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USE OF GLASS BY THE ROMANS.

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Sicily, and Africa, which might be split into thin leaves (finditur in quamlibet tenues crustas), like slate, but not above five feet long each, Senec. Ep. 90. Plin. xxxvi. 22. s. 45. What this stone was is uncertain.

Windows, however, of that kind (SPECULARIA) were used only in the principal apartments of great houses, Senec. Ep. 86. Nat. Q. iv. 13., in gardens, Plin. xv. 16. xix. 5. Martial. viii. 14., called PERSPICUA GEMMA, Ib. 68., in porticos, Plin. Ep. ii. 17., in sedans (lectica), Juvenal. iv. 21., or the like.

Paper, linen cloth, and horn, seem likewise to have been used for windows; hence CORNEUM SPECULAR, Tertullian. de Anim. 53.

The Romans did not use glass for windows, although they used it for other purposes, particularly for mirrors (specula) * [and cinerary urns], nor is it yet universally used in Italy, on account of the heat.† Glass was first invented in Phoenicia accidentally, by mariners burning nitre on the sand of the sea-shore, Plin. xxxvi. 26. s. 65.‡

Glass windows (vitrea specularia) are not mentioned till about the middle of the fourth century by Hieronymus (St. Jerome) ad Ezech. xl. 16.; first used in England, A. 1177; first made there, 1558; but plate glass for coaches and looking glasses not till 1673.

The Romans, in later times, adorned the pavements of their houses with small pieces (crustæ, vel -a) [vel scutulæ] of marble, of different kinds and different colours §, curiously joined together, called PAVIMENTA SECTILIA, Suet. Cæs. 46. (106στрwτα, Varro), vel EMBLEMATA VERMICULATA, Cic. Orat. iii. 43., or with small pebbles (calculi vel tesseræ, s. -ulæ), dyed in various colours; hence called PAVIMENTA TESSELLATA, Suet. ib., used likewise, and most frequently, in ceilings, Lucan. x. 114., in after-times called opus museum vel musivum, Mosaic work, probably because first used in caves or grottos consecrated to the Muses (musea), Plin. xxxvi. 21. s. 42. The walls also used to be covered with crusts of marble, Ib. 6. ||

"Pliny (xxxiii. 45.) tells us, that the best mirrors were made, in his day, of silver, which had been used for that purpose since the days of Pompey. He mentions, that there was a contrivance for affixing gold to the back of the silver, which gave a better reflection. Glass mirrors are first mentioned in a work attributed to Alexander Aphrodisius, who lived at the end of the second century." — Burton's Antiq. i. p. 310.

+An entire casement glazed with panes of thick green glass, set in lead, was discovered in the ruins of an ancient villa in the neighbourhood of Pompeii. (Sir W. Gell's Pompeiana.)” — Sketches of the Institutions of the Romans, p. 183.

The best glass was manufactured in Egypt, from a peculiar sand found there. Strabo, Geogr. p. 1077. ed. Oxon. 1807. "Pliny ascribes the invention of glass to a period about 1000 years antecedent to the Christian æra; but it probably was still more ancient, as the mummies of the Thebais, which are supposed to be six centuries older, are said to have been decorated with glass beads.". - Sketches of the Institutions, &c. of the Romans, p. 309. Horace's comparison of the fountain of Bandusia to glass (0 fons Bandusic, splendidior vitro, Od. iii. 13.) is some evidence that it was brought to perfection in his time. So Ovid (Met. xiii. 792.) styles

Galatea, splendidior vitro.

"Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 82.

Ten' lapides varios lutulenta radere palma?' They were at great pains to keep the pavements clean, which they swept, first sprinkling saw-dust (scobs) over them: Hor. l. c. 81. Juv xiv. 60."— T.

"The very rapidity with which luxury advanced from the first moment of its appearance, bespoke its hostile character. Tessellated pavements were unknown at

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Ceilings were often adorned with ivory, and fretted or formed into raised work and hollows (laqueata tecta, Cic. Legg. ii. 1.) [Hor. Od. ii. 16. 11.] LAQUEARIA vel LACUNARIA, from lacus or lacuna, the hollow interstice between the beams, Serv. in Virg. Æn. 1. 726., gilt (aurea, Ibid. and Horat. Od. ii. 18., inaurata, Plin. xxxiii. 3.), and painted, Plin. xxxv. 11. s. 40. Nero made the ceiling of his dining-room to shift, and exhibit new appearances, [rather, the motions of the heavens,] as the different courses or dishes were removed, Senec. Ep. 90. Suet. Ner. 31.*

VILLAS AND GARDENS OF THE ROMANS.

THE magnificence of the Romans was chiefly conspicuous in their country villas, Cic. de Legg. iii. 13. †

VILLA originally denoted a farm-house and its appurtenances, or the accommodations requisite for a husbandman (quasi VELLA, quo fructus vehebant, & unde vehebant, cùm venderentur, Varr. R. R. i. 2. 14.); hence the overseer of a farm was called VILLICUS [Hor. Epist. xiv. 1.], and his wife (UXOR liberi, et CONTUBERNALIS servi) VILLICA. But when luxury was introduced, the name of villa was applied to a number of buildings reared for accommodating the family of an opulent Roman citizen in the country, Cic. Rosc. Com. 12. [especially at Tibur, belonging to Horace, Mecænas, Catullus; of

Rome before the æra of Sylla (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 25.); by Cæsar they appear to have been considered a part of the necessary furniture of his camp. When Lepidus, during his consulship, adorned his threshold with Numidian marble, which he had been the first to import, the unprecedented magnificence of his dwelling called forth loud reprehension from his countrymen: within forty years, a hundred houses had arisen in Rome which entirely eclipsed his own, and these, in their turn, yielded the palm to the golden palace of Nero; while marble, the natural diversities of which were gaudily variegated by artificial colouring, was then so lavishly employed, that the eye, wearied with its perpetual recurrence, sought in vain, even in the grove of Egeria, for a glimpse of fresh herbage, and the native sandstone. (Juven. iii. 17.) Stone was first painted in the reign of Claudius; marble in that of Nero. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 1.)” — Anstice's Prize Essay, p. 48.

"In the baths of Titus, there are paintings on the ceiling which may be called extremely perfect. The damp seems to have had no effect upon them, which is probably owing to the excellence of the Roman brickwork. They consist chiefly of 1 arabesques, with all the figures very small, forming little borders and patterns of birds, beasts, &c., among which some green parrots may be seen very distinctly. Vitruvius seems to give the name of topiarium opus to this style of painting. (v. 8. viii. 5.)" — Burton's Antiq. i. p. 316.

"The bay of Bair is lined with ruins, the remains of the villas and the baths of the Romans; some advance a considerable way out, and, though now under the waves, are easily distinguishable in fine weather. The taste for building in the waters, and encroaching on the sea, to which Horace alludes (Od. ii. 18.), is exemplified in a very striking manner all along this coast."- Eustace's Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 410. "The most perfect and most curious object that has been yet discovered at Pompeii is a villa at a little distance from the town. It consists of three courts; in the first and largest is a pond, and in the centre an edicula or little temple: there are numerous apartments of every description paved in mosaic, coloured and adorned with various paintings on the walls, all in a very beautiful style. The baths in this villa seem to have been the principal object of luxurious indulgence, and are laid out with a refinement of art and contrivance that can receive few or no improvements from all our modern inventions."— Ibid. vol. iii. p. 47.

DIFFERENT PARTS AND APPENDAGES OF A VILLA.

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Cicero, at Cuma, Pompeii, Formiæ; of Pliny, at Tifernum; of Scipio Africanus, at Liternum; of Nero, at Baiæ, &c.; of Lucullus, afterwards of Tiberius, at Misenus Portus, Phædr. v. 2.]: hence some of them are said to have been built in the manner of cities, in urbium modum exædificatæ, Sallust. Cat. 12. Edificia privata, laxitatem urbium magnarum vincentia, Senec. Benef. vii. 10. Ep. 90.* Horat. Od. ii. 15. iii. 1. 33. [Epod. i. 29.]

A villa of this kind was divided into three parts, URBANA, RusTICA, and FRUCTUARIA. The first contained dining-rooms, parlours, bed-chambers, baths, tennis-courts, walks, terraces (xysti), &c. adapted to the different seasons of the year. The villa rustica contained accommodations for the various tribes of slaves and workmen, stables, &c., and the Fructuaria, wine and oil-cellars, corn-yards (fanilia et palearia), barns, granaries, storehouses, repositories for preserving fruits (oporotheca), &c., Columel. i. 6. 2., &c.

Cato and Varro include both the last parts under the name of VILLA RUSTICA, Cat. de R. R. iii. 1. ix. 1. Varr. xiii. 6. But the name of villa is often applied to the first alone, without the other two, and called by Vitruvius PSEUDO-URBANA; by others PRÆTORIUM, Pallad. 1. 8. Suet. Aug. 72. Cal. 37. Tit. 8.

In every villa there commonly was a tower; in the upper part of which was a supping-room (canatio), where the guests, while reclining at table, might enjoy at the same time a pleasant prospect, Plin. Ep. ii. 17.

Adjoining to the VILLA RUSTICA, were places for keeping hens, GALLINARIUM; geese, CHENOBOSCIUM; ducks and wild fowl, NESSOTROPHIUM; birds, ornithon vel AVIARIUM; dormice, GLIRARIUM; swine, SUILE, &c. stabulum, et hara, hogsties; hares, rabbits, &c., LEPORARIUM, a warren; bees, APIARIUM; and even snails, CоCHLEARE, &C.

There was a large park, of fifty acres or more (Tapádaσos), for deer and wild beasts, THERIOTROPHIUM vel VIVARIUM, Gell. ii. 20., but the last word is applied also to a fish-pond (PISCINA), Juvenal. iv. 51., or an oyster-bed, Plin. ix. 54., or any place where live animals were kept for pleasure or profit. Hence in vivaria mittere, i. e. lactare, muneribus et observantiâ omni alicujus hæreditatem captare, to court one for his money, Horat. Ep. i. 1. 79. Ad vivaria currunt, to good quarters, to a place where plenty of spoil is to be had, Juvenal. iii. 308.

The Romans were uncommonly fond of gardens (HORTUS vel ORTUS, ubi arbores et olera oriuntur), as, indeed, all the ancients were; hence the fabulous gardens and golden apples of the HESPERIDES Virg. Æn. iv. 484., of Adonis and Alcinous, Ib. G. ii. 87. Ovid Am. i. 10. 56. Pont. iv. 2. 10. Stat. Silv. i. 3. 81., the hanging

* Seneca observes, that the villas of all the great captains of Rome were built on hills, or the highest ground that they could find; it being thought more military to command the view of the country beneath them, and that houses so situate had the appearance of a camp rather than a villa. (Epist. 51.) Such was the situation of Cicero's Tusculan house, which had belonged to Sylla the dictator. Some writers reckon up eighteen villas belonging to Cicero, which may serve to give us some idea of the wealth of the Romans.

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CULTIVATION OF GARDENS.

gardens (pensiles horti) of Semiramis, or of Cyrus at Babylon, Plin. xix. 4., the gardens of Epicurus, put for his gymnasium, or school, Ibid. et Cic. Att. xii. 23. Fin. v. 3.

In the laws of the Twelve Tables villa is not mentioned, but hortus in place of it, Plin. ibid. The husbandmen called a garden altera succidia, a second dessert, or flitch of bacon, (perna, petăso vel lardum,) which was always ready to be cut, Cic. Sen. 16., or a salad (ACETARIA, -orum, facilia concoqui, nec oneratura sensum cibo, Plin. xix. 4. s. 19.) and judged there must be a bad housewife (nequam mater familias, for this was her charge) in that house where the garden was in bad order (indiligens hortus, i. e. indiligentur cultus). Even in the city, the common people used to have representations of gardens in their windows, Plin. ibid. [Hor. Epist. i. 10. 24.]

In ancient times, the garden was chiefly stored with fruit-trees and pot-herbs (ex horto enim plebei macellum, Ib.), hence called HORTUS PINGUIS, the kitchen-garden, Virg. G. iv. 118. Plin. Ep. ii. 17., and noble families were denominated not only from the cultivation of certain kinds of pulse (legumine), Fabii, Lentuli, Pisones, &c., but also of lettuce, Lactucini, Plin. xix. 4. s. 19. 3.

But in after-times the chief attention was paid to the rearing of shady trees, Horat. Od. ii. 14. 22. et ii. 15. 4. Ovid. Nux. 29., &c., aromatic plants, flowers, and evergreens; as the myrtle, ivy, laurel, boxwood, &c. These, for the sake of ornament, were twisted and cut into various figures by slaves trained for that purpose, called TOPIARII, Plin. Ep. iii. 19., who were said TOPIARIAM, SC. artem FACere, Cic. Q. Fr. iii. 1. 2., vel OPUS TOPIARIUM, Plin. xv. 30.*

Gardens were adorned with the most beautiful statues, Cic. Dom. 43. Plin. Ep. viii. 18. f. Here the Romans, when they chose it, lived in retirement, Cic. Att. xii. 40. Suet. Cl. 5. Tacit. Ann. xvi. 31., and entertained their friends, Senec. Ep. 21. Mart. iv. 64.

The Romans were particularly careful to have their gardens well watered (rigui vel irrigui); and for that purpose, if there was no water in the ground, it was conveyed in pipes, (inducebatur per canales, vel fistulas aquarias, Plin. Ep. v. 6., per tubos plumbeos, vel ligneos, Plin. xvi. 42. s. 81., vel fictiles, seu testaceos, Id. xxxi. 6. s. 31.). These aqueducts (ductus aquarum) were sometimes so large, that they went by the name of NILI and EURIPI, Cic. Legg. ii. 1.

The gardens at Rome most frequently mentioned by the classics, were, horti CASARIS†, Horat. Sat. i. 9. 18. Suet. 83.; LUCULLI, Tacit. Ann. xi. 1. 37.; MARTIALIS, iv. 64.; NERONIS, Tacit. Ann. xiv. 3. xv. 44.; POMPEII, Cic. Phil. ii. 29.; SALLUSTII, V. -IANI, the property first of Sallust the historian, then of his grand-nephew and adopted son, Tacit. Ann. iii. 30. ; afterwards of the emperors, Id. xiii. 47. Hist. iii. 82.; SENECA, Id. xiv. 52. Juvenal. x. 16.; TARQUINII SUPERBI, the most ancient in the city, Liv. i. 54. Ovid. Fast. ii. 703., &c.

Adjoining to the garden were beautiful walks (ambulacra, vel

*"The Romans seem to have had little perception of the minuter beauties of landscape. According to Beckmann (Hist. of Inven.), they had no flower-gardens. Alleys, avenues, and alcoves supplied their place.". Anslice's Essay, p. 15.

On the banks of the Tibur, at the foot of the Janiculum, which he bequeathed to the Roman people.

ATTACHMENT OF THE ROMANS TO AGRICULTURE.

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-tiones), shaded with trees, and a place for exercise (palæstra), Cic. Legg. ii. 2.

Gell. i. 2.

Trees were often reared with great care round houses in the city, Horat. Ep. i. 10. 22. Tibull. iii. 3. 15., and statues placed among

them, Cic. Verr. i. 19.*

AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS.

THE ancient Romans were so devoted to agriculture, that their most illustrious commanders were sometimes called from the plough; thus, Cincinnatus, Liv. iii. 26. Cic. Rosc. Am. 18. [Off. i. 42.] The senators commonly resided in the country, and cultivated the ground with their own hands, Ibid. (see p. 8.), and the noblest families derived their surnames from cultivating particular kinds of grain; as the FABII, PISONES, LENTULI, CICERONES, &c., Plin. xviii. 1. [So also Asinius, Porcius, Vitellius, from having been celebrated breeders of the animals to which the names have an affinity.] To be a good husbandman was accounted the highest praise, (BONUS COLONUS vel AGRICOLA, was equivalent to VIR BONUS, Ibid. 3. Cato, R. R. Pr. 2.; LOCUPLES, rich, q. loci, hoc est, agri plenus: PECUNIosus, a pecorum copia; so ASSIDUUS, ab asse dando, Quinctil. v. 10. Ovid. Fast. v. 280. Gell. x. 5. Festus); and whoever neglected his ground, or cultivated it improperly, was liable to the animadversions of the censors, Plin. ibid. †

At first no citizen had more ground than he could cultivate himself. Romulus allotted to each only two acres [jugera], Varr. R. R. i. 10. Plin. xviii. 11., called HÆREDIUM (quod hæredem sequerentur), Id., and SORS, Festus; or cespes fortuitus, Horat. Od. ii. 15. 17., which must have been cultivated with the spade. An hundred of these sortes or hæredia was called CENTURIA, Columel. i. 5.; hence in nullam sortem bonorum natus, i. e. partem hæreditatis, to no share of his grandfather's fortune, Liv. i. 34. After the expulsion of the kings [according to Niebuhr, ii. p. 161. by Servius Tullius], seven acres were granted to each citizen, Plin. xviii. 3., which continued for a long time to be the usual portion assigned them in the division of conquered lands, Liv. v. 30. Val. Max. iv. 3. 5. L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, Curius Dentatus, Fabricius, Regulus, &c. had no more, Id. iv. 4. 6, 7. Cincinnatus had only four acres, according to Columella, Præf. & i. 3., and Pliny, xviii. 3.

Those whom proprietors employed to take care of the grounds which they kept in their own hands, were called VILLICI, Horat. Ep. i. 14. Cic. Verr. iii. 53. Att. xiv. 17., and were usually of servile condition, Ibid.

The fig, the almond, and the olive, each the produce of the Levant, were imported into Rome about two centuries after its foundation, and the cherry was first introduced by Lucullus, from Cerasus, in Pontus.

"A plebeian was bound to be a husbandman: if he renounced this calling, and betook himself to a retail trade or handicraft, he renounced his order likewise; and it was the censor's duty to strike out his name." - Nieb. ii. p. 398. "In the age of the Gracchi, we learn, that there were hardly any free husbandmen in Italy; a state of things which continued to a pretty late era of the empire. Free citizens would have proved inconvenient servants, from their liability to be called out to serve in the army, and to exert their elective franchise in the city." - Blair, p. 4.

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