Wool was the material employed for garments by both sexes in early times. But the conquerors of the world acquired among their other booty the fine dress-materials that had long been in use in other lands: that the women especially should have availed themselves of the fruit of their husbands' bravery is not surprising. It must be noted too, as a sign of progress, that the state prohibited excessive luxury.' _Pawky and jewelry of the men consisted simply of a seal ring, which in the beginning was of iron, but later of gold decorated with a cut stone. More, of course, is to be said of the ornamentation and finery of the women. The latter were such apt pupils that they soon excelled their skilful Greek teachers in the adornment of their persons. But, prosaic as they were by nature, they tried to attain every charm by art, while the Greeks, with their usual good taste, were satisfied to assist Nature. Diamonds and pearls were considered the most precious articles of ornamentation, and millions of money were paid for fine specimens. Seneca complained that many a woman carried a fortiuie in her ear. Besides, the Roman ladies wore various kinds of head-, neck-, and bosom-decorations, brooches, bracelets (fig. 2, 151. 32), rings (figs. 5-7), fans, parasols, etc. These, as has been remarked, bore the stamp of Gre cian art.
hair and the beard were worn long by the early Romans, but at a later period barbers—from Sicily, it is said—came to the capital, and the custom of cutting the hair short and shaving the beard was introduced. The wearing of beards was reintroduced by some of the emperors. The slaves were distinguished from the free citizens by their long hair and unshorn beard. The coiffure varied so much in later times that no one style can be selected as typical. In no other period was the use of false hair so general. It was worn frizzled or in long curls, or arranged like a cap in its natural color or powdered with gold-dust. For a time wigs made of the blond hair of the German women were the fashion.
Odoriferous ointments, oils, cosmetics (fig. 8), etc. were well known to the Roman women. The satirists often ridicule the women for their fondness for painting and for artificial adornments. The excavations at Pompeii have laid bare the secrets of a Roman lady's toilet. Figures 3 and II give a few specimens only of the articles used; the mirrors (fig. 3) were round or oval plates of polished metal with ornamented handles; an erotic picture was generally engraved on the reverse.
remarkable Etruscan cinerary chest (pl. 33, fig. i) and an earthen urn (fig. 2) found in the Albanian Mountains give us an idea of the earliest Italic domiciliary architecture. The latter is to be regarded as a model which exhibits the most primitive style of Rom'an dwellings. From it we learn that they consisted simply of a single apartment, built of latticed work and covered with a roof of straw, and serving the pur pose of kitchen as well as bed-room: the Etruscan house (fig. i) seems
somewhat farther advanced ; for although the base upon which it rests is perhaps not to be looked upon as a constant characteristic, it nevertheless proves an acquaintance with the use of foundations. We may presume that the walls were built of bricks and that the projecting roof was shingled. The city of Romulus may have consisted of such huts. The domestic architecture of a later time was entirely different, but it still bore traces of its origin.
The primary and cardinal element of a Roman dwelling was the atrium, a smoke-blackened room which was entered directly from the street or through the main door from the court. It contained the sanctuary of the household—i. e. the altar and the hearth, originally one and the same. An opening in the ceiling admitted light and gave exit to the smoke. The marriage-bed stood opposite the entrance. Between it and the hearth lay the sphere of the wife. This we observe in the very arrangement of the room the chief difference between Greek and Roman life. In the one the exclusion of the females from the abode of the men, in the other the community of the life of both, is at once apparent. Even when the house was enlarged by the addition of many other apartments, the atrium con tinued to be the real home of the family as well as the reception-room for guests, and in the homes of the nobles it was the hall in which the images of their ancestors were placed.
In this room also they obtained in a very peculiar way the water which they needed for domestic purposes. A basin, called the impluzium, was excavated in the floor directly under the aperture in the ceiling, the com plI/v*11m. The roof was inclined toward the aperture, so that all the rain water which fell upon it flowed into the basin. This arrangement is note worthy, because it is the first appearance in the history of domestic archi tecture of an inclined roof. Previously flat roofs alone had been known. The arrangement appears still more singular when we reflect how incon venient it must have been during heavy rains, and especially since the house-shaped urns mentioned above show already an elevation in the middle of the roof for shedding the water on the outside.
Later on, when the atrium had grown into a stately hall surrounded by side apartments, and the roof had consequently become very large, the Romans attempted to overcome these difficulties by the use of pipes. But, to judge from contemporary complaints, the attempt was not entirely suc cessful. A cover erected above the aperture, the so-called " tortoise-shell," was an insufficient remedy. Yet they did not think of changing the sys tem itself. On the contrary, it was transplanted to northern countries, for which it was still less adapted.