=199. Barber Shops and Auction Sales.=--An institution almost as familiar in Rome as in Athens[123] is the barber shop. Not that a shop is really needful. Many a dirty tonsor will put down a low stool in the middle of the crowd in the very street and ply his shears or razor upon any poor wight who can find a _quadrans_ (small copper). The finer barber shops, however, are really elegant establishments, fitted to please the fastidious. Here men of parts and fashion can meet to hear the latest gossip, and perhaps to read a copy of the “Daily Gazette” (see p. 282). A complete manicure service is afforded; superfluous hairs are removed with tweezers or depilatories, and nails polished and faces massaged very skilfully; although some inferior barbers are railed at bitterly, and it is charged that their patrons “may count the scars on their chins like those on an aged boxer, or those marks produced by the nails of enraged wives.” Another institution much frequented is the auctioneer’s room. Auction seems at Rome an ideal method for realizing quickly upon property, and bidding is often keen. The auctioneers are past-masters in stimulating the bidders, and in praising-up worthless articles. An auction sale is the normal end for the career of a spendthrift when his creditors seize his plate and furniture. A dozen times around the city one can see placards like the following, tactfully worded to save the pride of the unfortunate debtor:[124] GAIUS JULIUS PROCULUS WILL OFFER FOR SALE CERTAIN ARTICLES HERE-UNDER NAMED FOR WHICH HE HAS NO FURTHER REQUIREMENT =200. Superior Retail Stores.=--However, besides the petty shops and street traders there are the really magnificent stores, especially toward the Campus Martius where articles of _vertu_ attract the wealthy. If you have wealth, you can delight yourself in splendid establishments offering citrus-wood tables, veneered with ivory and gold, with other articles of furniture to match, or candelabra that are massy works of art, or vases and mirrors of every possible style and elegance, and where all kinds of fine pottery, plate, and bric-a-brac, as well as gorgeous upholsteries, tapestries, and carpets, can be had for a price.