ents were covered with curious mosaics, that imitated the art of
the pencil in the elegance of design, and the variety of colors. The
Egyptian granite was beautifully encrusted with the precious green
marble of Numidia; the perpetual stream of hot water was poured into
the capacious basins, through so many wide mouths of bright and massy
silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin,
the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury, which might excite
the envy of the kings of Asia. [59] From these stately palaces issued a
swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without shoes and without a mantle;
who loitered away whole days in the street of Forum, to hear news and
to hold disputes; who dissipated in extravagant gaming, the miserable
pittance of their wives and children; and spent the hours of the night
in the obscure taverns, and brothels, in the indulgence of gross and
vulgar sensuality. [60]

[Footnote 58: Olympiodor. apud Phot. p. 197.]

[Footnote 59: Seneca (epistol. lxxxvi.) compares the baths of Scipio
Africanus, at his villa of Liternum, with the magnificence (which was
continually increasing) of the public baths of Rome, long before the
stately Thermae of Antoninus and Diocletian were erected. The quadrans
paid for admission was the quarter of the as, about one eighth of an
English penny.]

[Footnote 60: Ammianus, (l. xiv. c. 6, and l. xxviii. c. 4,) after
describing the luxury and pride of the nobles of Rome, exposes, with
equal indignation, the vices and follies of the common people.]

But the most lively and splendid amusement of the idle multitude,
depended on the frequent exhibition of public games and spectacles.
The piety of Christian princes had suppressed the inhuman combats of
gladiators; but the Roman people still considered the Circus as their
home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The impatient crowd
rushed at the dawn of day to secure their places, and there were many
who passed a sleepless and anxious night in the adjacent porticos. From
the morning to the evening, careless of the sun, or of the rain,
the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred
thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses
and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the
success of the colors which they espoused: and the happiness of Rome
appeared to hang on the event of a race. [61] The same immoderate
ardor inspired their cla