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Rh commissioned officers and common soldiers. Prominent amongst the "Principales" were the "Librarii," who kept the accounts and paid the wages, the "Bucinatores" or buglers, the ensign bearers, one for each cohort, and the "Aquarii," the "Siphonarii," the "Sebaciarii," and the "Mitularii," to whose respective duties attention will be paid when considering the manner in which fires were fought. There were also four doctors attached to each cohort and last, but by no means least, an official known as the "Questionarius," whose interesting duty it was to apply torture in cases of suspected incendiarism.

The seven cohorts were quartered in as many barracks, designated "castra," which were so located that each could effectively protect two of the fourteen regions into which the city was divided. As to the construction of these barracks, there is fortunately preserved an important record in the shape of a fragment of an ancient plan of Imperial Rome, showing the details of the barrack allocated to the first cohort. This was situated near St. Grisogone in Trastavere and the building had evidently been specially designed for the use of firemen on duty. The atrium or entrance hall was tiled with black and white mosaic arranged to represent various marine subjects, while in the middle stood a handsome hexagonal fountain. Flanking the walls on either side were benches for the men, while numerous inscriptions and rough drawings evidenced the fact that in their moments of leisure the Roman firemen found amusement in caricaturing their fellows. Opposite to the main entrance of the atrium was a door leading to a spacious bathroom, giving the impression that the wants of the men, even in those days, were the subject of as careful consideration as they are today.

It must have been about this time that the intellectual activity of the Romans commenced to assert itself and not only the great "Thermes" or baths were open the whole night long, but also such halls of assembly as the "Palestæ," the "Scholæ," the "Bibliothecæ" and the "Pinocotecæ" would be crowded at all hours with throngs of eager