DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2161#0141
POMPEIANA. 91
the wall. Vitruvius mentions that, while
some were bathing, others were generally
waiting to succeed them.
In this court or vestibule was found a
sword with a leather sheath, and the box for
the quadrans, or money, which was paid by
each visiter. The quadrans was the fourth
part of the assis and the fourteenth part of
a denarius; a sum so moderate that the heat-
ing of the baths could not have been de-
frayed without a crowd of bathers.
The Poet remarks upon the trifling sum
with which a man made himself as happy as
a king:
" Dum tu quadrante lavatum
Rex ibis." Horace, Sat. III.
Juvenal says that youths under the age of
fourteen paid nothing.—Sat. II.
The smallness of the sum, however, was
a great encouragement to bathers, who, ac-
cording to Pliny, sometimes bathed seven
times in one day.
It is exceedingly probable that the sword
was that of the keeper of the thermae, or
balneator, whose station, with his box of
Q 2
the wall. Vitruvius mentions that, while
some were bathing, others were generally
waiting to succeed them.
In this court or vestibule was found a
sword with a leather sheath, and the box for
the quadrans, or money, which was paid by
each visiter. The quadrans was the fourth
part of the assis and the fourteenth part of
a denarius; a sum so moderate that the heat-
ing of the baths could not have been de-
frayed without a crowd of bathers.
The Poet remarks upon the trifling sum
with which a man made himself as happy as
a king:
" Dum tu quadrante lavatum
Rex ibis." Horace, Sat. III.
Juvenal says that youths under the age of
fourteen paid nothing.—Sat. II.
The smallness of the sum, however, was
a great encouragement to bathers, who, ac-
cording to Pliny, sometimes bathed seven
times in one day.
It is exceedingly probable that the sword
was that of the keeper of the thermae, or
balneator, whose station, with his box of
Q 2