hot baths or bagnios. Luxury and extravagance were in nothing carried to such heights as in the thermae of the Roman emperors. Ammianus Marcellinus complains that they were built to such an extent as to equal whole provinces; from which description Valerius would make an abatement, by reading piscaria instead of provincia. And yet after all, the remains of some still standing are sufficient testimonies for the historian's censure; and the accounts transmitted of their ornaments and furniture, such as being laid with precious stones (Seneca), set round with seats of solid silver (Pliny), with pipes and cisterns of the same metal (Statius), rather confirm than invalidate the censure. The most remarkable bagnios were those of Diocletian and Caracalla at Rome, great part of which remains at this day. The lofty arches, stately pillars, variety of foreign marble, curious vaulting of the roofs, great number of spacious apartments, all attract the curiosity of the traveller. They had also their summer and winter baths.