[45] PULVINAR (from _pulvinus_, the pillow and cushion) was originally the name given to a cushioned seat covered with costly tapestry, placed for the gods at the so-called _lectisternium_ (banquet of the gods). Statues of the gods were placed on this _pulvinar_, and food was offered them, (See Liv. V, 13, 16). But the name was also applied to the couches of goddesses and empresses--(See Cat. 64; Ov. _Pont._ II, 2, 71; Juv. VI, 31)--and lastly to the cushions of the imperial box at the circus and amphitheatre. See Suet. A. 45. [46] WELL--THAT BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED. See Suet. _Dom._ 16, where it is related that the emperor, tortured by forebodings, once accidently scratched himself till the blood came, and then exclaimed: “Would this might be enough!” CHAPTER V. The noonday bustle was at its height in the baths of Titus. A constant stream of men, for the most part belonging to the rank of senators or the class of knights, flowed steadily through the wide Corinthian portico to the _apodyterium_,[47] where a host of slaves were busy in divesting the new-comers of their toga and tunic. An equally dense crowd filled the _elaothesium_,[48] where the body was anointed with oil, and pressed through into the gymnasium,[49] where wrestling and discus-throwing were practised. One of the first laws of old Roman hygiene prescribed exercises of this kind before the bath. When the muscles had thus been thoroughly stretched, the bather wrapped himself in a light woollen garment and sat down to cool himself. This quarter of an hour of cooling on the benches round the wrestling-hall was one of the pleasantest of the day. Nowhere else was the chat so humorous or so gracious; nowhere else were the events of the day discussed with so much wit and acumen. Here, Martial launched his most daring epigrams. Here, Parthenius, the chamberlain, retailed the most flagrant intrigues and richest scandals. Here the last triumph in the circus was discussed, the proceedings of fair Lycoris, the achievement of some great gladiator, the peculations of a provincial governor, the will of a childless senator,[50] the suits pending before the centumvirate, the last recitations, banquets, deaths--but whatever the whims and humors of the loungers might bring uppermost, it was always cast in a form of easy grace, and discussed with a peculiar sparkle of light humor. On the day in question there was the usual flow of free talk in the luxuriously-furnished hall, and the marble statues, which looked down from their purple niches, might have heard, if they could, many a cutting speech and many a peal of noisy laughter.