metimes human figures, sometimes landscapes, and
sometimes pictures of historical events. All the decoration of Roman
houses was internal only: the largest and most sumptuous mansion had
little to distinguish it, next the street, from a comparatively humble
abode; and, with the exception of the space required for the vestibule
and entrance doorway, nearly the whole of the side of the house next
the street was most frequently appropriated to shops. All that we are
able to learn of the architecture of Roman private houses, whether
from contemporary descriptions or from the uncovered remains of
Pompeii and Herculaneum,[27] points to the fact that it, even in a
greater measure than the public architecture, was in no sense of
indigenous growth, but was simply a copy of Greek arrangement and
Greek decoration.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] The passage in Varro, which is the sole authority for the
Basilica Opimia, is generally considered to be corrupt.

[21] Byron.

[22] This does not occur in the Pompeian houses.

[23] Marked _a_, _a_, on the plans.

[24] Vitruvius, however, seems to use the terms _atrium_ and
_cavaedium_ as quite synonymous.

[25] Marked respectively _c_, and _f_, _f_, on the plan of the House
of Pansa.

[26] Marked _b_, _b_, on the plans.

[27] At the Crystal Palace can be seen an interesting reproduction of
a Pompeian house, which was designed by the late Sir Digby Wyatt. It
gives a very faithful reproduction of the arrangement and the size of
an average Pompeian house; and though every part is rather more fully
covered with decoration than was usual in the originals, the
decorations of each room faithfully reproduce the treatment of some
original in Pompeii or Herculaneum.

[Illustration: FIG. 144.--CARVING FROM THE FORUM OF NERVA, ROME.]

CHAPTER X.

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.

_Analysis._

_The Plan_ (_or floor-disposition_).--The plans of Roman buildings are
striking from their variety and the vast extent which in some cases
they display, as well as from a certain freedom, mastery, and facility
of handling which are not seen in earlier work. Their variety is
partly due to the very various purposes which the buildings of the
Romans were designed to serve: these comprised all to which Greek
buildings had been appropriated, and many others, the product of the
complex and luxurious civilisation of the Empire. But independent of
this circumstance, the employment of such various forms in th