorations of the vaults and cupolas. Nothing more strongly proves the magnificence and luxury of the ancient Romans than the ruins of the baths still to be seen in Rome. Agrippa decorated his baths with encaustic paintings, and covered the walls of the caldarium with slabs of marble, in which small paintings were inserted. All these luxuries were introduced under the emperors; and the mere act of bathing, as described by Seneca in the instance of Scipio Africanus, appears to have been almost lost in the effeminacy of the later practice. The splendour of the places may be judged of by calling to the remembrance of the reader that the celebrated statue of the Laocoon was one of the decorations of the baths of Titus, and that of the Farnese Hercules of the baths of Caracalla. 238. We have, in the section on Aqueducts (224.), stated the extraordinary quantity of water with which the city was supplied by them, and there can be no doubt that the baths caused a very great consumption of that necessary article of life. After the removal of the empire to Constantinople, we hear of no thermae being erected; and it is probable that at that period many of those in the city fell into decay. The aqueducts by which they were supplied were, moreover, injured by the incursions of invaders, another cause of the destruction of the baths. Remains of Roman baths have been discovered in this country, for descriptions whereof the reader is referred to the Archæologia. 239. We shall conclude our observations on the Roman baths by the mention of some curious paintings in the baths of Titus, very similar in their features to those found in places on the walls of Pompeii; we allude to representations of slender twisted columns, broken entablatures, and curvilinear pediments, columns standing on corbels attached to the walls, a profusion of sculpture, with fantastic animal figures and foliage, and many other estravaganzas, which found imitators after the restoration of the arts, and, in some cases, with great success. 240. Circi. The circus of the Greeks was nothing more than a plain, or race course; from its length called Zrádiov (stadium); as also Kipkos, from its oval figure. With the Romans it became a regular building of great dimensions and magnificence. The Circus Maximus, constructed originally in a rude manner by Romulus, and afterwards rebuilt by the elder Tarquin, is, in its external dimensions, computed to have been 2000 ft. long and 550 ft. broad, consisting of two parallel walls in the direction of its length, united at one extremity by a set of apartments, called carceres, arranged in the form of the segment of a circle of about 430 ft. radius; and, at the opposite short end, by a semicircular enclosure. The carceres contained the chariots ready for starting. The arena, or space thus enclosed, contained a long low wall called the spina, 1300 ft. in length, running along its longitudinal axis, and commencing at the centre of the semicircular end, having a meta, or goal, at each of its extremities. Like those of the theatre and amphitheatre, the seats of the spectators were placed round the arena with a podium in front; between which and the spina the races of the chariots were exhibited. The circus of Nero was nearly of the same form, but neither so long nor so broad, being only 1400 ft. in length and 260 in breadth, and its spina but 800 ft. 241. The remains of the circus of Caracalla, of which Bianconi has given a very good account, are still sufficiently abundant to trace the plan (fig. 131.). It was nearly of the same dimensions as that of Nero. There are in this building come curious examples of lightening the spandrels of the arches over which the seats were constructed, by filling them in with light vessels of pottery; a practice which has been partially adopted in some modern buildings, and is still usefully practised on the Continent. Generally speaking, the circus was a parallelogram, whose external length was from four to five times its breadth. It was surrounded by seats ranged above each other and bounded by an exterior wall, probably pierced with arcades. The spina was about two thirds the length of the building, and was ornamented with statues, obelisks, and other ornaments, terminated at each end by the meta, which consisted of three obelisks or columns. The carceres were closed by gates in front and rear, which were not opened till the signal was given for starting. In the circus of Caracalla, it will be seen that these carceres were placed obliquely to the long sides of the edifice, so as to equalise the length of their course from the starting point to the goal. So that it would seem there was as much nicety in a chariot race of old as in a modern horse race. 242. Private Houses.-The domestic architecture of the Romans possesses great interest; the general instructions spread over the sixth book of Vitruvius upon their parts and pro portions have received much illustration from the 243. The extraordinary fortunes that were realised in Rome towards the last years of the republic, when the refinements of the arts of Greece were introduced into the city, soon led its more favoured citizens to indulge in architectural splendour. Lucius Cassius had decorated his dwelling with columns of foreign marble; but all other private edifices were thrown into shade by that of Scaurus, in which were employed black marble columns of the height of 38 ft. Mamurra lined his apartments with marble; and, indeed, such was the prodigality, for it deserves that term, of the Romans, that Pliny (lib. xvii. c. 50.) tells us of Domitius Ahenobarbus having offered a sum equivalent to 48,500l. sterling (sexagies sestertium) for the house of Crassus, which was refused. Their villas were equally magnificent. Cicero had two his Formian and Tusculan villas; but these were exceeded in beauty by those of Lucullus and Pollio, the latter near Posilippo, where some remains of it are still to be seen. Though Augustus attempted to stop this extraordinary rage for magnificence, he was unsuccessful; and the examples which were afforded by later emperors were unlikely to restrain the practice where the means existed. In the Domus Aurea of Nero, domestic architecture appears, from all accounts, to have reached the utmost degree of splendour and magnificence. 244. In the better class of Roman dwellings, certain apartments were considered indispensable; and these, in different degrees of size and decoration, There were others which were were always found. or were not so found, according to the wealth and fancy of the proprietor. Thus, every private house of any pretension was so planned that one portion was assigned to the reception of strangers, or rather for public resort, and the other for the private use of the family. The public part was destined for the reception of dependants or clients, who resorted to the house of their patron for advice and assistance. The number of these clients was honourable and useful to the patron, as they might, in civil matters, be depended on for their votes. Hence lawyers especially had their houses thronged with them; and it is amusing in the present day to see the term of client still kept up among our barristers: for although his state of dependence has lost nothing of its extent, the eminence of the patron is now measured by the quantity and amount of fees his clients enable him to consume. Vitruvius describes the public portion as consisting of the porticus, vestibulum, cavadium or atrium, tablinum, alæ, fauces, and some few others, which were not added except at the especial desire of the party for whom the building was to be erected. 245. The parts which were sacred to the use of the family were the peristyle, the cubicula (sleeping apartments), the triclinium, the aci, the pinacothecæ, or picture galleries, the bibliotheca, or library, baths, exedra, rysti, and others. 246. In the more extended mansions of the Romans was an area, surrounded on two sides by porticoes and shops, and ornamented with statues, trophies, and the like, and on the third (the fourth being open) was the decorated entrance or portico of the house. But in smaller dwellings this entrance or portico was in a line with the front of the houses in the street; the vestibule or prothyrum (fig. 132.) being in the Roman houses merely a passage room, which led from the street to the entrance of the atrium. In this vestibule, or rather by its side, the ostiarius or porter was stationed, as in French houses we find a concierge. When there were two courts, we are inclined to think that the one nearest the street was called the atrium, and the farthest from it the cavædium; but in many cases we also think that the atrium served equally as a cavedium according to the owner's rank. The explanation of Varro will certainly answer for one as well as the other. It may be that the cavædium was a second atrium of larger size. 247. Of the atrium Vitruvius describes five sorts: 1. The Tuscan, wherein the protecting roof was a sort of pent-house on the four sides, supported by beams framed at right angles into each other; the space in the centre forming the compluvium, and the basin or area in the centre the impluvium. 2. The tetrastyle atrium (one with four columns), which was similar to the Tuscan, except that the angles of the beams of the roof or pent-house rested on four columns. 3. The Corinthian atrium (fig. 133.), which differed only from the last in its size, and the number of its columns. 4. The atrium displuviatum in which the slope of the roofs was towards the body of the building. 5. The atrium testudinatum, which was covered with a ceiling, and with nothing more than an aperture therein to afford light. The compluvium was sometimes (Plin. xix. c. i.) provided with a sort of awning. The roof of the four sides of the atrium was covered with ornamental tiles, the eaves' faces whereof were terminated between their sloping junctions with carved faces called antefixe, similar to those in the roofs of the Grecian temples. The atrium was, moreover, frequently embellished with fountains. It was in the atrium that the splendid columns which we have mentioned, as decorating the house of Scaurus, were placed. The walls were either lined with marble or painted with various devices, and the pavement was decorated with mosaic work or with precious marbles. 248. The tablinum, which usually opened towards the atrium, seems to have been a sort of levee room, wherein the master of the mansion received his visitors or clients, lists of whom were therein recorded, and where the maestro di camera announced their names. Some have thought, and we do not say they are wrong, that this apartment contained (which it might also do without affecting the truth of the first supposition) the family archives, statues, pictures, pedigree, and other appurtenances incident to a long line of ancestors. 249. The apartments on the sides right and left of the tablinum were called, as their name signifies, ala. These were also furnished with portraits, statues, and other pieces relative to the family, not omitting inscriptions commemorative of actions worthy their name. 250. Two corridors, one on each side of the atrium, which led to the interior of the house from the atrium, were called fauces (jaws). 251. In houses of moderate dimensions, chambers were distributed round the atrium for the reception and lodging of strangers; but in establishments of importance, wherein the proprietor was a person of extended connexions, there was a separate hospitium appropriated to that purpose. 252. We have stated that the peristyle was a portion of the private part of the house. It was mostly, if not always, placed beyond the atrium, with which it communicated by means of the tablinum and fauces. Similar in general form and design to the atrium, for it was surrounded by columns (see fig. 134.), it was larger than that apartment. The centre was usually provided with a parterre in which shrubs and flowers were distributed, and in its middle a fish pool. This portion of the peristyle was called the xystus (Vitr. lib. vi. c. 10.). In better houses there was an ante-room called procoton, to each of the bed-chambers, of whose arrangement very little is known. The triclinium (TPEIS KAIVAL, three beds), or dining-room, was so called from its having three couches round the table on which the dinner was served; the fourth side being left open for the servants (see fig. 135.). It was raised two steps from the peristyle, and separated from the garden by a large window. Winter triclinia were placed towards the west, and those for summer to the east. In large houses there were several triclinia, whose couches would contain a greater or less number of people. The aci were large salons or halls, of Greek origin, and, like the atria, were of more than one species; as for instance the tetrastyle, the Corinthian, and the Egyptian. "There is this difference," observes Vitruvius (lib. v. cap. 6.), " between the Corinthian and Egyptian œcus. The former has a single order of columns, standing either on a podium or on the ground, and over it architraves and cornices, either of wood or plaster, and a semicircular ceiling above the cornice. In the Egyptian cecus, over the lower column, is an architrave, from which to the surrounding walls is a boarded and paved floor, so as to form a passage round it in the open air. Then, perpendicularly over the architrave of the lower columns, columns one fourth smaller are placed. Above their architraves and cornices, they are decorated with ceilings, and windows are placed between the upper columns. Thus they have the appearance of basilicæ rather than of Corinthian triclinia." The cecus, called Cyzicene by the Greeks, was different to those of Italy. Its aspect was to the north, towards the gar Fig. 131. PERISTYLE AT POMPEII. |