B A 1' 



multiplied and brought together in the vail buildirtgs of 

 the thervu. 



Tiie thermic, thofe prodigious monuments of Koman mag- 

 nificence, we're formed in imitation of the Greek gymnafia. 

 In both were afiemWed all tlie inilitiitions favourable to 



BAT 



men and valetudinarians. This room, agreeably to Vitruvin*, 

 as well as to the ancient paintings ot the baths of Titus, 

 joined the ti'pidarium, and communicated to it a more tem- 

 perate heat. A fort of furnace was ufually fufpended at one 

 corner of the room, of a circular form, terminating in a 



health, all the cxercifes of the body, all that could give re- fmall cupula, open at the top ; which, as yuruvuis lays, 



laxation to the mmd, or ailord amulemeiit to the people. 



Although the name of therms:, given by the Romans to. 



thefe edifices, fignities a place dellined to the ufc of watm- 



baths, yet the diverfity of ufes to which tlity were applied 



will not fuller us to comprife the whole in a fingle article. 



AU that concerns the immediate ufe of the baths will be 



found here ; but for other details, we (hall refer to 



Thermae. . 



The mod complete and bcaUtiful baths were compoled 

 of fix principal apartments. 



The firlt was called the apotfytcrhtm, where the frequent- 

 ers of the bath undrefTed ; it was fnvniflied with tables to 

 receive t)ie garments of tliC bathers, and guards named cap- 

 farii to take care of them. This room was alfo called by the 

 Romans thef/>o/:,itorium. All the baths were not furniihed 

 with an apodyterium. Lucian fays, that in thofe which were 



ferved to regulate the degree of heat which the bathers 

 vvithed to give the room. It feems beyond a doubt that 

 the htconicum itfelf was nothing more tlian a kind of fur- 

 nace ; and the millakes it has occafioned owe their rife to 

 the room in which it was phiced l.aving taken its name 

 from it. In the paintings of Titus's liaths, it is called 

 the concnmcrata fudalh ; but Vitruvius furniihcs us with a 

 proper dilHncl^ion, when he fays (1. 5. c. 10.), " laconicum 

 fudatioiiefque funt conjungends tepidario ;" and explains 

 hiinlelf more fully in the next chapter, where he reckons 

 the llovc as a chamber of the palsftra. There (hould in 

 one of its corners, he fays, be placed the laconicum, and 

 in another the warm bath. " Concam.erata fndatio longitu- 

 dinc duplex qnam latitudine quns habeat in verfuris ex una 



parte laconicum ex adverfo laconici caldam la- 



vationem." It fhould perhaps have been before oblerved. 



without it, the fn^Uarium was' ufed for the fame purpofe. that according to Vitruvius, the laconicum had niches which 

 The apodyterium is found neither in the gymnal'ium of Vi- were called y;;</<7/;oniJ, where thofe who ufed the dry baths 



truvius, nor in the palscftra defcribed by Lucian. It is very 

 probable, there was no fuch apartment in the Greek gym- 

 nafia, and that the frigidarium fupplied its place. Pliny is 

 the onlv author who mentions it, when dcfcribing the baths 

 of his country-houfe. 



The fecond apartment was the cold-bath ; named A- 



feated themlelves, as we fee in ancient paintings. 



The fifth apartment was the bahieum, or warm bath, 

 called thermoloiijia, and was the moft rcforted to. Its fize 

 was proportioned to the number of thofe who bathed in it 

 at once. Its breadth was a third Icfs than its height, 

 without including the gallery, called J'chola ; which was car- 



by the Greeks, and fngiJarium by the Romans. This room ried round it, and terminated near the bafon with a little 

 was ufually expofed to the north, and ferved, as we have wall for the bathers to lean againft. This gallery was fuf- 

 juft related, the pui-pofe of an apodyterium to fuch baths ficiently large to contain thofe who waited for their turns to 

 as were witiiout one ; of courfe it was then the firll; apart- bathe. The middle of the room was occupied by a bafon 

 nient. The marquis Galiani imagined that the frigidarium called ///ri/w, or by a bathing place which had the name of 

 and tepidarium were the fame ; but ancient paintings prove alveum, as we fee in the balneum of ancient paintings. The 

 the contrary. bath was placed immediately below the only window by 



The third room vi'as the /f/i</<zr;a»n. Its principal ufe was, which the light was admitted, that it might not be dark- 

 bv the temperate air it contained, to prevent any bad effefts ened by the fliadovvs of thofe who were walking in the gal- 

 that might be occafioned by pafTing too fuddenly from the lery. 



warm to tlie cold apartment. In the paintings of the The fixth room was the tleothejium, or unduarium. Here 



baths of Titus, this apartment is found between the frigi- were preferved the oils and perfumes ufed both in entering 

 darium and the coticamerata Judat'w. The tepidarium, ac- and quitting the bath ; and it was fo co.'^llrufted as to re- 

 cording to hillorians, joined the frigidarium to th.e warm ceive a confiderable degree of warmth from the hypocauft. 

 bath ; and it is for that rcafon that Pliny calls it cclhi media. The hypocauft was a fort of fubterranean furnace, which 



the middle room. Galen gives it the fame name, and imagines Vitruvius caWi fufpenfura ; the bottom forming an inclined 



it acquired this appellation not only on account of its fituation plane, by a gradual defcent from the opening where the 



ill the centre, but from its temperature ; for, fays he, this wood for heating it was thrown in ; by which means the 



chamber was as many degrees colder than the tliird or heat was increafed, and the apartments warmed more cxpe- 



warm bath as it was warmer than the firlt or frigidarium. ditioufly. It extended under the greater part of the rooms 



The frigidarium and tepidarium, however, were more fre- we have mentioned. 



quented for the benefit of their air than of their water. ■ Befide ihcfe rooms particularly dcftined to the ufc of the 



Tlie fourth chamber was that which contained the (love ; bath, there were feveral others intended for the cxercifes 



and was called laconicum, from the name of the oven 



which warmed it. According to Galen, it indofed a dry 



heat ; and he advifes perfons of a warm temperature not to 



enter it, but rather to ufe the warm bath, where the water 



abforbed by the pores would hinder the heat from being 



attended by any bad confequences. The laconicum alfo had 



its name, as having been originally derived from Lacouia. 



Martial fays to one of his friends (lib. 6. cp. 42.) : , 

 Ritus fi tibi placeant tibi laconum, 

 Contentus potes arido vaporc 

 Crjda virgine Martiaque mergi. 



Dion informs us, that they who perfpired in the laconicum 



anointed themfelves with oil, and then entered the cold bath; 



previoudy taken. Such were the fpheriflcrium, the con'ijle- 

 ihim, the corjcea, t\\ejlui!iuin, the epbebenni, and others : all 

 forming part of the gymnafia ; but which were not always 

 appendages of the baths, particularly thofe of private per- 

 lons. Private baths, however, differed greatly in conftruc- 

 tion from thofe we have mentioned. Each pofleffor follow- 

 ed his own caprice, either in changing the rooms of which 

 they were compofed, oi- making the fame chamber ferve for 

 different purpofes. The dcfcription the younger Pliny has 

 left us of his bath at Laurentinnm, is a proof of this. In 

 this building tliere was neither apodyterium nor tepidarium ; 

 and the arrangement of its other parts was very different 

 from that of the public baths. You firft entered a fpacious 



iicverthekfs in its origin the laconicum was only ufed by old frigidarium j where contiguous to the walls, and oppofitg 



to 



