The apartment at the right of the tablinum (20) was a dining room. Of the smaller rooms about the atrium, three (6, 8, and 12) were sleeping rooms for members of the family; some of the others were so poorly decorated as to prompt the suggestion that they were intended for slaves. That next the stairs (14) was a storeroom; the traces of the shelving are easily distinguished. Under the stairs was a low room (16), perhaps used for a similar purpose; the small double room (17) was also low, and used as a sleeping room. [Illustration: Fig. 150.--Façade of the house of Epidius Rufus, restored.] The domestic apartments were reached by the andron (18). In the kitchen (21) is a broad hearth (_b_); a dim light was furnished by narrow windows. The little room at the entrance of the kitchen (_a_) was perhaps a storeroom; the closet, as often, was in the corner of the kitchen. At the opposite end of the colonnade is the gardener's room (23). The main part of the garden (24), as indicated by the arrangement of the ground, was used for vegetables; the small flower garden at the rear (25) was on a higher level. In the house originally there was no second floor. In the Roman period, apparently near the end of the Republic, a large upper room--probably a dining room--was built over the kitchen; and there may have been one or two small storerooms at the head of the stairway which was built in one of the side rooms of the atrium. Traces of the first and third decorative styles are found in the atrium; but the most interesting remains are those of the last style. The alae and several rooms were redecorated shortly before the destruction of the city. The dining room (20) contains a series of paintings illustrating the contest between Apollo and Marsyas; they are skilfully displayed in a light architectural framework on a white ground. On the wall at the left (at _a_) Apollo is seen with left foot advanced, striking with his right hand a large cithara which rests against his left shoulder. Opposite him (at _b_) is Marsyas, playing the double flute; on the intervening panels (_d_, _e_) are the Muses, who are acting as judges in the contest of skill. The painting at _c_ seems to relate to Apollo, but the subject has not been explained. The choice of subjects such as these may have been influenced by the cult of the early divinity of the city; but it probably implies a taste for poetry and music on the part of the proprietor. [Illustration: Fig. 151.--Transverse section of the house of Epidius Rufus, restored. Ala Door of Andron Front of Tablinum Door of Dining room Ala with Shrine]