Authors: Vitruvius and Guests

The idea that our homes can communicate professional as well as personal identities may seem as new as the work-from-home revolution. But it was second nature to the ancient Romans, for whom the home was in many ways the center of public and private life.

Roman authors saw infinite practical and symbolic value in houses, and they have much to say about them. “How to Make a Home” presents some of the best Roman writings on houses—from buying and selling to designing and decorating.

Edited and elegantly translated by Marden Fitzpatrick Nichols, “How to Make a Home” gathers selections by Cicero, Vitruvius, Seneca, and others, with the original Latin or Greek on facing pages.

These writings reveal the pleasures and pitfalls of the Roman practice of making one’s home a cornerstone of self-expression. While the ideal home enshrined Roman virtues and could make a career.