1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



869 



LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE, 



By Samuel Clegg, Jun., m.i.c.e., f.g.s. 



Delivered at the College for General Practical Science, Putney, Surrey. 



(president, bis grace the duke of buccleuch, k.o.) 



Lecture XI.— ROME: Domestic Architecture. 



It is to be regretted that so little is positively known on the 

 subject of Classical Domestic Architecture. This vVant of informa- 

 tion is however the less surprising, when we consider that the 

 Greeks and Romans were not a domestic people, and that most of 

 their time was spent in public; besides, private residences, how- 

 ever wealthy the community may be, are seldom built with the 

 same solidity as public edifices, and therefore the sooner go to 

 decay. The great changes also that take place in domestic man- 

 ners, render the habitations of one period unfitted for subsequent 

 times; they are therefore either removed to make way for new 

 dwellings, or so altered as to lose much of their original character: 

 this must have been more especially the case in the great revolu- 

 tion that took place in manners and customs on the spread of 

 Christianity and the dismemberment of the Roman Empire. But 

 notwithstanding the idea of what was necessary and comfortable 

 amongst the ancient Romans differs as widely from ours as does 

 our domestic life from theirs, it is neither uninstructive nor unin- 

 teresting to inquire into their mode of living; for as each 

 receding tide leaves some vestige behind it on the' shore, so the 

 manners and ideas of past ages have left traces that may be recoo-- 

 nised in the present day. ° 



If it had not been for the discovery of Pompeii, we should have 

 been wholly indebted to the descriptions gleaned from various 

 authors for our knowledge of Roman domestic architecture. This 

 little town (buried for 1600 years) played no conspicuous part in 

 history; and had it not been for its singular and unfortunate fate 

 would probably have utterly sunk into oblivion. The dwelling- 

 houses found there may therefore be supposed to be small and 

 insignificant compared with those of Rome, and other important 

 cities; but still they are doubtless arranged on a similar plan, and 

 prove a great assistance in forming an idea of the private habita- 

 tions of the Romans, and their style of interior decoration. 



For several centuries after the foundation of Rome, the houses 

 were only thatched and covered with shingles; and the laws of the 

 ffidiles forbade the walls of private dwellings to be made above 

 eighteen inches in thickness. During the time of the Common- 

 wealth, the Romans were extremely jealous of any attempt made 

 by a citizen to exceed his neighbours in show or style of livino-. 

 Publius Cornelius Rufinus, though he had been twice consul and 

 once dictator, was removed from the senate on account of the pur- 

 chase of some silver vases. So little silver was there in Rome at 

 this time, that when an entertainment was given by a senator the 

 rest of the body were accustomed to lend their plate for the occa- 

 sion. Lucius Crassus was made to pull down his house on the 

 Palatine Hill, because the roof of the atrium was supported by 

 four columns of foreign marble— an unheard of luxury! It was 

 owing to this atrium, that Brutus used to call him in derision 

 "the Palatine Venus." Even Julius Ca?sar had to obtain permis- 

 sion to construct a pediment to his house, as this was considered a 

 peculiar mark of distinction. Cicero says: " If you could build in 

 heaven, where you have no showers to fear, yet you would never 

 seem to have attained dignity without a pediment." 



When Rome ceased to be a republic, all these restrictions were 

 done away with, and the wealthy citizens of Rome seem to have 

 vied with each other in the sumptuousness of their dwellings The 

 wealth of the world poured into the imperial city; it ''was no 

 uncommon thing for a Roman patrician to receive as much as was 

 equal to 160,000/. per annum from his estates, besides corn, wine 

 oil, and other produce. Some of these landowners are said to have 

 possessed as many as fourteen villas in different parts of Italy as 

 well as a mansion in Rome. A favourite site for these luxurious 

 villas was the beautiful shore of the bay of Najdes- so splendid 

 were those in the neighbourhood of Baia>, that when Aristobulus 

 king of Judea, landed there, he imagined himself already in the 

 capital of the universe. 



Rome at one time contained 48,382 houses (including the two 

 classes of insula and domus), ranging from the magnificent palace 

 to the miserable, ill-lighted, and ill-ventilated lodging-house 

 where the poor congregated. Houses were raised to an inconve- 

 nient height, to afford shelter within the walls to the dense popu- 



No. 159.— Vol. XIII.— December, 1850. 



lation; it was enacted first by Augustus, and afterwards by Nero, 

 that no private house should exceed 70 feet in height from the 

 ground, a law, however, that appears to have been frequently 

 evaded. Many parts of the city were so crowded, that fearful 

 plagues occasionally broke out; a pestilence that occurred in the 



Plan of Roman Mansion. 



Bniiiif'nT "m 



References to Engraving. 



„f'';J"r5!i:'"''"°'>'^*'''"°' '^'■•Al^! <Zrf,Celtefamiliarics; e«, Courts 

 of the Offices; /, Tablinun. ; y, Cavaidium ; A, Exedra ; t, Bibhotheca ; 

 *, Cjzicene Occus; i /, Gardens ; m, Pinacotheca ; «, Rooms for em- 

 broidery ; o, Peristjle; io, Vernal triclinium ; ?, Summer tricMnium; r 

 \\ inter hidinium; ,, Cold bath ; /, Tepid bath ; ^ Warm bath ; tot,.. 

 Sudatories; x x, Cubicula. 



49 



