Note 5 — BOOK I.

‘Nine western doors open into the vestibule, and from thence into the narthex or exterior portico. That portico was the humble station of the penitents. The nave, or body of the church, was filled by the congregation of the faithful; but the two sexes were prudently distinguished, and the upper and lower galleries were allotted for the more private devotion of the women.’—Gibbon, ch. xl. (S.)