_palaestra_, or some public recitation of a poem written by a friend, but in
any case to attend the public baths. For these the time varied; and many
people have thought it tyrannical in some of the Caesars that they imposed
restraints on the time open for the baths; some, for instance, would not
suffer them to open at all before two, and in any case, if you were later
than four or five in summer, you would have to pay a fine which most
effectually cleaned out the baths of all raff, since it was a sum that
_John Quires_ could not have produced to save his life. But it should be
considered that the emperor was the steward of the public resources for
maintaining the baths in fuel, oil, attendance, repairs. We are prepared
to show, on a fitting occasion, that every fourth person[10] amongst the
citizens bathed daily, and non-citizens, of course, paid an _extra_ sum.
Now the population of Rome was far larger than has ever been hinted at
except by Lipsius. But certain it is, that during the long peace of the
first Caesars, and after the _annonaria prorisio_, (that great pledge of
popularity to a Roman prince,) had been increased by the corn tribute from
the Nile, the Roman population took an immense lurch ahead. The subsequent
increase of baths, whilst no old ones were neglected, proves _that_
decisively. And as citizenship expanded by means of the easy terms on which
it could be had, so did the bathers multiply. The population of Rome in the
century after Augustus, was far greater than during that era; and this,
still acting as a vortex to the rest of the world, may have been one great
motive with Constantine for "transferring" the capital eastwards; in
reality, for breaking up one monster capital into two of more manageable
dimensions. Two o'clock was often the earliest hour at which the public
baths were opened. But in Martial's time a man could go without blushing
(_salva fronte_) at eleven, though even then two o'clock was the meridian
hour for the great uproar of splashing, and swimming, and "larking" in the
endless baths of endless Rome.

And now, at last, bathing finished, and the exercises of the _palaestra_, at
half-past two, or three, our friend finds his way home--not again to leave
it for that day. He is now a new man; refreshed, oiled with perfumes, his
dust washed off by hot water, and ready for enjoyment. These were the
things that determined the time for dinner. Had there been no other proof
that _coena_ was t