House^Garden 
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Vol.III JANUARY, 1903 No. 1 
ANCIENT ROMAN COUNTRY HOUSES 
By A. D. F. HAMLIN 
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
A MARITIME VILLA 
From a Pompeiian Wall Painting 
T HK growth of cities is one of the neces¬ 
sary concomitants of maturing civiliza¬ 
tions. As cities multiply and become more 
and more densely populated, there is devel¬ 
oped a reaction towards rural life. Unless, 
however, the means of transit between the 
busy centers of urban life and the open 
country are both abundant and speedy, the 
privilege of living in the country and trans¬ 
acting business in the city is confined to the 
wealthy few, and it is, of course, only the 
wealthy who can afford to spend any consid¬ 
erable part of their lives in rural ease upon 
the income of their investments, or with only 
infrequent returns to the city to transact 
business. 
In ancient Roman days transit between 
the Forum and the open country about the 
Eternal City depended upon the legs of men 
and beasts. Travel in a springless cart or 
chariot over the huge lava blocks of the 
Roman paved roads, or the deep ruts of rural 
highways, was not an agreeable experience. 
The wealthy patrician travelled in a litter 
borne by slaves, whenever this was possible; 
those of more active tastes rode on horse¬ 
back. Though “all roads lead to Rome” 
the city was much less of a distributing point 
for the outlying country than are our larger 
cities to-day, thanks to the economic revolu¬ 
tion wrought by our railways. To understand 
Roman country life it is necessary to picture 
to ourselves conditions of transportation and 
intercourse more primitive than we can easily 
imagine, and it requires no light exercise of 
the imagination to represent to ourselves 
other features of the environment of Roman 
city and suburban life,— the innumerable 
slaves, the thronging and turbulent crowds 
in the streets and public places, the obses- 
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