s which supported the trellis, was a small
altar, on which the due libations might be poured by the festive
party. In the other limb of the garden is a small furnace, probably
intended to keep water constantly hot for the use of those who
preferred warm potations. Usually the Romans drank their wine mixed
with snow, and clarified through a strainer, of which there are many
in the Museum of Naples, curiously pierced in intricate patterns; but
those who were under medical care were not always suffered to enjoy
this luxury. Martial laments his being condemned by his physician to
drink no cold wine, and concludes with wishing that his enviers may
have nothing but warm water. At the other end of the garden, opposite
the front of the triclinium, was a cistern which collected the rain
waters, whence they were drawn for the use of the garden and of the
house. There was also a cistern at the end of the portico, next the
triclinium.

The several rooms to the left of the atrium offer nothing remarkable.
On the right, however, as will be evident upon inspecting the plan, a
suite of apartments existed, carefully detached from the remainder of
the house, and communicating only with the atrium by a single passage.
The disposition and the ornaments of this portion of the house prove
that it was a private _venereum_, a place, if not consecrated to the
goddess from whom it derives its name, at least especially devoted to
her service. The strictest privacy has been studied in its
arrangements; no building overlooks it; the only entrance is closed by
two doors, both of which we may conjecture, were never suffered to be
open at once; and beside them was the apartment of a slave, whose duty
was to act as porter and prevent intrusion. Passing the second door,
the visitor found himself under a portico supported by octagonal
columns, with a court or open area in the centre, and in the middle of
it a small basin. At each end of the portico is a small cabinet, with
appropriate paintings: in one of them a painting of Venus, Mars, and
Cupid is conspicuous.

The apartments were paved with marble, and the walls lined breast-high
with the same material. A niche in the cabinet nearest the triclinium
contained a small image, a gold vase, a gold coin, and twelve bronze
medals of the reign of Vespasian; and near this spot were found eight
small bronze columns, which appear to have formed part of a bed.

In the adjoining lane four skeletons were found,