Plate XXV - Section of the thermae

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This section is given immediately after the view to render it more intelligible.

It is to be understood that the arches were not, in ancient times, visible from without, but are now exposed by the fall of a considerable part of the vaults on the north.

The dome or cone of the natatio is seen restored above the frigidarium on the left.

The tepidarium seems to have been warmed only by the large foculare given by Vaccula, having his symbol, the cow, of bronze, in the centre.

The caldarium, with its orifices or vents for the escape of vapour, is the arch on the right, and its pavement is suspended in such a manner that the heated air from the furnace is enabled to warm it in every part.

A black line, rising from this hypocaust, represents a cavity in the masonry by which the lateral walls of the chamber are heated.

To the right of this is the furnace, and, above it, was a brazen caldron, the form of which might be learned from the bed of mortar which had enclosed it.

This caldron was called also the caldarium, that above it the tepidarium, and the uppermost the frigidarium ; and they were so contrived, by means of something of the nature of a syphon, that, when the water of the lowest was drawn off for the bath, an equal quantity descended simultaneously from the second to the lowest caldron, and from the uppermost to the second, while the reservoir discharged itself into the frigidarium.

The remainder of the building to the right would have been only a repetition of the foregoing description, and is therefore omitted, as its insertion would have too much diminished the size of each portion of the section.

From the form in which the cement remains in which the brazen caldrons were embedded, there can be little doubt that they were placed in the manner here represented. There may, however, have been more than one set of these vases, and, possibly, there might have been three, placed one behind the other, where the ruin is somewhat confused. One of these sets of vases might have been appropriated to the uses of the labrum.