But In General They
Used It Milk-Warm, And Often Perfumed:
They likewise indulged in
vapour-baths, in order to enjoy a pleasing relaxation, which they
likewise improved with odoriferous ointments.
The thermae consisted of a great variety of parts and
conveniences; the natationes, or swimming places; the portici,
where people amused themselves in walking, conversing, and
disputing together, as Cicero says, In porticibus deambulantes
disputabant; the basilicae, where the bathers assembled, before
they entered, and after they came out of the bath; the atria, or
ample courts, adorned with noble colonnades of Numidian marble
and oriental granite; the ephibia, where the young men inured
themselves to wrestling and other exercises; the frigidaria, or
places kept cool by a constant draught of air, promoted by the
disposition and number of the windows; the calidaria, where the
water was warmed for the baths; the platanones, or delightful
groves of sycamore; the stadia, for the performances of the
athletae; the exedrae, or resting-places, provided with seats for
those that were weary; the palestrae, where every one chose that
exercise which pleased him best; the gymnasia, where poets,
orators, and philosophers recited their works, and harangued for
diversion; the eleotesia, where the fragrant oils and ointments
were kept for the use of the bathers; and the conisteria, where
the wrestlers were smeared with sand before they engaged. Of the
thermae in Rome, some were mercenary, and some opened gratis.
Marcus Agrippa, when he was edile, opened one hundred and seventy
private baths, for the use of the people.
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