exandria, and at some of the resorts for pleasure and health, such
as Balae on the Bay of Naples, or Canopus at the Nile mouth. It is
true also that for those who travelled on imperial service there were
special lodgings kept up at the public expense at certain stations
along the great roads. Nevertheless it may reasonably be asked why, in
view of the generally accepted standards of domestic comfort and even
luxury of the time--what may be called middle-class standards--there
was no sufficiency of even creditable hotels. The answer is that in
antiquity the class of people who in modern times support such hotels
seldom felt the need of their equivalent. In the first place, they
commonly trusted to the hospitality of individuals to whom they were
personally or officially known, or to whom they carried private or
official introductions. If they were distinguished persons, they were
readily received, whether in town or country, on their route. In less
frequented districts they trusted to their own slaves and to the
resources of their own baggage. Their own tents, bedding, provisions
and cooking apparatus were carried with them. If they made a stay of
any length in a town, they might hire a suite of rooms.

We must not dwell too long upon this topic. Suffice it that travel was
frequent and extensive, whether for military and political business,
for commerce, or for pleasure. Some roads, particularly that "Queen of
Roads," the Appian Way--the same by which St. Paul came from Puteoli
to Rome--must have presented a lively appearance, especially near the
metropolis. Perhaps on none of these great highways anywhere near an
important Roman city could you go far without meeting a merchant with
his slaves and his bales; a keen-eyed pedlar--probably a Jew--carrying
his pack; a troupe of actors or tumblers; a body of gladiators being
taken to fight in the amphitheatre or market-place of some provincial
town; an unemployed philosopher gazing sternly over his long beard; a
regiment of foot-soldiers or a squadron of cavalry on the move; a
horseman scouring along with a despatch of the emperor or the senate;
a casual traveller coming at a lively trot in his hired gig; a couple
of ladies carefully protecting their complexions from sun and dust as
they rode in a kind of covered wagonette; a pair of scarlet-clad
outriders preceding a gorgeous but rumbling coach, in which a Roman
noble or plutocrat is idly lounging, reading, dictating to his