The ancient Romans considered the bath as the most important item in the economy of their lives: they regarded it as indispensable for health and comfort;—an idea of the magnificence and luxurious construction of the Roman baths may be formed from the poetical description by Statius, of the baths of Claudius Etruscus:
“Nothing there’s vulgar: not the fairest brass
In all the glittering structure claims a place.
From silver pipes the happy waters flow,
In silver cisterns are received below.
See where with noble pride the doubtful stream
Stands fixed with wonder on the shining brim;
Surveys its riches, and admires its state;
Loath to be ravish’d from the glorious seat.”
The most remarkable bagnios were those of the Emperor Dioclesian and Antonius Caracalla, with their curiously vaulted roofs, spacious apartments, and a thousand other ornaments and conveniences. Those of Dioclesian occupied 140,000 men many years in building them.