of a canal, whence it took its denomination Alveus; a disposition also indicated in paintings taken from the celebrated baths of Titus. To the bath, light was always admitted from above, so that the bathers cast no shadows'. It may also be mentioned, that ancient custom permitted the two sexes to bathe at the same time, until by an order of the Emperor Hadrian the practice was abolished'. The Tepidarium, or warm bath, contained 1 Vitruvius, lib. vi. cap. 10. 2 Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, prescribed the use of the cold bath to his imperial master, and by that means effected the cure of disorders with which Augustus had been previously afflicted, which made Musa a great favourite both with the emperor and with the people. The exercise of cold bathing then became so prevailing a fashion, that men of consular dignity strove to outvie one another in shivering and trembling in the coldest water and in the coldest weather. Seneca valued himself upon the title of Psychroluta, and boasted that he was able to dance in cold water on the first day of January. It is clear he thought this regimen the best method to harden his constitution and to prolong his life. When he was to die, he chose the warm bath with bleeding as most proper to procure an easy dissolution and a happy euthanasia. two basins large enough to admit of swimming'; and was also furnished with a schola, not exclusively destined for the use of spectators, but was also occupied by the bathers, either for the purpose of wiping after the tepid bath, or to enjoy the temperate atmosphere after quitting the hot stove which adjoined it. The Caldarium or Sudatorium was circular, and surrounded by three steps entirely filled Pliny's Letters, lib. ii. epist. 17. 2 See Sir William Gell's Pompeiana, second series. with narrow niches, each containing a seat. The roof was made in form of an elongated cone, having an opening at the top, through which the steam arising from the hot water used in the Sudatorium escaped'. The Laconicum, or circular stove for heating this room, and the Sudatorium, are sometimes confounded together, but are easily to be distinguished by attending to the passage in Vitruvius, at the end of the chapter here quoted'. The Laconicum merely regulated the heat of the Sudatorium3, a destination further proved 1 Vitruvius, lib. vi. cap. 10, says, "The air is admitted through an aperture in the centre of the roof, whence a brazen shield is suspended by chains. The temperature of the sudatory is regulated by elevating or lowering the shield." There is a circular sudatorium at Pompeii,—see Mazois' Ruines de Pompeii, tom. ii.; and a painting found in the baths of Titus exhibits the circular form of the sudatory. 2 "Here should be placed the vaulted sudatorium twice the length of its width, which should have at each extremity, on one end the laconicum, on the other end the hot bath." 3 The use of the dry bath is said to have been prevalent amongst the Lacedæmonians, and the term is derived from Laconia, the country inhabited by that people.-Wilkins. by paintings found in the Thermæ of Titus, on which the denomination of each object is inscribed. Perfumes used after the bath, were deposited in the Elæotherium or Unctorium, and were contained in small alabaster vases, filled with scented oils, which in fact formed the basis of all perfume'. The finest and most fragrant ointment was brought from Syria, and was called Nardum. It was not only used after bathing, but sometimes at public entertainments, a practice to which Horace alludes 1 The oils of which the Romans made use after bathing, were more pure and valuable than those used before exercise; and the people were so extremely fond of these ointments, that the most popular gift any man could bestow, was a present of oil to the public baths. Stobæus, an ancient Greek author, relates that the servants of Archimedes were obliged, at bathing time, to take him by force from his library table, where he studied mathematical figures with such fixed attention, that he continued drawing diagrams with his fingers on his anointed body, while his servants were pouring ointments upon him, and preparing him for the bath.-Lord Orrery's Essay on the Life of Pliny. in the ode to Quintius, 11th of his second book: While Assyrian essence sheds Liquid fragrance on our heads, While we lie with roses crown'd, Let the cheerful bowl go round.-Francis. 1 The furnaces for heating the baths stood in the Hypocaustum, a place of some extent; and being surmounted by several large vessels of I With this particular sort of ointment,-called also unguentum spicatum, from the pointed leaves of the aromatic plant of which it was made,—Jesus Christ was anointed, in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at It had been kept in meat. St. Mark, chap. xiv. verse 5. a box of alabaster; which accords with Horace's invitation to Virgil ; Virgil, 'tis thine with noble youths to feast, Yet since the thirsty season calls for wine, Would you a cup of generous Bacchus taste, Big with large hopes shall flow th' inspiring juice, I |