entirely
surrounded with a spacious portico embellished with sculpture and
statuary, among which stood a colossal statue of Nero himself, one
hundred and twenty feet in height. The apartments were lined with
marble, enriched with jasper, topaz, and other precious gems: the timber
works and ceilings were inlaid with gold, ivory and mother of pearl.

This noble edifice, which from its magnificence obtained the appellation
of the golden house, was destroyed by Vespasian as being too gorgeous
for the residence even of a Roman emperor.

The lower floors of the houses of the great were, at this time, either
inlaid marble or mosaic work. Every thing curious and valuable was used
in ornament and furniture. The number of stories was generally two, with
underground apartments. On the first, were the reception-rooms and
bed-chamber; on the second, the dining-room and apartments of the women.

The Romans used portable furnaces in their rooms, on which account they
had little use for chimneys, except for the kitchen.

The windows of some of their houses were glazed with a thick kind of
glass, not perfectly transparent; in others, isinglass split into thin
plates was used. Perfectly transparent glass was so rare and valuable at
Rome, that Nero is said to have given a sum equal to L50,000 for two
cups of such glass with handles.

Houses not joined with the neighboring ones were called _Insulae_, as
also lodgings or houses to let. The inhabitants of rented houses or
lodgings, _Insularii_ or _Inquilini_.

The principal parts of a private house were the _vestibulum_, or court
before the gate, which was ornamented towards the street with a portico
extending along the entire front.

The _atrium_ or hall, which was in the form of an oblong square,
surrounded by galleries supported on pillars. It contained a hearth on
which a fire was kept constantly burning, and around which were ranged
the _lares_, or images of the ancestors of the family.

These were usually nothing more than waxen busts, and, though held in
great respect, were not treated with the same veneration as the
_penates_, or household gods, which were considered of divine origin,
and were never exposed to the view of strangers, but were kept in an
inner apartment, called _penetralia_.

The outer door was furnished with a bell: the entrance was guarded by a
slave in chains: he was armed with a staff, and attended by a dog.

The houses had high sloping roofs, covered wi