by a special law passed by the Comitia Curiata. The _Imperium_ could
be exercised only outside of the city walls (_pomoerium_), except
by special permission of the Senate for the purpose of celebrating a
triumph. The one receiving the _Imperium_ was called IMPERATOR.

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_, _Tablinum_, _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 TABLINUM was a balcony attached to it. The passages
from the Atrium to the interior of the house were called FAUCES.
The PERISTYLIUM, towards which these passages ran, was an open court
surrounded by columns, decorated with flowers and shrubs. It was
somewhat larger than the Atrium.

The floors were covered with stone, marble, or mosaics. The walls were
lined with marble slabs, or frescoed, while the ceilings were either
bare, exposing the beams, or, in the finer houses, covered with ivory,
gold, and frescoing.

The main rooms were lighted from above; the side rooms received their
light from these, and not through windows looking into the street. The
windows of rooms in upper stories were not supplied with glass until the
time of the Empire. They were merely openings in the wall, covered with
lattice-work. To heat a room, portable stoves were generally used, in
which charcoal was burned. There were no chimneys, and the smoke passed
out through the windows or the openings in the roofs.

The rooms of the wealthy were furnished with great splendor. The walls
were frescoed with scenes from Greek mythology, landscapes, etc. In
the vestibules were f