Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/203

 Extension of Roman Dominion and its Results 139 217. Rise of a Wealthy Class at Rome. As these people returned to Italy there grew up a wealthy class such as had been unknown there before. Their ability to buy resulted in a vast import trade to supply their demands. From the Bay of Naples to the mouth of the Tiber the sea was white with the sails of Roman ships converging on the docks of Rome. The men who controlled this traffic be- came wealthy merchants. To handle all the money in circulation banks were required. During the war with Hannibal the first banks appeared at Rome, occupying a line of booths on each side of the Forum. Under these influences Rome greatly changed. When a returned gov- ernor of Africa put up a showy new house, the citizen across the way who still lived in his father's old house began to be dissatisfied with it. For the old houses were built of sun-dried brick, and, like the settlers' cabins of early America, they had but one room, called the atrium (see cut on page 140). The Roman citizen of the new age had long before become familiar with the comfort, luxury, and beauty with which the Greek houses of southern Italy were filled. He therefore soon added a colon- naded Hellenistic court, with adjoining dining room, bedrooms, library, rest rooms, and kitchen. AN OLD ROMAN ATRIUM-HOUSE There was no attempt at beautiful archi- tecture, and the bare front showed no adornment whatever. The opening in the roof, which lighted the atrium, received the rainfall of a section of the roof sloping toward it, and this water collected in a pool built to receive it in the floor of the atrium below (see B in cut on page 140). The tiny area, or garden, shown in the rear was not common. It was here that the later Ro- mans added the Hellenistic peristyle (see D in cut on page 140)