The first pavements, in my opinion, were those now known
to us as barbaric and subtegulan[1] pavements, a kind of work
that was beaten down with the rammer: at least if we may
form a judgment from the name[2] that has been given to them.
The first diamonded[3] pavement at Rome was laid in the Temple
of Jupiter Capitolinus, after the commencement of the Third
Punic War. That pavements had come into common use before
the Cimbric War, and that a taste for them was very
prevalent, is evident from the line of Lucilius—
1.
2.
3.
4.
"Arte pavimenti atque emblemate vermiculato;"