A Day in Old Rome

A Day in Old Rome is described as “A Picture of Roman Life” by William Stearns Davis, professor of history in the University of Minnesota. A chapter on food and drink, how the day is spent and the dinner treats Romans as fond of the table, with a section on gourmandizing and the famous Apicius. The text says that seldom can there be another age when the importance of good eating and drinking occupies the place that it does in Rome.

In one evening scene Manlius calls to his valet for his shoes, the other guests imitate him, retinues with slaves and torches crowd the vestibule, and the eight diners depart after thanking Calvus. A section on entering the Thermæ follows Calvus as he approaches by the great southern portal, which looks down from the slopes of the Esquiline upon the great gray cylinder of the Flavian Amphitheater. A passage on marriage says Gratia and Calvus alike had always expected some such arrangement and capitulated with reasonable grace, and that the ensuing marriage, founded not on any romance, in this case at least has been fortunate and fruitful.