hich we admire in the
church of S. Maria dell' Anima, had been found under the ground, would
we not consider it a better work than the original in S. Peter's?
Francesco Volterra complained to me many times about the slovenliness
of the masons; he says that, working by contract (_a cottimo_), they
were afraid they should get no reward for the trouble of bringing the
group to the surface."

[Illustration: Remains of the House of Pudens, discovered in 1870.]

Remains of the house of Pudens were found in 1870. They occupy a
considerable area under the neighboring houses.[65]

[Illustration: Plan of Pompeian House.]

[Illustration: Remains of the House of Pudens. Front Wall, pierced by
modern windows.]

The theory accepted by some modern writers as regards the
transformation of these halls of prayer into regular churches is this.
The prayer-meetings were held in the _tablinum_ (A) or reception room
of the house, which, as shown in the accompanying plan, opened on the
_atrium_ or court (B), and this was surrounded by a portico or
peristyle (C). In the early days of the gospel the _tablinum_ could
easily accommodate the small congregation of converts; but, as this
increased in numbers and the space became inadequate, the faithful
were compelled to occupy that section of the portico which was in
front of the meeting hall. When the congregation became still larger,
there was no other way of accommodating it, and sheltering it from
rain or sun, than by covering the court either with an awning or a
roof. There is very little difference between this arrangement and the
plan of a Christian basilica. The _tablinum_ becomes an apse; the
court, roofed over, becomes the nave; the side wings of the peristyle
become the aisles.

Among the Roman churches whose origin can be traced to the hall of
meeting, besides those of Pudens and Prisca already mentioned, the
best preserved seems to be that built by Demetrias at the third
milestone of the Via Latina, near the "painted tombs." Demetrias,
daughter of Anicius Hermogenianus, prefect of the city, 368-370, and
of Tyrrania Juliana, a friend of Augustine and Jerome, enlarged the
oratory already existing in the _tablinum_ of the Anician villa, and
transformed it into a beautiful church, afterwards dedicated to S.
Lorenzo. Church and villa were discovered in 1857, and, together with
the painted tombs of the Via Latina, are now the property of the
nation. The stranger could not find a pleas