Here, Boy, this Brush to Crispin's Bagnio bear.
The common people contented themselves with sponges. The bathing time
was from noon till the evening, when the Romans ate their principal
meal. Notice was given by a bell, or some such instrument, when the
baths were opened, as we learn from Juvenal,
Redde Pilam, sonat Aes thermarum, ludere pergis?
Virgine vis sola lotus abdire domum.
Leave off; the Bath Bell rings--what, still play on?
Perhaps the maid in private rubs you down.
There were separate places for the two sexes; and indeed there were
baths opened for the use of women only, at the expence of Agrippina,
the mother of Nero, and some other matrons of the first quality. The
use of bathing was become so habitual to the constitutions of the
Romans, that Galen, in his book De Sanitate tuenda, mentions a certain
philosopher, who, if he intermitted but one day in his bathing, was
certainly attacked with a fever. In order to preserve decorum in the
baths, a set of laws and regulations were published, and the thermae
were put under the inspection of a censor, who was generally one of the
first senators in Rome. Agrippa left his gardens and baths, which stood
near the pantheon, to the Roman people: among the statues that adorned
them was that of a youth naked, as going into the bath, so elegantly
formed by the hand of Lysippus, that Tiberius, being struck with the
beauty of it, ordered it to be transferred into his own palace: but the
populace raised such a clamour against him, that he was fain to have it
reconveyed to its former place. These noble baths were restored by
Adrian, as we read in Spartian; but at present no part of them remains.
With respect to the present state of the old aqueducts, I can give you
very little satisfaction. I only saw the ruins of that which conveyed
the aqua Claudia, near the Porta Maggiore, and the Piazza of the
Lateran. You know there were fourteen of those antient aqueducts, some
of which brought water to Rome from the distance of forty miles. The
channels of them were large enough to admit a man armed on horseback;
and therefore when Rome was besieged by the Goths, who had cut off the
water, Belisarius fortified them with works to prevent the enemy from
entering the city by those conveyances. After that period, I suppose
the antient aqueducts continued dry, and were suffered to run to ruins.
Without all doubt, the Romans were greatly obliged to those
benefactors, who raised such stupendous works for the benefit, as well
as the embellishment of their city: but it might have been supplied
with the same water through pipes at one hundredth part of the expence;
and in that case the enemy would not have found it such an easy matter
to cut it off. Those popes who have provided the modern city so
plentifully with excellent water, are much to be commended for the care
and expence, they have bestowed in restoring the streams called acqua
Virgine, acqua Felice, and acqua Paolina, which afford such abundance
of water as would plentifully supply a much larger city than modern
Rome.
It is no wonder that M. Agrippa, the son-in-law, friend, and favourite
of Augustus, should at the same time have been the idol of the people,
considering how surprisingly he exerted himself for the emolument,
convenience, and pleasure of his fellow-citizens. It was he who first
conducted this acqua Virgine to Rome: he formed seven hundred
reservoirs in the city; erected one hundred and five fountains; one
hundred and thirty castella, or conduits, which works he adorned with
three hundred statues, and four hundred pillars of marble, in the space
of one year. He also brought into Rome, the aqua Julia, and restored
the aqueduct of the aqua Marzia, which had fallen to decay. I have
already observed the great number of baths which he opened for the
people, and the magnificent thermae, with spacious gardens, which he
bequeathed to them as a legacy. But these benefactions, great and
munificent as they seem to be, were not the most important services he
performed for the city of Rome. The common-sewers were first made by
order of Tarquinius Priscus, not so much with a view to cleanliness, as
by way of subterranean drains to the Velabrum, and in order to carry
off the stagnant water, which remained in the lower parts, after heavy
rains. The different branches of these channels united at the Forum,
from whence by the cloaca Maxima, their contents were conveyed into the
Tyber. This great cloaca was the work of Tarquinius Superbus. Other
sewers were added by Marcus Cato, and Valerius Flaccus, the censors.
All these drains having been choaked up and ruinous, were cleared and
restored by Marcus Agrippa, who likewise undermined the whole city with
canals of the same kind, for carrying of the filth; he strengthened and
enlarged the cloaca maxima, so as to make it capable of receiving a
large cart loaded with hay; and directed seven streams of water into
these subterranean passages, in order to keep them always clean and
open. If, notwithstanding all these conveniences, Vespasian was put to
great expence in removing the ordure from the public streets, we have
certainly a right to conclude that the antient Romans were not more
cleanly than the modern Italians.
After the mausolea of Augustus, and Adrian, which I have already
mentioned, the most remarkable antient sepulchres at Rome, are those of
Caius Cestius, and Cecilia Metella. The first, which stands by the
Porta di S. Paolo, is a beautiful pyramid, one hundred and twenty feet
high, still preserved intire, having a vaulted chamber within-side,
adorned with some ancient painting, which is now almost effaced. The
building is of brick, but eased with marble. This Caius Cestius had
been consul, was very rich, and acted as one of the seven Epulones, who
superintended the feasts of the gods, called Lectisternia, and
Pervigilia. He bequeathed his whole fortune to his friend M. Agrippa,
who was so generous as to give it up to the relations of the testator.
The monument of Cecilia Metella, commonly called Capo di Bove, is
without the walls on the Via Appia. This lady was daughter of Metellus
Creticus, and wife to Crassus, who erected this noble monument to her
memory. It consisted of two orders, or stories, the first of which was
a square of hewn stone: the second was a circular tower, having a
cornice, adorned with ox heads in basso relievo, a circumstance from
which it takes the name of Capo di Bove. The ox was supposed to be a
most grateful sacrifice to the gods. Pliny, speaking of bulls and oxen,
says,
Hinc victimae optimae et laudatissima deorum placatio.
They were accounted the best Victims and most agreeable to appease the
anger of the Gods.
This tower was surmounted by a noble cupola or dome, enriched with all
the ornaments of architecture. The door of the building was of brass;
and within-side the ashes of Cecilia were deposited in a fluted marble
urn, of curious workmanship, which is still kept in the Palazzo
Farnese. At present the surface of the ground is raised so much as to
cover the first order of the edifice: what we see is no more than the
round tower, without the dome and its ornaments; and the following
inscription still remains near the top, facing the Via Appia.
CAECILLAE
Q. CRETICI F.
METELLAE
CRASSI.
To Caecilia Metella, Daughter of Q. Criticus: wife of Crassus.
Now we are talking of sepulchral inscriptions, I shall conclude this
letter with the copy of a very singular will, made by Favonius
Jocundus, who died in Portugal, by which will the precise situation of
the famous temple of Sylvanus is ascertained.
"Jocundi. Ego gallus Favonius Jocundus P. Favoni F. qui bello contra
Viriatum Succubui, Jocundum et Prudentem filios, e me et Quintia Fabia
conjuge mea ortos, et Bonorum Jocundi Patris mei, et eorum, quae mihi
ipsi acquisivi haeredes relinquo; hac tamen conditione, ut ab urbe
Romana huc veniant, et ossa hic mea, intra quinquennium exportent, et
via latina condant in sepulchro, jussu meo condito, et mea voluntate;
in quo velim neminem mecum, neque servum, neque libertum inseri; et
velim ossa quorumcunque sepulchro statim meo eruantur, et jura
Romanorum serventur, in sepulchris ritu majorum retinendis, juxta
volantatem testatoris; et si secus fecerint, nisi legittimae oriantur
causae, velim ea omnia, quae filijs meis relinquo, pro reparando templo
dei Sylvani, quod sub viminali monte est, attribui; manesque mei a
Pont. max; a flaminibus dialibus, qui in capitolio sunt, opem
implorent, ad liberorum meorum impietatem ulciscendam; teneanturque
sacerdotes dei Silvani, me in urbem referre, et sepulchro me meo
condere. Volo quoque vernas qui domi meae sunt, omnes a praetore urbano
liberos, cum matribus dimitti, singulisque libram argenti puri, et
vestem unam dori. In Lusitania. In agro VIII. Cal Quintilis, bello
viriatino."
I, Gallus Favonius Jocundus, son of P. Favonius, dying in the war
against Viriatus, declare my sons Jocundus and Prudens, by my wife
Quintia Fabia, joint Heirs of my Estate, real and personal; on
condition, however, that they come hither within a time of five years
from this my last will, and transport my remains to Rome to be
deposited in my Sepulchre built in the via latina by my own order and
Direction: and it is my will that neither slave nor freedman shall be
interred with me in the said tomb; that if any such there be, they
shall be removed, and the Roman law obeyed, in preserving in the
antient Form the sepulchre according to the will of the Testator. If
they act otherwise without just cause, it is my will that the whole
estate, which I now bequeathe to my children, shall be applied to the
Reparation of the Temple of the God Sylvanus, at the foot of Mount
Viminalis; and that my Manes [The Manes were an order of Gods supposed
to take cognisance of such injuries.] I shall implore the assistance of
the Pontifex maximus, and the Flaminisdiales in the Capitol, to avenge
the Impiety of my children; and the priests of Sylvanus shall engage to
bring my remains to Rome and see them decently deposited in my own
Sepulchre. It is also my will that all my domestic slaves shall be
declared free by the city Praetor, and dismissed with their mothers,
after having received each, a suit of cloaths, and a pound weight of
pure silver from my heirs and Executors.--At my farm in Lusitania, July
25. During the Viriatin war.
My paper scarce affords room to assure you that I am ever,--Dear Sir,
Your faithful, etc.