Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul | Page 9

too delicate a sense of propriety. Your only
consolation is that the charges are low, and that if anything is stolen
from you the landlord is legally responsible.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--PLAN OF INN AT POMPEII.]
Doubtless there were better and worse establishments of this kind.
There must have been some tolerably good quarters at Rome or
Alexandria, and at some of the resorts for pleasure and health, such as
Balae on the Bay of Naples, or Canopus at the Nile mouth. It is true
also that for those who travelled on imperial service there were special
lodgings kept up at the public expense at certain stations along the great
roads. Nevertheless it may reasonably be asked why, in view of the
generally accepted standards of domestic comfort and even luxury of
the time--what may be called middle-class standards--there was no
sufficiency of even creditable hotels. The answer is that in antiquity the
class of people who in modern times support such hotels seldom felt
the need of their equivalent. In the first place, they commonly trusted to
the hospitality of individuals to whom they were personally or
officially known, or to whom they carried private or official
introductions. If they were distinguished persons, they were readily

received, whether in town or country, on their route. In less frequented
districts they trusted to their own slaves and to the resources of their
own baggage. Their own tents, bedding, provisions and cooking
apparatus were carried with them. If they made a stay of any length in a
town, they might hire a suite of rooms.
We must not dwell too long upon this topic. Suffice it that travel was
frequent and extensive, whether for military and political business, for
commerce, or for pleasure. Some roads, particularly that "Queen of
Roads," the Appian Way--the same by which St. Paul came from
Puteoli to Rome--must have presented a lively appearance, especially
near the metropolis. Perhaps on none of these great highways anywhere
near an important Roman city could you go far without meeting a
merchant with his slaves and his bales; a keen-eyed pedlar--probably a
Jew--carrying his pack; a troupe of actors or tumblers; a body of
gladiators being taken to fight in the amphitheatre or market-place of
some provincial town; an unemployed philosopher gazing sternly over
his long beard; a regiment of foot-soldiers or a squadron of cavalry on
the move; a horseman scouring along with a despatch of the emperor or
the senate; a casual traveller coming at a lively trot in his hired gig; a
couple of ladies carefully protecting their complexions from sun and
dust as they rode in a kind of covered wagonette; a pair of scarlet-clad
outriders preceding a gorgeous but rumbling coach, in which a Roman
noble or plutocrat is idly lounging, reading, dictating to his shorthand
amanuensis, or playing dice with a friend; a dashing youth driving his
own chariot in professional style to the disgust of the sober-minded; a
languid matron lolling in a litter carried by six tall, bright-liveried
Cappadocians; a peasant on his way to town with his waggon-load of
produce and cruelly belabouring his mule. If you are very fortunate you
may meet Nero himself on one of his imperial progresses. If so, you
had better stand aside and wait. It will take him a long time to pass; or,
if this is one of his more serious undertakings, there will be a thousand
carriages, many of them resplendent with gold and silver ornament in
relief upon the woodwork, and drawn by horses or mules whose bridles
are gleaming with gold. And, if the beautiful and conscienceless
Poppaea is with him, there may be a Procession of some five hundred
asses, whose it is to supply her with the milk in which she bathes for

the preservation of her admirable velvety skin.
There are, of course, many other individuals and types to be met with.
If you happen to be traversing certain parts of Spain, the mountains of
Greece, the southern provinces of Asia Minor, or the upper parts of
Egypt, you will perhaps also meet with a bandit, or even with a band of
them. In that case, prepare for the worst. Some of the gang have been
caught and crucified: you may have passed the crosses upon your way.
This does not render the rest more amiable. St. Paul takes it as natural
to be thus "in peril of robbers." Perhaps certain regions of Italy itself
were as dangerous as any. We have more than one account of a
traveller who was last seen at such-and-such a place, and was never
heard of again. It is therefore well, before undertaking a journey
through suspected parts, to ascertain whether any one else is going that
way. There is sure to be either an