Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Stabulum

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

STAB'ULUM (σταθμός). In a general sense, any standing-place (from stare) which serves as an abode or shelter for man or beast; as a stable for horses (Virg. Georg. iii. 184. EQUILE); a pen or fold for sheep and goats (Ib. iii. 295. Aen. x. 723.); a shed or stall for oxen (Columell. vi. 23. BUBILE); an aviary for poultry and domestic birds (Columell. viii. 1. 3. ORNITHON. CHORS); a shed for bee-hives (Id. ix. 6. 4. APIARIUM); a stock pond for fish (Id. viii. 17. 7. PISCINA.)

2. (πανδοκεῖον). An inn or public-house, for the temporary accommodation of travellers. (Pet. Sat. vi. 8. Id. xvi. 4, Plin. Ep. vi. 19. 4.) A distinction between the stabulum and caupona is drawn in the Pandects (Ulp. Dig. 4. 9. 1.), though without any particulars to explain the difference. But to judge from the general meanings of the two words, and the particular applications given to them, we may conjecture that the latter was only intended for the reception of lodgers who travelled on foot, the former for the accommodation of man and beast. Such a distinction would be perfectly consonant with our own customs, since the keepers of many public houses at this day do not take horses in to bait; but amongst the Romans it would be the more necessary, as the great majority of travellers journeyed on foot, and those who were wealthy enough to use horses and carriages, generally took advantage of private hospitality, instead of resorting to an inn. A stabulum, thus understood, would then be an establishment of much less common occurrence than the caupona, and probably always opened on the roadside, or near the entrance of a town, at which persons coming from the country could put up their horses and carriages, without driving them through the streets; whereas the caupona was mostly in the heart of the city. This notion is further confirmed by the discovery of an inn for man and beast, just outside the gates of Pompeii, on the road to Herculaneum, having a very large range of stables attached to it, in which the skeleton of an ass was found, as well as several bits, wheels, and other pieces of harness.