Thermae be applied to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the empire, in place of the simple balneae of the republic, and which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing. Writers, however, use these terms without distinction. Thus the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, the freedman of the Emperor Claudius, are styled by Statius "balnea", and by Martial "Etrusci thermulae". In an epigram by "Martial"—"subice balneum thermis"—the terms are not applied to the whole building, but to two different chambers in the same edifice.
Opera publica Opera publica Opera publica is the Latin name used by Ancient Rome for the building of public works, construction or engineering projects carried out under the direction of the state on behalf of the community, and the buildings themselves. The term "public works" is a calque (literal word-by-word translation) of the Latin. Public works in the Roman Empire were not merely buildings for the conduct of the business of running the city, but all buildings for public use. Therefore, temples, basilicae, theatres, porticoes, fora, walls of towns, aqueducts, harbours, bridges, baths (both thermae and balneae), fountains, circuses, markets, cloacae, roads,