The long stripe below the panels is preserved in more than half its length, on the end wall (3), on that at the right, and on the short sections of the front wall; there is also a fragment on the left side. It contains a series of charming pictures representing Cupids and Psyches. Some of the little creatures are engaged in sports, others are celebrating a festival, while others still are busying themselves with the manifold work of everyday life. The execution is less careful than in the small mythological pictures; yet the figures are so full of life, their movements are so purposeful, and their bearing so suggestive that we seem to catch the expression of the tiny faces. The Cupids and Psyches, whether playing the part of children or of men and women in elegant attire, whether garland makers or vinedressers or smiths, are always Cupids and Psyches still; we instinctively recognize them as such, not by reason of outward attributes so much as by their bearing. Prosaic daily toil has nowhere been more happily idealized. [Illustration: Fig. 165.--Cupids making and selling oil. Wall painting in the house of the Vettii.] The Cupids at the left of the entrance are playing with a duck. One holds the duck under his arm ready to let it go; the other stretches out his hands to catch it as it tries to escape. The group on the other side are throwing at a wooden mark. One is setting up the target. Two are making ready to throw, one of them being mounted on the back of a companion; the successful contestant in such games was called "the king," the loser, "the ass," because he had to carry the others upon his back. A fifth stands ruefully beside the target, awaiting his turn to carry the victor. Among the most attractive groups are those of the flower dealers, at the end of the right wall near the entrance. First we see the gardener leading to market a goat laden with roses; his little son trudges along behind the animal, carrying a basket of roses suspended from a stick on the left shoulder. Next is the dealer, who stands behind a broad marble table covered with garlands; he is handing two to a youth who already has several, while a Psyche near by is placing the garlands in a basket. Beyond these, workmen are making garlands, which hang in profusion from a wooden frame. At the extreme left is a lady asking the price. One of the workmen holds up two fingers, signifying two asses. The price of a wreath is given in a graffito as three asses (p. 497). [Illustration: Fig. 166.--Oil press. From a wall painting found at Herculaneum.]