Wednesday 25 August 2010

Urban existence

Yes. Roman satirist Marcus Valerius Martialis (who is, for some inexplicable reason, called "Martial" in English) was from provincial Hispania, and moved to live in the sprawling imperial capital in AD 64. From then on, he wrote much on the urban lifestyle.

Here is one:

Why does Vacerra spend his hours
in all the prives, and day-long sit?
He wants supper, not a s**t.



Apparently, large public lavatories (maybe 100 seats on long slabs of marble, flushing by running water below) were popular places to discuss politics, theatre, literature, etc. Somehow one thinks that the public toilet-arrangements in Rome were better a couple of thousand years ago than they are today. Go and figure.

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