Balneæ (baths), were very numerous at Rome, private as well as public. In the ancient times simplicity was observed; but in the age of the emperors they became expensive; they were used after walking, exercise, or labour, and were deemed more necessary than luxurious. Under the emperors it became so fashionable to bathe, that without this the meanest of the people seemed to be deprived of one of the necessaries of life. There were certain hours of the day appointed for bathing, and a small piece of money admitted the poorest, as well as the most opulent. In the baths there were separate apartments for the people to dress and to undress; and after they had bathed, they commonly covered themselves, the hair was plucked out of the skin, and the body rubbed over with a pumice stone, and perfumed to render it smooth and fair. The Roman emperors generally built baths, and all endeavoured to eclipse each other in the magnificence of the building. It is said that [♦]Diocletian employed 40,000 of his soldiers in building his baths; and when they were finished, he destroyed all the workmen. Alexander Severus first permitted the people to use them in the night, and he himself often bathed with the common people. For some time both sexes bathed promiscuously and without shame, and the edicts of the emperors proved abortive for a while in abolishing that indecent custom, which gradually destroyed the morals of the people. They generally read in bathing, and we find many compositions written in the midst of this luxurious enjoyment.
[♦] ‘Dioclesian’ replaced with ‘Diocletian’ for consistency
Balventius, a centurion of great valour in Cæsar’s army, killed by Ambiorix. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 5, ch. 35.
Balyras, a river of Peloponnesus. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 33.
Bamurūæ, a people of Libya. Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 303.
Bantia, now St. Maria de Vanse, a town of Apulia, whence Bantinus. Horace, bk. 3, ode 4, li. 15.
Lucius Bantius, a gallant youth of Nola, whom Annibal found after the battle of Cannæ, almost dead among the heaps of slain. He was sent home with great humanity, upon which he resolved to betray his country to so generous an enemy. Marcellus the Roman general heard of it, and rebuked Bantius, who continued firm and faithful to the interest of Rome. Livy, bk. 35, ch. 15.
Baphy̆rus, a river of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 44, ch. 6.
Baptæ, the priests of Cotytto, the goddess of lasciviousness and debauchery at Athens. Her festivals were celebrated in the night; and so infamous and obscene was the behaviour of the priests, that they disgusted even Cotytto herself, though the goddess of obscenity. The name is derived from βαπτειν, to wash, because the priests bathed themselves in the most effeminate manner. Juvenal, satire 2, li. 91.——A comedy of Eupolis, on which men are introduced dancing on the stage, with all the indecent gestures of common prostitutes.
Baræi, a people of Cholcis and Iberia, who burnt the bodies of their friends who died by disease, but gave to the fowls of the air such as fell in war. Ælian, de Natura Animalium, bk. 10, ch. 22.