§426. The monument itself was always built upon a plot of ground as spacious as the means of the builders would permit, sometimes several acres in extent. In it provision was made for the comfort of surviving members of the family, who were bound to visit the resting-place of their dead on certain regularly recurring festivals (§438). If the grounds were small there would be at least a seat, perhaps a bench. On more extensive grounds there were places of shelter, arbors, or summer houses. Dining-rooms, too, in which were celebrated the anniversary feasts, and private _ūstrīnae_ (places for the burning of bodies) are frequently mentioned. Often the grounds were laid out as gardens or parks, with trees and flowers, wells, cisterns or fountains, and even a house, with other buildings perhaps, for the accommodation of the slaves or freedmen who were in charge. A plan of such a garden is shown in Fig. 199. In the middle of the garden is the _ārea_, the technical word for the plot of ground set aside for the tomb, with several buildings upon it, one of which is a storehouse or granary (_horreum_); around the tomb itself are beds of roses and violets, used in festivals (§438), and around them in turn are grapes trained on trellises. In the front is a terrace (_sōlārium_, cf. §207), and in the rear two pools (_piscīnae_) connected with the _ārea_ by a little canal, while at the back is a thicket of shrubbery (_harundinētum_). The purpose of the granary is not clear as no grain seems to have been raised on the lot, but it may have been left where it stood before the ground was consecrated. A tomb surrounded by grounds of some extent was called a _cēpotaphium_. [Illustration: FIGURE 200. RUINS OF COLUMBARIUM OF LIVIA]