The vestibule and fauces were ordinarily of the same width, and were separated by projecting doorposts with a slightly raised threshold (Fig. 116) and heavy double doors. Sometimes, as in the house of Epidius Rufus, there was in addition a small door at the side of the vestibule opening into a narrow passage connecting with the fauces (Fig. 149). In such cases the folding doors, which on account of their size and the method of hanging must always have been hard to open, were generally kept shut. They would be thrown back early in the morning for the reception of clients, and on special occasions; at other times the more convenient small door would be used. In several instances the volcanic dust so hardened about the lower part of a front door that it has been possible to make a cast by pouring soft plaster of Paris into the cavity left by the crumbling away of the wood; there are several of these casts in the little Museum at Pompeii. With their help, and with the well preserved stone thresholds before us, it is possible to picture to ourselves the appearance of the doorway. [Illustration: Fig. 116.--Plan and section of the vestibule, threshold, and fauces of the house of Pansa.] The doorposts were protected by wooden casings, _antepagmenta_, which were made fast at the bottom by means of holes in the threshold (α, α in Fig. 116). The folding doors swung on pivots, which were fitted into sockets in the threshold (β, β) and in the lintel. The pivots were of wood, but were provided--at least the lower ones--with a cylindrical cap of iron or bronze, and the socket had a protective lining of the same metal. Both caps and sockets, especially those of bronze, are found in the thresholds in a good state of preservation. It seems strange that ancient builders did not use smaller pivots of solid metal, on which the doors would have turned much more easily; but a conservative tradition in this regard prevailed against innovation. The fastenings were elaborate. Near the inner edge of each door was a vertical bolt, which shot into a hole in the threshold (γ, γ); there was probably a corresponding bolt at the top, as in the case of large modern doors. Sometimes there was a heavy iron lock, turned with a key, and also an iron bar which was fastened across the crack in such a way as to tie the two folds together. In many houses there are holes in the walls of the fauces, just back of the door, in which at night a strong wooden bar, _sera_, was placed; hardly less often we find a hole in the floor a few feet back, in which one end of a slanting prop was set, the other end being braced against the middle of the door. These arrangements bring to mind Juvenal's vivid picture of the disturbances and dangers of the streets of Rome at night. II. THE ATRIUM