Four-post bedsteads were in use in remoter ages, as appears from a white sardonyx in the Orleans Collection,[405] representing the surprisal of Ares and Aphrodite, by Hephæstos. There is a low floating vallance fastened up in festoons, the tester is roof-shaped, and the pillars terminate in fanciful capitals. The figure of an eagle adorns the corners of the bedstead below. From a painting on the walls of Pompeii we discover, that the peculiar sort of bedstead at present found almost universally in France was likewise familiar to the ancients, made exactly after the same fashion, and raised about the same height above the floor. With regard to the beds themselves they were at different times manufactured from very different materials, and those of some parts of Greece enjoyed a peculiar reputation. From a phrase in Homer,[406] it would appear that, in his times, beds were stuffed in Thessaly with very fine grass. Those of Chios and Miletos were famous[407] throughout Greece. In other parts of the country, persons of peculiar effeminacy slept on beds of sponge.[408] Sicily was famous for its pillows, as were also several other Doric countries. At Athens the rich were accustomed to sleep upon very soft beds, placed on bedsteads considerably above the floor;[409] and sometimes, it has been supposed, adorned with coverlets of dressed peacocks’ skins with the feathers on.[410] ----- Footnote 405: No. 34. Footnote 406: Il. β. 697. δ. 383. Footnote 407: Athen. xi. 72. Footnote 408: Athen. i. 32. Footnote 409: Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 30. Footnote 410: Palm. Exercit. in Auct. Græc. p. 191. We find mention in ancient authors of certain tribes who went clad in garments covered with the feathers of birds. Senec. Epist. 90. -----