Evening star., 1898-11-05
OLD ROMAN STREETS
As a Rule They Were Narrow and
None Too Cleanly.
WERE NEVER LIGHTED At NIGHT
There Were Sky-Scrapers Even in
Those Early Times.
NERO AS A BENEFACTOR

From the London Architect
The extreme height and overhanginR
stories OF the Roman buildings were a
source of danger to the citizens I'm mora
ways than one. There were many Imnor-
tant thoroughfares IN Rome tha; wera al
ways In the shade; only at high noon did
streak of sunlight find its way between
the buildings to the pavement The streets
We're thus always damp. for, although
Rome was severed and there was penalty
against throwing slops into the street. tha
ci'y was none too cleanly. and there were
frequent humorous allusions among ths
poets and writers OF odds and ends. to the
fnlstortunes sustained by pedestrians who,
"hile passing along the street, were del
used by buckets OF Stops careIessly thrown
from upper windows. Pliny mentions n
wedding which ended I'm a riot on account
of the leading participants beinp thus r.
spr1nkled with filth-not of design l,ut
through the carelessness OF a housewife.
Deeds That Were Dark.
Ihere was another danger hardly less
serious. Queer as It may seem 10 us i'm
'hese Gays of gas and electricity. tho
speets or city which certainly contained
<'"o'oo' and may have had 4o0Oooo OF
Popuiauoh, were at night I'm the dark
~ so Vi Ssypt. such state of things pre-
e seieeu t singular facilities for the operations
OF iootpads and highwaymen and the fro-
quency with which their operations y,,ora
attended by murder is shown by the nu
inerous epitaphs that have been discovered
,li.iilatlng ,ng that he whose ashes Law be-
ieath was Killed by robbers Every housa-
holder, every tenant in a tenement bous.
hau 10 look after his own security and
80 ccordlhsly the doors of residences at dark
"ele barred, every window was secured nv
srohg iron lattice, and in tenenent
houses the street doors were Fastened -
d common fund, raised by the tenants vaa
provided TO secure the services Of a vatcb
,ns,n, man 10 look after the building In the
tenement structures which had a resnact
aDie class of tenants the wstcbman W.,
ms ROUNDS through the building at re0,,iar
intervals, but in the better class of ho,,sas
rner mere were generally two or more watch-
men ana the one at the front door vyas
chalned so that he at least vould 81,
proper attention to business through ths
night. s" 'iis
What Nero Accomplished.
Little heed seems to have been paid Inv
.ne roman builders to the edict of Angus
Jus ana from all accounts the houses in
'he 'eieiheht district rose higher and high
er' ior IN the next forty or fifty years half
dozen edicts were PROMULGATED on ,ba
subject, which would nor bsve 49,, -
case mad the first been obeyed Mere ala
more for Rome than any monarch herora
or or after his day. Nero has probably beer
the most abused individual of ancient
times, and his wanton crlIeIties ~ -
parity with which he prosecuted NOT onIx,
the Christians, but all opponents noliticat
OF rehglous, his nameless Vices the murders
OF MS relatives, chargeable to his arcount-
all have combined to render him an ~
1ect OF detestation to succeeding ages Rnt
prooably on the principle of ''eiying the
ee ueNn ms due Professor Lanciani has
la 7Qrif ,f
was due TO this monster in human for,,
III Lanciani is to be believed the great
cohnaerauon which DESTROYED Rome in
A ID 81 was the work of Nero's agents
ana II the latest researches are To he rrad
lted, the work was done with such effact
lVeness that of the fourteen wards ,hrea
We're completely burned, seven were al
most totally destroyed and four were
damaged.
Reconstructed City.
However this may have been. IL Is car-
tain that as soon as the ruins had grown
coid the entire working poryxation OF the
city was given employment In clearing
off the debris, transporting it to the Tiber
and erecting new structures The tmperiaI
architects went to work and reconstrurted
the entire plan of the city. Without paw
ing the slightest regard to previous lines
new structures were laid out as nearly
straight as the nature of the ground vould
permit. Public squares breathing spots
were located at convenient places in the
tenement district and a law was promul-
gated that no residence house should ba
higher than twice the width of the street
This seems to be the first reference among
the Roman building laws to any propor-
ton between the height of the house and
the street. The changes proposed by Nero.
had they all been carried out would have
made Rome city which for comfort. con-
venience and safety was unequaled in an
cient times, and not easily surpassed by
modern cities
Wise Building Regulations.
Every tenement house or residence build
ing was to be isolated from Its neighbors;
wooden ceilings I'm the two or three lower
stories were prohibited, the ceilings rest
ed on stone or brick arches. wood being
permitted only in the upper stories Every
householder was ordered to erect a wooden
portico in front of his building that pass
ers-by might have shelter from sun and
rain, while the width of the streets and
the isolation of the buildings furnished a
reasonable guarantee against future ex-
tensive disasters by fires.