[173] Texier and Pullan, op. cit., p. 4; Agincourt, Hist. of Art, i, pl. 25. Mica or talc (lapis specularis) was commonly used at Rome for windows (Pliny, H. N., xxxvi, 45). Gibbon rather carelessly says that Firmus (c. 272) had glass windows; they were vitreous squares for wall decoration (Hist. August., sb. Firmo). Half a century later Lactantius is clear enough—“fenestras lucente vitro aut speculari lapide obductas” (De Opif. Dei, 8). Pliny tells us that clear glass was most expensive, and, six centuries later, Isidore of Seville makes the same remark (Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 67; Etymologies, xvi, 16).
[174] The climate of the East requires that windows shall generally be kept open; even shutters are often dispensed with.
[175] See Cod. Theod., XV, i, De Op. Pub., passim. This legislation was initiated by Leo Thrax, probably after the great fire of 469 (Jn. Malala; Chron. Pasch., etc.).
[176] Zosimus, ii, 35.
[177] Cod., loc. cit.
[178] Agathias, v, 3.
[179] A century earlier there were 322 according to the Notitia.
[180] Zeno, Cod., loc. cit.
[181] We know little of the insulae or συνοικίαι of CP., but we can conceive of no other kind of private house requiring such an elevation. Besides, insulae are the subject of an argument in Cod., VIII, xxxviii, 15 (enacted at CP. about this time).
[182] Chrysostom, In Psal. xlviii, 8 (Migne, v, 510); Agathias, loc. cit.; Texier and Pullan, loc. cit.