Oppressed and degraded, on the one hand, to a point of misery scarcely conceivable to the public of the present day, the poorer classes in Rome were, on the other, invested with such a degree of moral license, and permitted such an extent of political privilege, as flattered their vanity into blinding their sense of indignation.

Slaves in their season of servitude, masters in their hours of recreation, they presented, as a class, one of the most amazing social anomalies ever existing in any nation; and formed, in their dangerous and artificial position, one of the most important of the internal causes of the downfall of Rome.
The steps of the public baths were almost as crowded as the space before the neighbouring building.

Incessant streams of people, either entering or departing, poured over the broad flagstones of its marble colonnades.

This concourse, although composed in some parts of the same class of people as that assembled before the palace, presented a certain appearance of respectability.

Here and there--chequering the dusky monotony of masses of dirty tunics--might be discerned the refreshing vision of a clean robe, or the grateful indication of a handsome person.