1

ep. xviii. 28. as anciently, Nep. Paus. 4 Curt. vii. 2. covered the knot with wax, or with a kind of chalk (creta), Cic. Flacc. 16. Verr. iv. 26. and sealed it, (obsignabant), Plaut. Bacch. iv. 4. 64. 96. first wetting the ring with spittle, that the wax might not stick to it. Ovid. Trist. v. 4. 5. Amor. ii. 15. 15. Juvenal. i. 68. Hence epistolam vel literas resignare, aperire, vel solvere, to open, Nep. Hann. 11. Cic. Att. xi. 9. resolvere, Liv. xxvi. 15. If any small postscript remained, after the page was completed, it was written crosswise (transversim) on the margin, Cic. Att. v. 1.

In writing letters the Romans always put their own name first, and then that of the person to whom they wrote, Auson. ep. 20. sometimes with the addition of SUO, as a mark of familiarity or fondness, Cic. & Plin. Martial. xiv. 11. if he was invested with an office, that likewise was added; but no epithets, as among us, unless to particular friends, whom they sometimes called Humanissimi, optimi, dulcissimi, animæ suæ, &c. Cic. & Plin. passim.

They always annexed the letter S. for SALUTEM, sc. dicit, wishes health; as the Greek, zaupew, or the like: So Horace, Ep. i. 8. Hence salutem alicui mittere, Plaut. Pseud. i. 1. 39. Ovid. Her. xvi. 1. xviii. 1. &c. multum, vel plurimam dicere, adscribere, dare, impertire, nuntiare, referre, &c. as we express it, to send compliments, &c. Cic. Fam. xiv. 1. Att. xvi. 3.

They used anciently to begin with, SI VALES, BENE EST, vel GAUDEO, EGO VALEO, Senec. ep. i. 15. Plin. ep. i. 11. Cic. Fam. v. 9. 10. xiv. 8. 11. &c. which they often marked with capital letters, Hirt. B. Hisp. 26. They ended with VALE, Ovid. Trist. v. 13. 33. CURA UT VALEAS; sometimes AVE or SALVE to a near relation, with this addition, Mr ANIME, MI SUAVISSIME, &c. They never subscribed their name, as we do, but sometimes added a prayer for the prosperity of the person to whom they wrote; as, Deos obsecro ut te conservent, Suet. Tib. 21. which was always done to the Emperors, Dio. lvii. 11. and called SUBSCRIPTIO, Suet. Tib. 32. The day of the month, sometimes the hour, was annexed, Suet. Aug. 50.

Letters were sent by a messenger, commonly a slave, called | TABELLARIUS, Cic. for the Romans had no established post. There sometimes was an inscription on the outside of the letter, sometimes not, Plutarch, in Dione. When Decimus Brutus was besieged by Antony at Mutina, Hirtius and Octavius wrote letters on thin plates of lead, which they sent to him by means of divers, (urinatores), and so received his answer, Dio. xlvi. 36. Frontin. iii. 13. 7. Appian mentions letters inscribed on leaden bullets, and thrown by a sling into a besieged city, or camp, Mithrid. p. 191. See Dio. xl. 9. li. 10.

Julias Cæsar, when he wrote to any one what he wished to keep

secret, always made use of the fourth letter after that which he ought to have used; as p for A, E for в, c. Suet. Cæs. 56. Dio. xl. 11. Augustus used the letter following, Dio. li. 3. as в for A, and c for B; for 2, aa, Suet. Aug. 88. Isidor. i. 24. So that those only could understand the meaning, who were instructed in their method of writing, Gell. xvii. 9.

The Romans had slaves or freedmen who wrote their letters, called AB EPISTOLIS, Suet. Claud. 28. (A MANU, vel AMANUENSES), Suet. Cæs. 74. Aug. 67. Vesp. Tit. i. 3. and accounts, (A RATIONIBUS, vel ratiocinatores, Cic. Att. i. 12. Suet. Claud. 28.) also who wrote short-hand, (ACTUARII, Suet. Jul. 55. vel NOTARII, Senec. Ep. 90.) as quickly as one could speak; Currant verba licet, manus est velocior illis, Martial. xiv. 208. on waxen tables, Auson. Ep. 146.17. Manil. iv. 195. sometimes put for amanuenses, Plin. Ep. iii. 5. ix. 36. who transcribed their books, (LIBRARII), Cic. Att. xii. 3. Liv. xxxviii. 55. who glued them, (GLUTINATORES, Cic. Att. iv. 4. vulgarly called librorum concinnatores vel compactores, Biẞhionnyor, book-binders); polished them with pumice stone, (pumice poliebant, vel lævigabant, Ovid. Trist. i. 1. 9. iii. 1. 13.) anointed them with the juice of cedar, (cedro illinebant), to preserve them from moths and rottenness, (a lineis et carie) Ibid. & Plin. xiii. 12. Martial. iii. 2. v. 6. viii. 61. Hence carmina cedro linenda, worthy of immortality, Horat. Art. p. 332. So Pers. i. 42.) and marked the titles or index with vermilion, (MINIUM, V. cinnabaris, Ovid. Ibid. Plin. xxxiii. 7.) purple. (coccus vel purpura), Martial. ib. red earth, or red ochre, (rubrica), see p. 219. who took care of their library, (A BIBLIOTHECA), Cic. Fam. xiii. 77. assisted them in their studies, (A STUDIIS, Suet. Cal. 28.) read to them, (ANAGNOSTE, sing. -es, Cic. Att. i. 12. Fam. v. 9. Nep. Att. 14. LECTORES, Suet. Aug. 78. Plin. Ep. viii. 1.)

The freedmen, who acted in some of these capacities under the Emperors, often acquired great wealth and power. Thus Narcissus, the secretary (ab epistolis, vel secretis), of Claudius, and Pallas, the comptroller of the household, (a rationibus), Suet. Claud. 28. So the master of requests, (a libellis), Suet. Domn. 14. Tacit. Ann. xv. 35. xvi. 8.

The place where paper was made, was called OFFICINA chartaria, Plin. xviii. 10. where it was sold, TABERNA; and so OrFICINE ARMORUM, Cic. Phil. vii. 4. CYCLOPUM, workhouses, Horat. j. 4. 8. SAPIENTIE, Cic. legg. i. 13. omnium artium, eloquentiæ, vel dicendi, schools, Id. Orat. 13. Fin. v. 3. But officina & taberna are sometimes confounded, Plin. x. 43. s. 60.

A ware house for paper, or books, or any merchandise, APOTHECA; a bookseller's shop, TABERNA LIBRARIA, C, Phil. ÿ. 9. or simply Libraria, Gell. v. 4. LIBRARIUM, a chest for holding hooks, Cic. Mill. 12.

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The street in Rome, where booksellers (bibliopola) chiefly lived, was called ARGILETUS, Mart. i. 4. or that part of the forum or street, called JANUS; where was a temple or statue of the god Vertumnus, Horat. Ep. i. 20. 1.

A

LIBRARIES.

GREAT number of books, or the place where they were kept, was called BIBLIOTHECA, a library, Festus.

The first famous library was collected by Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria in Egypt, B. C. 284. containing 700,000 volumes, Gell. vi. 17. the next, by Attalus, or Eumenes, king of Pergamus, Plin. xiii. 12.

Adjoining to the Alexandrian library, was a building, called MUSEUM, (i. e. domicilium, specus vel templum musis dicatum), Plin. Ep. i. 9. for the accommodation of a college or society (avrodos) of learned men, who were supported there at the public expense, with a covered walk and seats, (exedra), where they might dispute, Strab. 17. An additional museum was built there by Claudius, Suet. Claud. 42. MUSEUM is used by us for a repository of learned curiosities; as it seems to be by Pliny, xxvii. 2. s. 6.

A great part of the Alexandrian library was burnt by the flames of Cæsar's fleet, when he set it on fire to save himself, Plutarch, in Cæs. & Dio. 42. 38. but neither Cæsar himself nor Hirtius mention this circumstance. It was again restored by Cleopatra, who, for that purpose, received from Antony the library of Pergamus, then consisting of 200,000 volumes, Plutarch. in Anton. It was totally destroyed by the Saracens, A. 642.

The first public library at Rome, and in the world, as Pliny observes, was erected by Asinius Pollio, Plin. vii. 30. xxxv. 2. in the Atrium of the temple of Liberty, Ovid. Trist. iii. 1. 71. on Mount Aventine, Mart. xii. 3. 5.

Augustus founded a Greek and Latin library in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine hill, Suet. 39. Dio. liii. 1. and another, in name of his sister Octavia, adjoining to the theatre of Marcellus, Plutarch. in Marcell. Ovid. Trist. iii. 1. 60. & 69.

There were several other libraries at Rome; in the Capitol, Suet. Dom. 20. in the temple of Peace, Gell. xvi. 8. in the house of Tiberius, Gell. xiii. 18. &c. But the chief was the Ulpian library, instituted by Trajan, Gell. xi. 17. which Dioclesian annexed as an ornament to his Therma, Vopisc. in Prob. 2.

Many private persons had good libraries, Cic. Fam. vii. 28. Q. fr. iii. 4. Att. iv. 10. Plutarch. in Lucull. Senec. de tranq. 9. Horat. od. i. 23. 13. particularly in their country villas, Cic. Fin. iii. 2. Martial. vii. 16. Plin. ep. ii. 17.

Libraries were adorned with statues and pictures, Suet. Tib. 70. Plin. ep. iii. 7. iv. 28. particularly of ingenious and learned men, Plin. xxxv. 2. Juvenal. ii. 7. the walls and roofs with glasses, Boeth. Consol. Plin. xxxvi. 25. Senec. ep. 86. Stat. Silv. i. 5. 42. The books were put in presses or cases, (ARMARIA Vel CAPSE), along the walls, which were sometimes numbered, Vopisc. Tac. 8. called also FORULI, Surt. Aug. 31. Juvenal. iii. 219. LOCULAMENTA, Senec tranq. 9. NIDI, Martial. i. 118. but these are supposed by some, to denote the lesser divisions of the

cases.

The keeper of a library was called a BIBLIOTHECA; Bibliothecarius is used only by later writers.

HOUSES OF THE ROMANS.

THE HE houses of the Romans are supposed at first to have been nothing else but cottages, (casa, vel tuguria), thatched with straw, Ovid. Amor. ii. 9. 18. hence CULMEN, the roof of a house, (quod culmis tegebatur), Serv. in Virg. Ecl, i. 6. Æn.

viii. 654.

After the city was burnt by the Gauls, it was rebuilt in a more solid and commodious manner; but the haste in building prevented attention to the regularity of streets, Liv. v. 55. Diodor.

xiv. 119.

The houses were reared every where without distinction, nulla distinctione passim erecta), Tacit. Ann. xv. 43. or regard to property, (omisso sui alienique discrimine, adeò ut forma urbis esset occupate magis, quam divise similis), where every one built in what place he chose, Liv. ib. and till the war with Pyrrhus, the houses were covered only with shingles, or thin boards, (SCANDULÆ, vel scindulæ, i. e. tabellæ, in parvas laminas scissa), Plin. xvi. 10. s. 15.

It was in the time of Augustus that Rome was first adorned with magnificent buildings; hence that Emperor used to boast, that he had found it of brick, but should leave it of marble; Marmoream se relinquere, quam lateritiam accepisset, Suet. Aug. 29. The streets, however, still were narrow and irregular, Suet. Ner. 38. Tacit. Ann. xv. 38. and private houses, not only incommodious, but even dangerous, from their height, and being mostly built of wood, Juvenal. iii. 193. &c. Scalis habito tribus, sed altis, three stories high, Martial. i. 118.

In the time of Nero, the city was set on fire, and more than twothirds of it burnt to the ground: Of fourteen wards (regiones), into which Rome was divided, only four remained entire, Tacit. Ann. xv. 40. Nero himself was thought to have been the author

of this conflagration. He beheld it from the tower of Mæcēnas, and delighted, as he said, with the beauty of the flame, played the taking of Troy, drest like an actor, Suet. 38. Tacit. Ann. XV.

39. 40. 44.

The city was rebuilt with greater regularity and splendour. The streets were made straight and broader. The areas of the houses were measured out, and their height restricted to 70 feet, as under Augustus, Strab. v. p. 162. Each house had a portico before it, fronting the street, and did not communicate with any other by a common wall as formerly. It behoved a certain part of every house to be built of Gabian or Alban stone, which was proof against fire, (ignibus impervius), Tacit. Ann. xv. 53.

These regulations were subservient to ornament as well as utility. Some, however, thought that the former narrowness of the streets, and height of the houses, were more conducive to health, as preventing by their shade the excessive heat, Ibid.

Buildings, in which several families lived, were called INSULÆ; houses in which one family lived, DOMUS, vel EDES PRIVATE, Suet. Ner. xvi. 38. 44. Tacit. Ann. vi. 45. xv. 41. See p. 65.

We know little of the form either of the outside or inside of Roman houses, as no models of them remain. The small house dug out of the ruins of Pompeii bear little or no resemblance to the houses of opulent Roman citizens.

The principal parts were,

1. VESTIBULUM, which was not properly a part of the house, but an empty space before the gate, through which there was an access to it, Gell. xvi. 5. Cic. Casin. 12. Plaut. Most. iii. 2. 130.

The vestibule of the golden palace (aurea domus) of Nero, was so large, that it contained three porticos, a mile long each, and a pond like a sea, surrounded with buildings like a city, Suet. Ner. Here was also a colossus of himself, or statue of enormous magnitude, 120 feet high, See p. 336.

30.

2. JANUA, ostium, vel fores, the gate, (PORTA murorum et castrorum; JANUA parietis et domorum), made of various kinds of wood, cedar, or cypress, Virg. G. ii. 442. elm, oak, &c. Ovid. Met. iv. 487. Amor. ii. 1. 25. sometimes of iron, Plaut. Pers. iv. 4. 21. or brass, Plin. xxxiv. 3. and especially in temples, of ivory and gold, Cic. Verr. iv. 56. Plin. viii. 10.

The gate was commonly raised above the ground, so that they had to ascend to it by steps, Virg. Æn. ii. 492. Sen. ep. 84.

The pillars at the sides of the gates, projecting a little without the wall, were called ANTE, and the ornaments affixed to them, wrought in wood or stone, ANTEPAGMENTA, Festus.

When the gate was opened among the Romans, the folds (VALVE, quod intus revolvantur) bent inwards, unless it was granted to any one by a special law to open his door outward; as to P. Valerius