The labrum was a great basin or round vase of white marble, rather more than five feet in diameter, into which the hot water bubbled up through a pipe in its centre, and served for the partial ablutions of those who took the vapor-bath. It was raised about three feet six inches above the level of the pavement, on a round base built of small pieces of stone or lava, stuccoed and colored red, five feet six inches in diameter, and has within it a bronze inscription, which runs thus: CNÆO. MELISSÆO. CNÆL FILIO. APRO. MARCO. STAIO. MARCI. FILIO. RUFO. DUUMVIRIS. ITERUM. IURE. DICUNDO. LABRUM. EX DECURIONUM DECRETO. EX. PECUNIA. PUBLICA. FACIENDUM. CURARUNT CONSTAT. HS. D.C.C.L. Relating that "Cnæus Melissæus Aper, son of Cnæus Aper. Marcus Staius Rufus, son of M. Rufus, duumvirs of justice for the second time, caused the labrum to be made at the public expense, by order of the Decurions. It cost 5,250 sesterces" (about $200). There is in the Vatican a magnificent porphyry labrum found in one of the imperial baths; and Baccius, a great modern authority on baths, speaks of labra made of glass. This apartment, like the others, is well stuccoed and painted yellow; a cornice, highly enriched with stucco ornaments, is supported by fluted pilasters placed at irregular intervals. These are red, as is also the cornice and ceiling of the laconicum, which is worked in stucco with little figures of boys and animals. The women's bath resembles very much that of the men, and differs only in being smaller and less ornamented. It is heated, as we have already mentioned, by the same fire, and supplied with water from the same boilers. Near the entrance is an inscription painted in red letters. All the rooms yet retain in perfection their vaulted roofs. In the vestibule are seats similar to those which have been described in the men's baths as appropriated to slaves or servants of the establishment. The robing-room contains a cold bath; it is painted with red and yellow pilasters alternating with one another on a blue or black ground, and has a light cornice of white stucco and a white mosaic pavement with a narrow black border. There are accommodations for ten persons to undress at the same time. The cold bath is much damaged, the wall only remaining of the alveus, which is square, the whole incrustation of marble being destroyed. From this room we pass into the tepidarium, about twenty feet square, painted yellow with red pilasters, lighted by a small window far from the ground. This apartment communicates with the warm bath, which, like the men's, is heated by flues formed in the floors and walls.