The victim Pig to God Sylvanus slay,
And for the public Bath a farthing pay.
But after the hour of bathing was past, it sometimes cost a great
deal more, according to Martial,
Balnea post decimam, lasso centumque petuntur
Quadrantes -
The bathing hour is past, the waiter tir'd;
An hundred Farthings now will be requir'd.
Though there was no distinction in the places between the first
patrician and the lowest plebeian, yet the nobility used their
own silver and gold plate, for washing, eating, and drinking in
the bath, together with towels of the finest linen. They likewise
made use of the instrument called strigil, which was a kind of
flesh-brush; a custom to which Persius alludes in this line,
I puer, et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer.
Here, Boy, this Brush to Crispin's Bagnio bear.
The common people contented themselves with sponges. The bathing
time was from noon till the evening, when the Romans ate their
principal meal. Notice was given by a bell, or some such
instrument, when the baths were opened, as we learn from Juvenal,
Redde Pilam, sonat Aes thermarum, ludere pergis?
Virgine vis sola lotus abdire domum.
Leave off; the Bath Bell rings - what, still play on?
Perhaps the maid in private rubs you down.
There were separate places for the two sexes; and indeed there
were baths opened for the use of women only, at the expence of
Agrippina, the mother of Nero, and some other matrons of the
first quality.
