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DlSCOVll'.Y 



chess-board pattern is still the most convenient plan 

 for a military town, and the Trench have adopted it 

 at Batna. The Decumanus and the Kardo are both 

 carefully paved with large slabs of blue limestone laid 

 so that their edges run diagonally across the street, in 

 order to secure greater strength against the impact of 

 wheeled traffic. This pattern of paving is still to be 

 seen in the main streets of Naples. It is far superior 

 to the irregular pavements of Pompeii. These two 

 streets with their lofty colonnades on either side — 

 a fashion of architecture introduced probably from 

 the East, after the conquest and foundations of Alex- 

 ander had taught Eastern builders to copy Greek 

 models — must have been one of the most striking 

 features of the little town. Even in its decay the 

 Decumanus. as one looks down it with the sun setting 

 behind the great western arch, has an air of grandeur 

 to which few other ruins of the same size can pretend. 

 The town was well supplied with water from public 

 fountains which drew their supply from the neighbour- 

 ing Ain-Morris. It had also a very complete system 

 of drainage. The sewers which ran beneath the main 

 streets were built of stone, and still survive as peifect 

 as when they were first used. They carried the sewage, 

 and still carry surface water, down to the plain below. 

 At frequent intervals, in the streets above, there arc 

 pierced flag-stones, leading to manholes, which served 

 for ventilation and inspection. Enough is left of the 

 public latrines by the side of the Forum to show that 

 they were constructed on the grand hygienic principle 

 of lout a iegout. One feature of the town will strike 

 the modern visitor who, perhaps, thinks that muni- 

 cipal hygiene is an entirely modern invention — the 

 size, number, and splendour of the pubhc baths. 

 These establishments must have played a great part 

 in the life of a citizen of Timgad. On one of the broad 

 steps on the north side of the Forum is a rudely 

 chiselled inscription which reads : " hunting, bath- 

 ing, GAMING, LAUGHING, THIS IS LIFE." But there is 

 ■death as well as life in such enervating ideals ; and 

 even the most modern town need not wish to be as 

 advanced as Timgad with its eleven public baths, 

 some of them of considerable size and with lu.\urious 

 appointments. The bath in Roman lands provided 

 all classes of citizens with a centre where they could 

 have not only an elaborate bath^more or less after 

 the fashion of the modern Turkish bath — but also 

 enjoy the advantages of a gj'mnasium, a social club, a 

 lecture room, and art gallery. While on the one hand 

 it promoted cleanliness, health, comfort, contentment, 

 and even education, on the other it cannot be denied 

 that it must have led to endless scandal-mongering in 

 a small town, and fostered habits of idleness and self- 

 indulgence which caused a mortal lassitude in public 

 and private life. The most impressive remains of 



ancient baths are, of course, at Rome, where the great 

 hall of Diocletian's Therma; still survives almost 

 intact in the Church of S. Maria de' Angeli near the 

 main railway station. When the size of the town is 

 taken into consideration, the baths built outside the 

 northern gate of Timgad at some time in the second 

 century are quite as lu.xurious. They cover an area 

 twice the size of the Forum. They contain thirty-two 

 smaller rooms, used for changing, for the various stages 

 of the bath, and also for stores and service, groujjed 

 round three magnificent halls. 



But Timgad provided not only for the material 

 comfort of its citizens, but for their intellectual im- 

 provement also. On the left hand of the Kardo, just 

 before it strikes the Forum, is a semicircular building 

 with a large forecourt which for a long time puzzled 

 the French excavators. It is now proved by an 

 inscription to be the public library of the town, built 

 out of a large legacy left by a patriotic citizen named 

 Rogatianus. The hbrary proper is in the semicircular 

 apse. In the wall are spaces once occupied bj- book- 

 cases. In the centre between two columns there was 

 doubtless a statue of Minerva. To the left and right 

 of the reading-room were rooms used for storing books. 

 It was the resort of idlers as well as students, and, 

 unfortunately, we know more of the idlers, who have 

 scratched or chipped their worthless thoughts on the 

 columns of the forecourt, than we know of the stu- 

 dents. 



The last feature in the plan of the town on which 

 I wish to dwell is the admirable system of pubUc 

 markets. There were shops, of course, in the main 

 streets, especially in the Decumanus. But the needs of 

 the town were largely supplied by three public markets 

 The most important of these is just outside the original 

 walls, to the south of the western arch. It was built 

 by the generosity of a private citizen named Sertius. 

 Its plan comprises a large, wide open space with a 

 fountain in the centre, surrounded by colonnades and 

 beautifully paved with blue limestone. There are 

 shops to the north and south of the square. Those 

 in the south are arranged like a fan in a semicircular 

 building with a roof supported on columns. The shops 

 had no doors, but stood open to the air, with broad 

 counters of stone fixed upon stone uprights. The 

 shopkeeper had to crawl below with his goods and 

 crawl back with them when the market closed, since 

 there are no signs of any provision for storage. There 

 is an even more elaborate market at the west end of 

 the Decumanus, with two semicircular buildings filled 

 with similar stone booths. 



How did Timgad perish, and how is it that we can 

 walk its streets to-day with the feeUng that the traffic 

 there stopped but yesterday ? It prospered for more 

 than four centuries, surviving apparently (for it is 



