height, or
else the one which faces the south has higher columns than the others. A
peristyle that has one such higher colonnade is called a Rhodian
peristyle. Such apartments have fine entrance courts with imposing front
doors of their own; the colonnades of the peristyles are decorated with
polished stucco in relief and plain, and with coffered ceilings of
woodwork; off the colonnades that face the north they have Cyzicene
dining rooms and picture galleries; to the east, libraries; exedrae to
the west; and to the south, large square rooms of such generous
dimensions that four sets of dining couches can easily be arranged in
them, with plenty of room for serving and for the amusements.

4. Men's dinner parties are held in these large rooms; for it was not
the practice, according to Greek custom, for the mistress of the house
to be present. On the contrary, such peristyles are called the men's
apartments, since in them the men can stay without interruption from the
women. Furthermore, small sets of apartments are built to the right and
left, with front doors of their own and suitable dining rooms and
chambers, so that guests from abroad need not be shown into the
peristyles, but rather into such guests' apartments. For when the Greeks
became more luxurious, and their circumstances more opulent, they began
to provide dining rooms, chambers, and store-rooms of provisions for
their guests from abroad, and on the first day they would invite them to
dinner, sending them on the next chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and
other country produce. This is why artists called pictures representing
the things which were sent to guests "xenia." Thus, too, the heads of
families, while being entertained abroad, had the feeling that they were
not away from home, since they enjoyed privacy and freedom in such
guests' apartments.

[Illustration: _From Bull. de. Corr. Hell. 1895_

GREEK HOUSE AT DELOS]

5. Between the two peristyles and the guests' apartments are the
passage-ways called "mesauloe," because they are situated midway between
two courts; but our people called them "andrones."

This, however, is a very strange fact, for the term does not fit either
the Greek or the Latin use of it. The Greeks call the large rooms in
which men's dinner parties are usually held [Greek: andrones], because
women do not go there. There are other similar instances as in the case
of "xystus," "prothyrum," "telamones," and some others of the sort