50 THE INTEGUMENT, OR SKIN. 



29. The Thermae, as the baths of Rome were called, 

 were of great extent, built very substantially, and orna- 

 mented at vast expense. They were practically free to all, 

 the cost of a bath having been less than a cent. It is 

 related that some persons bathed seven times a day. After 

 the bath their bodies were anointed with perfumed oil. If 

 the weather was fine, they passed directly from the Thermae 

 into the gymnasium, and engaged in some gentle exercise 

 previous to taking the midday meal. Between two and 

 three in the afternoon was the favorite hour for this ancient 

 luxury. Swimming was a favorite exercise, and a knowl- 

 edge of it was regarded as necessary to every educated man. 

 Their common expression, when speaking of an ignorant 

 person, was, " He can neither read nor swim." 



30. The Sun-Bath. Some also were accustomed daily 

 to anoint themselves, and lie or walk in apartments ar- 

 ranged for the purpose, with naked bodies exposed to the 

 direct rays of the sun. There is an interesting allusion to 

 this practice, in a letter of the younger Pliny to the his- 

 torian Tacitus, describing the destruction of Pompeii by 

 an eruption of Vesuvius. " My uncle," (Pliny the elder,) 

 "was at that time in command of the fleet at Misenum. 

 On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my 

 mother desired him to notice a cloud which seemed 6f un- 

 usual shape and dimensions. He had just returned from 

 talcing the benefit of the sun, and after a cold bath, and a 

 slight repast, had retired to his study." Then follows a 

 description of the destruction of Pompeii, and the death 

 of the elder Pliny. 



31. We may judge somewhat of "the benefits of the 

 sun," by observing the unnatural and undeveloped condi- 

 tion of plants and animals which are deprived of light. 

 Plants become blanched and tender ; the fish of subterra- 



29. After the bath ? Swimming among the ancients * 



30. The Sun-bath ? The story of Pliny ? 



3 1 . Benefit of the pun ? Eftx-et upon plants * Skin ? 



