Ummidia Quadratilla’s house could hold a troupe of pantomime performers and a young man who never watched them. She favored the dancers extravagantly. Her grandson Quadratus lived under the same roof through boyhood and youth, yet Pliny the Younger says he avoided their performances both at home and in the theatre. The separation was not … Read more
The fountain stood higher than its reservoir. Between them, two bronze cylinders sat a little apart, each with a piston entering from above. Rods and levers moved those pistons. Forked pipes carried their output toward a vessel in the middle, and a vertical pipe rose from its top. Nothing in this arrangement depended on water … Read more
A traveler in Vitruvius’s road cart did not watch a dial. He listened for a small stone. Hidden inside the carriage, a wheel-driven train of drums delayed each movement until one pebble dropped through a pipe into a bronze vessel. At day’s end, the stones could be counted as miles. The result sounds simple because … Read more
At the second hour, Vestricius Spurinna called for his shoes. He walked three miles, then moved through conversation, reading, a seven-mile carriage ride and one more mile on foot. Writing followed. Later came sun, ball, bath, another book and dinner. Pliny the Younger watched this sequence while staying at Spurinna’s house. His host had passed … Read more
A cargo of grain reaches Rhodes while food is scarce and prices are extreme. Its merchant has come from Alexandria, but his advantage is not merely that he arrived first. During the crossing he saw several other grain ships following the same route. The buyers on the quay do not yet know that relief is … Read more
A Roman builder choosing stone near the capital faced an awkward bargain. Fresh red stone from nearby quarries was easy to cut. Under cover, it could serve well. Put the same material where frost, rain or salt reached it, however, and Vitruvius warned that it could become friable and crumble. His answer was neither blind … Read more
A single green stalk travelled from Cyrenaica toward Nero’s court. Pliny the Elder does not describe a ceremonial garden or a scientific expedition around it. He presents the plant as the last one found there within living memory, an object exceptional enough to be sent to the emperor. The stalk was silphium, the North African … Read more
Apelles did not stand beside his finished picture waiting for praise. He placed it in a gallery where ordinary passersby could inspect it, then moved out of sight behind the panel. From there, the most celebrated painter associated with Alexander the Great listened for faults. One observer had exact knowledge. A shoemaker counted the painted … Read more
Pliny was already running when the second message found him. Corellius Rufus had refused food through a second, third and fourth day. His wife Hispulla had sent a mutual friend to say that family pleas had failed and that Pliny might be the one person still able to call him back to life. Pliny set … Read more
A ripe peach arrived at a Roman stall with a clock already running. Pliny the Elder gave it no more than about two days after picking. It could not wait through a long warehouse delay, improve during storage or be held until a seller liked the price. Once the branch released it, the fruit had … Read more
