[190] SABINE HILLS. The Sabines, an old Italian people, were the neighbors of the Latins. Their country extended northward to the domains of the Umbrians, southward to the Anio river. [191] FOLLOWED BY HIS CLIENTS AND SLAVES. Aristocratic people rarely appeared in public without a train of followers. [192] “GETTING UP EARLY IS MY GREATEST TORMENT.” See Martial, _Ep._ X 74, where the poet, as the sole reward for his verses, begs to be permitted to sleep as long as he likes in the morning. [193] “WELL SAID!” CRIED THE POET. Martial often flattered his superiors, even to servility. See Mart. _Ep._ XII, 11, where he praises the poetic gifts of Parthenius. [194] SUBURA. A densely-populated district between the Forum Romanum and the Vicus Patricius, occupied by the poorer classes. [195] HOUSES. For the height of the houses in ancient Rome see Friedlander I, 5 etc. [196] TAVERNS. All sorts of booths, stands, work-shops, taverns and barbers’ shops stood in front of the houses in the smaller streets, greatly impeding the passers-by. The confusion at last increased to such an extent, that Domitian found himself compelled to have the most obtrusive structures removed in certain quarters of the city. One of Martial’s epigrams (VII, 61) is founded on this incident. [197] ITINERANT BAKERS. Mart. XIV, 223: “Arise; the baker is selling the boys their breakfast.” The breakfast probably consisted of _adipata_, _i.e._ pastry or cakes made with fat. Bread was baked at home till the last years of the Republic; afterwards there were public bakehouses for the poorer classes. [198] THE PEDAGOGUE was a slave, whose duty it was to take children to school. [199] THE BABBLE OF SPELLING CHILDREN. The Romans attached great importance to a distinct and accurate pronunciation; reading was taught twice a day, and children began to learn before the age of seven. [200] THE CYPRIUS STREET (_vious Cyprius_) led from the Subura to the Flavian amphitheatre. [201] A PROCESSION OF PRIESTS. Solemn processions of priests through the city formed one of the principal features in the worship of Isis. [202] YOU LEECHES ARE ALWAYS RIGHT. Blepyrus, as his master’s constant companion, would watch over his health, if not as a qualified physician, at any rate, as an empirical adviser. The household leech in noble families was almost always a slave or freedman, and those who practised independently were often in the same position. [203] OSTIARIUS. The porter, who sat in a niche of the entrance-corridor (_ostium_). [204] HYRCANIAN MOUNTAINS. Hyrcania was the name of a rough mountainous region near the Caspian Sea.