An idea of the importance of these _atria_ may be gathered from that of Scaurus’ palace, which had thirty-eight columns 12½ yards high, made of the same kinds of rare marble that faced the walls--Egyptian green, old yellow or Oriental alabaster, African marble and other rare kinds brought from Syria and Numidia. Scaurus’ _atrium_ appears to have been hung round with tapestries, embroidered with gold, illustrating mythological scenes. Alternating with these rare tapestries were _panopliæ_ and family portraits. Though perhaps the favourite spot, the _atrium_ was not the only place for the artistic display of the Romans. Their palaces also contained _Oeci_, magnificent galleries used for receptions, and the _Exhedræ_, which were rooms for conversation, generally of a more sober decoration. In the _Triclinia_ there were kept works in precious metals and the finest pieces of furniture. There was also the _Sacrarium_, a private shrine where precious pieces of art were often hidden. Verres found his famous _canephoros_ (basket-bearers) by Polycletus, the Cupid of Praxiteles and the Hercules of Myron in the _sacrarium_ of Heius of Messina. There was also a room in Roman mansions set apart for the library, and some had special nooks for such collections as gems and cameos. The place where the best paintings were shown was called the _Pinacotheca_, and was always built towards the north so that the light from the windows should be without much variation, and above all because a northern exposure left no chance for the sun’s rays to enter and spoil the effect of the painting. The Roman collector of books very often went in for elegant bindings and all the showy and decorative side of a library. Seneca deplores the fact that while every elegant house in Rome contained a library, many of these collections of books were simply for show. Too many collectors, not dissimilar in this from our bibliomaniacs of to-day, had quantities of works they did not care to read. “What is the use of having so many thousand volumes,” cries Seneca, “the lifetime of their owners would hardly suffice to read the titles of the works.... There is a man with scarcely the literary knowledge of a serf, and he is buying volumes, not to read them, but as an ornament for his dining-room! There is another who is proud of his library only because it is in cedar and ivory; he has the mania of buying books that no one looks for. He is always gaping among his volumes, which he has bought solely for their titles. Lazy people, who never read, are likely to be found with complete collections of the works of orators or historians, books upon books. One could really forgive this mania if it had originated in a real passion for reading, but all these fine works, the great creations of divine genius, works ornamented with the portraits of their authors, do but serve to decorate the walls” (Tranq., IX). A large library was the desire of Horace. He wrote to Lellius: