The oblong room at the right of the tablinum (10) was once square, as
(9). Both were well adapted for winter dining rooms; in summer, meals
were undoubtedly served in the tablinum. The room at the left of the
entrance (2) was a shop, at least in later times. The corresponding
room on the other side (6') was retained for domestic use.
The shop at the right (3) and the back room (4), as well as the
kitchen with the adjoining rooms at the rear, used as store closets
and quarters for slaves, were a later addition; 22 is a light court,
to which the rain water was conducted from different parts of the
roof. Over these rooms was a second story reached by stairs leading
from the colonnade (18). It may be that this part of the house took
the place of a garden in which previously there was an outside
kitchen; that the ground belonged to the house from the beginning is
clear from the existence of a door between the rooms 6' and 3,
afterwards walled up, and the appearance of the unbroken party wall on
this side.
The rooms about the atrium had no upper floor, and were relatively
high; the doors measured nearly twelve feet in height, and the ceiling
of the tablinum was not far from twenty feet above the floor. In
respect to height, this house was not unlike those of the next period.
In the later years of the city, but before 63, the decoration was
renewed in the fourth style. There are paintings of interest, however,
only in the room at the rear (19), which had a large window opening on
the garden. In one of the panels here we see a man sitting with a
writing tablet in his hand; opposite him are two girls, one sitting,
the other standing; the latter holds a roll of papyrus. This kind of
genre picture is not uncommon; the type is spoken of elsewhere (p.
477).
In another panel, which was transferred to the Naples Museum, a young
woman is represented as painting a herm of Dionysus (Fig. 133); a
Cupid is holding the unfinished picture while she mixes colors on her
palette. Two other maidens are watching the artist with unfeigned
interest. Upon the pillar behind the herm hangs a small painting; in
the vista another herm is seen, together with a vase standing on a
pillar.
[Illustration: Fig. 133.--A young woman painting a herm. Wall painting
from the house of the Surgeon.]
The room contained a third picture which is now almost obliterated.
Perhaps this pleasant apartment was once the boudoir of a favorite
daughter, who busied herself with painting and verse.
CHAPTER XXXV
_THE HOUSE OF SALLUST_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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