Roman life in the days of CiceroChurch, Alfred John
History
Roman life in the days of Cicero
Church, Alfred John
Rome -- Social life and customs
"The courtyard in front is plain without being mean. From this you pass
into a small but cheerful space inclosed by colonnades in the shape of
the letter D. Between these there is a passage into an inner covered
court, and out of this again into a handsome hall, which has on every
side folding doors or windows equally large. On the left hand of this
hall lies a large drawing-room, and beyond that a second of a smaller
size, which has one window to the rising and another to the setting sun.
Adjoining this is another room of a semicircular shape, the windows of
which are so arranged as to get the sun all through the day: in the
walls are bookcases containing a collection of authors who cannot be
read too often. Out of this is a bedroom which can be warmed with hot
air. The rest of this side of the house is appropriated to the use of
the slaves and freedmen; yet most of the rooms are good enough to put my
guests into. In the opposite wing is a most elegant bedroom, another
which can be used both as bedroom and sitting-room, and a third which
has an ante-room of its own, and is so high as to be cool in summer, and
with walls so thick that it is warm in winter. Then comes the bath with
its cooling room, its hot room, and its dressing chamber. And not far
from this again the tennis court, which gets the warmth of the afternoon
sun, and a tower which commands an extensive view of the country round.
Then there is a granary and a store-room."
This was probably a larger villa than Cicero's, though it was itself
smaller than another which Pliny describes. We must make an allowance
for the increase in wealth and luxury which a century and a half had
brought. Still we may get some idea from it of Cicero's country-house,
one point of resemblance certainly being that there was but one floor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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