ay, running along the whole length of the Street of Tombs. 2.
Inclined planes, leading up to the porch on each side. 3. Entrance. 4.
Peristyle. This arrangement corresponds exactly with the directions of
Vitruvius for the building of country houses just quoted. The order
of the peristyle is extremely elegant. The columns, their capitals,
and entablatures, and the paintings on the walls are still in good
preservation. The architectural decorations are worked in stucco; and
it is observed by Mazois that both here and in other instances the
artist has taken liberties, which he would not have indulged in had he
been working in more valuable materials. On this ground that eminent
architect hazards a conjecture that the plasterer had a distinct style
of ornamenting, different from that of architects, or of the masons in
their employ. The lower third of the columns, which is not fluted, is
painted red. The pavement was formed of _opus Signinum_. 5. Uncovered
court with an impluvium, which collected the rain water and fed a
cistern, whence the common household wants were supplied. 6.
Descending staircase, which led to a court and building on a lower
level, appropriated to the offices, as the kitchen, bakehouse, etc.,
and to the use of slaves. It will be recollected that the ground
slopes with a rapid descent away from the city gate. This lower story,
therefore, was not under ground, though near eight feet below the
level of the peristyle. It communicates with the road by a back door.
From the bottom of the stair there runs a long corridor, A, somewhat
indistinct in our small plan, owing to its being crossed several times
by the lines of the upper floor, which leads down by a gentle slope to
the portico surrounding the garden. This was the back stair, as we
should call it, by which the servants communicated with that part of
the house. There was another staircase, B, on the opposite side of the
house, for the use of the family. 7. Door and passage to the upper
garden, marked 17, on the same level as the court. 8. Open hall,
corresponding in position with a tablinum. Being thus placed between
the court and the gallery, 28, it must have been closed with folding
doors of wood, which perhaps were glazed. 9, 10, 11, 12. Various rooms
containing nothing remarkable. 13. Two rooms situated in the most
agreeable manner at the two ends of a long gallery, 28, and looking
out upon the upper terraces of the garden, from which the eye took in