Forĭca
(
θάκος), generally in the plural
Forĭcae. A set of public water-closets, like the
cabinets
d'aisance of French cities, and put at the disposal of the passers-by for a small fee.
They were farmed out by contractors, as we learn from Juvenal (iii. 38). See the anecdote in
Theophrast.
Char. 14.The
foricae are not to be confounded with
the public urinals (
dolia) set at the street corners, and whose contents
were sold to the laundries for bleaching clothes. See
Fullo.