[264] Alta Semita corresponds with tolerable accuracy to the modern Via di Porta Pia.
[265] Torches. Street lamps were unknown in ancient times, as well as throughout nearly the whole of the middle ages.
[266] The old wall. (Agger Servii Tullii) extended from the Porta Collina to the Porta Esquilina. The neighboring region was considered the most corrupt in all Rome. The “wenches of the city wall” were often mentioned. (See for instance, Mart. Ep. III, 82, 2.)
[267] The muddy wine of Veii. The wine made in the neighborhood of the little city of Veii, (northwest of Rome) was little prized. (See Mart. I, 103, 9, where the red Veian is called thick and full of lees.)
[268] Game of odd and even. This game of chance, which is still very common, was extremely popular under the name ludere par impar. The opponent had to guess whether an odd or even number of gold pieces or other objects was held in the closed hand.
[269] Ill-constructed houses. Every well-to-do citizen of ancient Rome had his own house. The great mass of poor people lived in rented dwellings, built by unprincipled speculators with unprecedented carelessness, on the principle “cheap and bad,” yet nevertheless leased at high prices. The fall of such houses was therefore no rare occurrence, as is proved by the constant association of the words “fire and fall” (incendia acruinae)—catastrophes which Strabo (V, 3, 7) characterizes as constant. (See also Senec. Ep. XC, 43, Cat. XXIII, 9; Juv. Sat. III, 7.)
[270] Under the tiles, (sub tegulis,) was a common phrase for the upper story. (See Suet. Gramm. 9, where it is said of the poor schoolmaster Orbilius, that in his old age he lived “under the tiles.”)
[271] Remember that in Rome every stone has eyes and ears. See Tacit. Ann., XI, 27, where Rome is called a “city that hears everything, and keeps silence about nothing.” Seneca too (De tranq. an. XII) is scandalized at the eaves-dropping which is common in Rome. Juvenal says an aristocratic Roman can have no secrets at all, for: “Servi ut taceant, jumenta loquentur, et canis et postes et marmora.” "Even if the slaves are discreet, the horses talk, and the house-dog, and the posts and marble walls. Close the windows and cover every chink with hangings, yet the next day the people in every tavern will be discussing the master’s doings." (Juv. Sat. IX, 102-109.)
[272] Our pursuers are on our traces already. There were persons in Rome, who made a business of catching runaway slaves.
[273] Ground set apart for criminals and outcasts. The usual mode of conducting a funeral under the emperors was to burn the corpse on a pyre (rogus); the original custom of interment had become more rare. Slaves and criminals were buried on the Esquiline Hill.