regular course of perspiration, the Romans made use of instruments called _strigiles_ or _strigles_, to scrape off the perspiration. [Illustration: Strigil. (From a Relief at Athens.)] The strigil was also used by the Greeks, who called it _stlengis_ (στλεγγίς) or _xystra_ (ξύστρα). The figure in the cut on p. 24 is represented with a strigil in his hand. As the strigil was not a blunt instrument, its edge was softened by the application of oil, which was dropped upon it from a small vessel called _guttus_ or _ampulla_, which had a narrow neck, so as to discharge its contents drop by drop, from whence the name is taken. [Illustration: Strigil and Guttus. (From a Statue in the Vatican.)] In the _Thermae_, spoken of above, the baths were of secondary importance. They were a Roman adaptation of the Greek gymnasium, contained exedrae for the philosophers and rhetoricians to lecture in, porticoes for the idle, and libraries for the learned, and were adorned with marbles, fountains, and shaded walks and plantations. M. Agrippa, in the reign of Augustus, was the first who afforded these luxuries to his countrymen, by bequeathing to them the thermae and gardens which he had erected in the Campus Martius. The example set by Agrippa was followed by Nero, and afterwards by Titus, the ruins of whose thermae are still visible, covering a vast extent, partly under ground and partly above the Esquiline hill. Thermae were also erected by Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian, of the two last of which ample remains still exist. Previously to the erection of these establishments for the use of the population, it was customary for those who sought the favour of the people to give them a day’s bathing free of expense. From thence it is fair to infer that the quadrant paid for admission into the _balneae_ was not exacted at the _thermae_, which, as being the works of the emperors, would naturally be opened with imperial generosity to all, and without any charge. BALTĔUS (τελαμών), a belt, a shoulder belt, was used to suspend the sword. See the figs. on p. 41. In the Homeric times the Greeks used a belt to support the shield. The balteus was likewise employed to suspend the quiver, and sometimes together with it the bow. More commonly the belt, whether employed to support the sword, the shield, or the quiver, was made of leather, and was frequently ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. In a general sense _balteus_ was applied not only to the belt which passed over the shoulder, but also to the girdle (_cingulum_), which encompassed the waist. In architecture, Vitruvius applies the term _Baltei_ to the bands surrounding the volute on each side of an Ionic capital. Other writers apply it to the _praecinctiones_ of an amphitheatre. [AMPHITHEATRUM.] BĂRATHRON (βάραθρον), also called ORUGMA (ὄρυγμα), a deep cavern or chasm, like the Ceadas at Sparta, behind the Acropolis at Athens, into which criminals were thrown. [CEADAS.]