The subjects taught here all belong to musical instruction (that is, instruction over which the Muses preside), and are partly concerned with grammatical teaching, partly with actual teaching of music. On one side we see a young teacher playing the double pipe, while the boy standing in front of him listens attentively. It is usually assumed that the boy is learning to play the flute, but then it is curious that he has not an instrument in his own hands, like the boy who is learning the lyre; for if he wished to imitate what the teacher is showing him, he would have to take the master’s instrument. There is something, therefore, to be said for the hypothesis that the boy is learning to sing, and the master is giving him on the flute the notes or the melody which he has to sing. The scene on the right of this represents instruction in writing. The boy stands in the same position as the other, before another young teacher, who holds a _triptych_ consisting of three little folding tablets, open before him, and has a pencil in his right hand. He is looking attentively at the tablet, either correcting the boy’s writing or about himself to write a copy for the pupil. On the other side of the picture we have, on the left, musical instruction. Both master and pupil have seven-stringed lyres in their hands; at the moment represented the master seems to be only showing the boy how to grasp the chords by the fingers of the left hand, and is making no use of the rod (πλῆκτρον), which he holds in his right. The boy, who sits bent forward, is trying to imitate the master’s action. The last group represents a pupil who appears to be reciting a poem, the beginning of which is written on the scroll which the master holds in his hand. Various implements hang on the walls of the schoolroom: at one side a roll of manuscript with a handle; next to it a writing tablet, with a cord fastened round it, and a handle; next, a lyre and a curious cross, which is not easy to interpret; some think that it is meant for a sextant for the geometrical instruction. On the other side hang two drinking-cups, which the pupils are probably allowed to use during the intervals; two seven-stringed lyres; a basket with handle and feet, probably used to contain the manuscripts; and finally, a case for a flute, with the capsule for the mouthpieces hanging to it.