POTESTAS.

This was the power, in general, which _all_ magistrates
possessed.




CHAPTER XLVI.

HOUSES, CUSTOMS, INSTITUTIONS, ETC.


The private houses of the Romans were poor affairs until after the
conquest of the East, when money began to pour into the city. Many
houses of immense size were then erected, adorned with columns,
paintings, statues, and costly works of art. Some of these houses are
said to have cost as much as two million dollars.

The principal parts of a Roman house were the _Vestibulum_,
_Ostium_, _Atrium_, _Alae_, _Tablínum_, _Fauces_, and _Peristylium_.
The VESTIBULUM was a court surrounded by the house on three sides,
and open on the fourth to the street. The OSTIUM corresponded in
general to our front hall. From it a door opened into the ATRIUM, which
was a large room with an opening in the centre of its roof, through which
the rain-water was carried into a cistern placed in the floor under the
opening. To the right and left of the Atrium were side rooms called the
ALAE, and the TABLÍNUM was a balcony attached to it. The passages