As great multitudes both of men and women were baptized at the special seasons, the Baptisteries were large buildings outside the Church, such as the Baptistery of the Lateran, said to have been originally built by Constantine.  The font itself also was large enough for several persons to be baptized at the same time.  In some places the men were baptized first, and then the women:  in others different parts of the Baptistery were assigned to them, and curtains were hung across the Font itself Bingham, Ant. VIII. c. 7, § 2; XI. c. 11, § 3..