[194] Subura. A densely-populated district between the Forum Romanum and the Vicus Patricius, occupied by the poorer classes.
[195] Houses. For the height of the houses in ancient Rome see Friedlander I, 5 etc.
[196] Taverns. All sorts of booths, stands, work-shops, taverns and barbers’ shops stood in front of the houses in the smaller streets, greatly impeding the passers-by. The confusion at last increased to such an extent, that Domitian found himself compelled to have the most obtrusive structures removed in certain quarters of the city. One of Martial’s epigrams (VII, 61) is founded on this incident.
[197] Itinerant bakers. Mart. XIV, 223:
“Arise; the baker is selling the boys their breakfast.”
The breakfast probably consisted of adipata, i.e. pastry or cakes made with fat. Bread was baked at home till the last years of the Republic; afterwards there were public bakehouses for the poorer classes.
[198] The pedagogue was a slave, whose duty it was to take children to school.
[199] The babble of spelling children. The Romans attached great importance to a distinct and accurate pronunciation; reading was taught twice a day, and children began to learn before the age of seven.
[200] The cyprius street (vious Cyprius) led from the Subura to the Flavian amphitheatre.
[201] A procession of priests. Solemn processions of priests through the city formed one of the principal features in the worship of Isis.