BAT 



I believe, he fays, that the three vafes were upon a kind of 

 level: the caldarium ij^i mediately above the furnace; the 

 tepidarium a little backwarder, fo as lo receive a reverberation 

 of the heat more thaa the fire itfclf ; and the frigidarium upon 

 a maffy pedeftal, fo that the warmth could not reach it. 

 Fcom the caldarium to the baths was a pipe, which, by 

 means of a cock, fupplicd any quantity of water that was 

 requifite. Another pipe carried the water of the refervoir 

 to the frigidarium, and kept it at the fame level. AU the 

 figures which Vitrunus has given of this procefs, feem to 

 require that an attendant ftiould overlook this transfufion of 

 the water: but that author himfelf tells us, that the opera- 

 tion was performed without afliftance ; ita collocanda uti 

 ex tepidario in caldarium quantum aquK caldse exicrit 

 influat de trigidario in tepidarium ad eundem modum. 

 , They had alfo other means of heating the water of the 

 batho. We conttrutt, fays Seneca, a fpecies of vafes high 

 and narrow, in the form of dragous and other fanciful (hapes, 

 in which we place pipes of native copper, of a fpiral form, 

 through which the water pafles till it acquires a fufficitnt 

 degree of heat. In the fame degree as the cold water enters 

 the pipes, the warm paffes out ; fo that all the water which 

 runs through, acquires the fame temperature. Seneca ex-- 

 plains the advantage of this procefs, and informs us the tube 

 through which the water pafTes having no communication 

 with the fire, the vapours are not mixed with fmoke ; nee 

 trahit vaporem evaporatio, quia claufa pertrahitur. 



The parallel which Seneca has given in his letters 

 between the baths of Scipio Africanus and thofe of 

 his own time, is highly interelling, and will probably 

 elucidate much that has been already written on the 

 fubject. 



" Scipio's bath," he fays, " was fmall and fomewhat 

 dark, agreeable to the ancient cuftom ; for our anceftors 

 thought that a bath could not be warm enough unlefs it was 

 clofe. It was therefore a great pleafure to me to compare 

 the manners of Scipio with our own. In this little nook 

 did Scipio (the dread of Carthage, and to whom Rome was 

 indebted for having once taken it) ufe to bathe his body when 

 fatigued with ruftic labours. Under this low asd fordid roof 

 he flood, and difdained not to tread fo vile and mean a floor. 

 But who is there in our time who would condefcend to bathe 

 in this way !■ A man thinks himfelf poor and mean, unlefs 

 the walls are decorated with large and precious cmboffments ; 

 unlefs Alexandrian marble is pointed and inlaid v.ith Numi- 

 dian rough call ; unlefs a rich and curioufly variegated plailler- 

 ing be fpread upon them in pifturefque ; unlefs the roof is 

 covered with glafs-work ; unlefs the Thafian ftone, once 

 reckoned a icarce and curious ornament, even in fome tem- 

 ples, now compafs about the pooh in which we bathe our 

 bodies when enfeebled with fatigue at fome trifling fport : 

 in (hort, unlefs the water is conveyed by a Clver fpout. I 

 am fpeaking as yet of common ftovcs ; but what fhall I fay 

 uhen 1 come to fpeak of our freedmen ? What nobk 

 flatues ! What \-ail pillars fupporting nothing ; but placed 

 there for mere ornament, and the vain oftentation of expence! 

 What large and far-founding cafcades ! We aie arrived to 

 fuch a pitch of dehcacy and extravagance, that we cannot 

 tread but upon the moft precious marbles. 



" In Scipio's bath there are fome chinks, rather than win- 

 dows, cut out of the ftone wall to let in the light without 

 hindering the ftrength of the building. But now we call the 

 baths moth-houfes and dungeons, if they are not fo contrived 

 as to admit the whole day's fun through the moft fpacious 

 windows, whereby men are tanned as well as wafhed ; and 

 from the bathing veffels have a profpeft both of the meadows 

 and the fca. So that thefe baths, which, at tTieir fuit con- 



B A T 



ftruftion, called together a vaft concourfe of people, and filled 

 them with admiration, are now rejsftcd as poor antiquated 

 things ; while luxury is daily prefenting fome novelty that 

 muft at lail prove its own ruin. Formerly there were but 

 few baths, and thofe not ornamented with any coftly deco- 

 rations ; for to what purpoCe ij it to adorn a common room, 

 open to any one that paid his farthing, and w^hich was built 

 not for pleafure but for ufe ? It was not cL^iomai-y to have 

 the water fprinkled or poured in upon thp bathers ; nor did 

 if always run frcTi, as from a war;n fprii.g ; nor dia ihey 

 think it material, how clear the water was wherein they were 

 to wafh off thdr filth." 



From this letter of Seneca, we perceive to what a pitch of 

 magnificence luxury had carried the edifices deftined fo/ the 

 baths. And nothing gives a ftronger confirmation to the 

 account, than the fragments of thofe buildings which have 

 reached our own time. The greater part exhibits to us the 

 moft precious furniture. The hall of the bath, difcovercd a 

 few years fince at Otricoh, has prefcrved the rcLques of the 

 rareft marbles ; its pavement was formed of the fame won- 

 derful kind of mofaic which at this day ornaments the 

 rotunda of the Vatican inufeum. In the baths of Titus, 

 the marble coating is carried to the height of about ten feet ; 

 where, to preferve the paintings from the dafhing of the 

 water, the walls were covered. It appi:ars that in thefe 

 baths one divifion of the rooms, efpecially thofe which were 

 deftined for the warm baths, had no openings to admit the 

 light!; at leaft none have been found. When it became 

 fafliionable to frequent the baths by night, it was neceftary 

 the place (hould be lighted by lamps and candclabrse ; the in- 

 troduction of which contributed ver)- much to the decoration 

 of the apartments. The moft magnificent we have feen at 

 Rome, have been found in the Thermas : their light was 

 reflefled by maffes of cryftal, fufpended from the roof or 

 fixed againft the walls, fo as to produce the moft effulgent 

 light. 



The ufe of glafs in the decoration of the baths, com- 

 menced about the time of Fhny, who calls it a modem in- 

 vention ; novitium et hoc inventum. It did not exift, as 

 far as has been difcovered, in Agrippa's time ; whofe baths 

 were covered vrith oniamented clay or ftucco, called albarium 

 opus. 



Having thus brought the hiftoiy of the Roman baths to 

 a concluiion, it will not be irrelevant to add a brief notice 

 of the principal njins of them which remain, taken chrono- 

 logically. 



The better half of Paulus TEmilius's baths is nearly per- 

 fecl. 



Thofe of Livia, on the Palatine hill, and under the ruins 

 of the imperial palace, ftillftiew two fmall apartments entire, 

 decorated with ftucco, paiuting, and gilding. 



The magnificent ruins of the baths of Titus, Caracalla, 

 and Dioclefian, ftill Ihew the entire plans : fufficient remains 

 of the walls to dctcrmmc the feCtions and elevations with 

 tolerable certainty ; and of the conftnidtion of the con- 

 duits and ftovcs, enough to give the moft fatisfaftory in- 

 formation. 



There are Come remains, but very incomplete, of the baths 

 of Conftantine, in the gardens of prince Colonna. 



All the reft of the ancient baths, in or about Rome, are 

 nearly or entirely deftroyed : and it is to be remarked, that 

 the baths of Titus, Caracalla, and Dioclelian, are entirely 

 ftripped of their magnificent columns and fine marbles, ex- 

 cepting the great hall of Dioclefian's baths, which was con- 

 verted into a church by Michael Angelo, and its granite 

 columns of fingle ftoncs, each forty feet in height, pr«- 

 ftrved. 



That 



