icos. There sat the judge with his assistants
about him; traders discussed the price of goods; the place was at
once a bourse and a tribunal. It was in the basilicas that the
assemblies of the Christians were later held, and for several
centuries the Christian churches preserved the name and form of
basilicas.

3. The _Amphitheatre_ and the _Circus_ were constructed of several
stories of arcades surrounding an arena; each range of arcades
supported many rows of seats. Such were the Colosseum at Rome and
the arenas at Arles and Nimes.

4. The _Arch of Triumph_ was a gate of honor wide enough for the
passage of a chariot, adorned with columns and surmounted with a
group of sculpture. The Arch of Titus is an example.

5. The _Sepulchral Vault_ was an arched edifice provided with many
rows of niches, in each of which were laid the ashes of a corpse.
It was called a Columbarium (pigeon-house) from its shape.

6. The _Thermae_ were composed of bathing-halls furnished with
basins. The heat was provided by a furnace placed in an
underground chamber. The Thermae in a Roman city were what the
gymnasium was in a Greek city--a rendezvous for the idle. Much
more than the gymnasium it was a labyrinth of halls of every sort:
there were a cool hall, warm apartments, a robing-room, a hall
where the body was anointed with oil, parlors, halls for exercise,
gardens, and the whole surrounded by an enormous wall. Thus the
Thermae of Caracalla covered an immense area.

7. The _Bridge_ and the _Aqueduct_ were supported by a range of
arches thrown over a river or over a valley. Examples are the
bridge of Alcantara and the Pont du Gard.

8. The _House_ of a rich Roman was a work of art. Unlike our
modern houses, the ancient house had no facade; the house was
turned entirely toward the interior; on the outside it showed only
bare walls.

The rooms were small, ill furnished, and dark; they were lighted
only through the atrium. In the centre was the great hall of honor
(the atrium) where the statues of the ancestors were erected and
where visitors were received. It was illuminated by an opening in
the roof.

Behind the atrium was the peristyle, a garden surrounded by
colonnades, in which were the dining halls, richly ornamented and
provided with couches, for among the rich Romans, as among the
Asiatic Greeks, guests reclined on couches at the banquets. The