Explanation: Nowadays, we place a high value on privacy when doing our business in public bathrooms. The Romans, however, were a much less privacy-oriented society than later European cultures - public latrines were very, uh, public places, where you could have a chat with a fellow constipated citizen inbetween shitting your guts out and cleaning your ass with a communal vinegar-soaked sponge-onna-stick. Don’t forget to rinse the sponge before you put it back in the vinegar bowl! It’s only polite!