IN the present day, when a traveller of the rank of Gallus arrives at a good sized town, more than one hotel presents itself where obsequious waiters are ready to receive his carriage, and elegantly furnished apartments are at his disposal,—nothing in short is omitted for his entertainment: and even in the smaller towns the same rule applies. Matters were, however, quite different among the ancients generally, and in Italy also. When there is no call for any particular branch of industry, no necessity for its cultivation is felt, and it is evident that the number and accommodations of the inns of modern times, have been considerably improved by the increased propensity for travelling. The ancients, however, were quite unused to the frequent arrival and departure of large numbers of strangers, and when they did travel, had every where, (especially if Roman citizens), private connections enough to be relieved from the necessity of stopping at an inn.

Hence all establishments of this nature were on an exceedingly low scale, and, properly speaking, only public houses for the lower classes, to whom, naturally, a friend's house was not always open. But we should be going too far in supposing that respectable people also did not, under particular circumstances, make use of such establishments. Zell, in his essay, Die Wirthshäuser d. Alten gives by far too low a character of the Roman inns.