far distant future.

Leaving this place, they visited another house, which is called
the Villa of Caius Sallust. At one corner of the house they saw
something which at once struck them all as being rather singular.
It was nothing else than a shop, small in size, fitted up with
shelves and counters; a row of jars was fixed on one side, and in
the rear were furnaces. Michael Angelo informed them that it had
once been an eating-house. The boys thought it excessively odd that
the occupants of such a house--people, too, who bore such a name
as Sallust--should tolerate such an establishment; but there was
the undeniable fact before their eyes. Afterwards their surprises
diminished; For in many other houses in Pompeii--they found shops
of the same kind, and saw that the ancient Pompeians were not above
trade; and that, if they did not keep the shops themselves, they
were at least very willing to hire the fronts of their houses to
other parties who did wish to do so. In Sallust's house they saw
the traces of very elegant ornaments, and learned from Michael
Angelo that many of the articles discovered here showed that it
must once have been the abode of a luxurious and refined family.

The elegant house of the Dioscuri was visited next. It is in the
Via dei Mercurii, and is a very interesting and extensive ruin,
and contains some handsome fresco paintings. After this they visited
many other houses, a description of which is not necessary; they
were all like the Villa of Diomede, though less interesting; and
among them all there was the same general character. In all these
only the lower stories remained, though in a few a small part of
the second story was visible.

As the chief part of the Pompeian house was on the ground floor,
the loss of the upper story did not make any particular difference.
Among these they found another temple, called the Pantheon--a large
edifice, which showed signs of great former beauty. It was two
Hundred and thirty feet long, and nearly two hundred feet wide. An
altar is still standing, around which are twelve pedestals, upon
which once stood twelve statues. A few houses and temples followed,
after which Michael Angelo informed them that he was about to take
them to one of the greatest curiosities in the city.

The building to which he led them was in much better preservation
than the majority of the edifices in Pompeii, though not nearly so
large as many that they had seen. It was about sixty fe