Letters

heart to a mixture of nitre and vinegar—a comparison that gives us a strong image of something particularly cold and sharp, though attended with a seeming warmth and a lively bubbling.

The public baths were warmed to a certain degree for all people, and by the ringing of a bell, notice was given at a fixed hour for those who had exercised to prepare for bathing; otherwise, they were forced to use cold water only.

The bell of the baths rings; will you stop playing?
Or do you wish to go home washed in only the Virgin water? Martial, Book 14, Epigram 163.

As the baths were supported at a common expense, the price fixed for bathing was only a farthing, which was paid to the attendant of the baths. On this account, Horace, with great humor, ridicules the pride of a Stoic philosopher and tells the imaginary monarch that his majesty is but one of the crowd, obliged to pay his farthing Satire 3, Book 1, line 137..

While you, as a king, will go to be washed for a farthing.

The frigidarium.

The frigidarium, according to Vitruvius and some other authors, seems to be a distinct chamber for cold bathing. In all private and most public baths, it was generally built next to the calidarium, with a passage leading to it. But in some of the public Roman balnea, and particularly in those of Diocletian, there were many additional apartments and conveniences unknown to the Greeks and not used in their private baths. Among these was a large cryptoporticus (covered gallery) with spacious open windows, situated and contrived in such a manner,