Fig. 86.—Plan of the Stabian Baths.
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The apodyterium also was provided with benches of the same sort, as indicated on the plan; they are shown in [Plate V]. Along the walls at the sides, just under the edge of the vaulted ceiling, was a row of small niches, the use of which corresponded with that of the lockers in a modern gymnasium. These niches are about 5¾ feet above the floor, while those in the other dressing room (2) are a little less than five feet; from this difference in height it has been rightly inferred that the smaller and simpler division of the baths was set aside for women. The floor is paved with rectangular flags of gray marble, with blocks of basalt next to the walls. While the walls were left simply white, with a red base, the ceiling was elaborately decorated with stucco reliefs in the style prevalent shortly before the destruction of the city; there are vestiges of similar decoration in the tepidarium. In octagonal, hexagonal, and quadrangular panels are rosettes, Cupids, trophies, and bacchic figures. The lunettes are adorned with fantastic architectural designs, in which we see bacchic figures standing on pedestals, and Cupids riding on dolphins; the sides of the two arches supporting the ceiling (one of them is seen in [Plate V]) are decorated with female figures mounted on dolphins, which run out into arabesques. The frequent suggestion of water in these motives is in harmony with the purpose of the room.

Even more effective is the decoration of the small round frigidarium. Light is admitted, as in the Pantheon at Rome, through a round hole in the apex of the domed ceiling. At the edge of the circular bath basin, lined with white marble, was a narrow strip of marble floor, which is extended into the four semicircular niches. Wall and niches alike are painted to represent a beautiful garden, with a blue sky above ([Fig. 87]). The eye wanders among trees and shrubs, catching glimpses of birds overhead, of statues and vases here and there in the midst of the green foliage, and of jets of water falling into circular basins. The blue dome is studded with stars. The bather could scarcely feel the narrowness of a room, the decoration of which was so suggestive of expanse and open air. A jet of water fell into the basin from a small niche in the upper part of the wall; and the place of the overflow pipe may be easily recognized.

Fig. 87.—Stabian Baths: interior of the frigidarium, restored.

The tepidarium (VII) and caldarium (VIII) were heated by means of hollow floors and walls. The former is much the smaller, as we should have expected from its use as an intermediate room, in which the bathers would ordinarily not tarry so long as in the caldarium. The large bath basin at the east end (indicated on the plan) is unusual; it was seemingly a later addition, and was probably made to accommodate those who in the winter shrank from using the frigidarium, but wished nevertheless to take a moderately cold bath. Near the bottom of the wall back of this basin, a hole had been made so that underneath a fire could be kindled from the outside (in X), not in order to heat the basin, which could be supplied with warm water by means of a pipe, but to start the circulation of hot air from the furnace; at the top of the wall above were two vents opening from the warm air chamber. There was a place for another draft fire under the women's caldarium.

One of the fragments of stucco relief still remaining in the tepidarium presents the figure of a man reading from a roll of manuscript. It suggests the standing complaint of the ancients in regard to the trials of bathers, who could not escape the ever-present poet declaiming his latest production.