e transparent and woven of the air. Some again wrap themselves in
thick mantles which cover them completely, but which are about to fall;
two of them holding each other by the hand are going to float upward
together. As many dancing nymphs as there are, so many are the different
dances, attitudes, movements, undulations, characteristics, and
dissimilar ways of removing and putting on veils; infinite variations,
in fine, upon two notes that vibrate with voluptuous luxuriance, and in
a thousand ways.

Let us continue: We are sweeping into the full tide of mythology. All
the ancient divinities will pass before us,--now isolated (like the
fine, nay, truly imposing Ceres in the house of Castor and Pollux), now
grouped in well-known scenes, some of which often recur on the Pompeian
walls. Thus, the education of Bacchus, his relations with Silenus; the
romantic story of Ariadne; the loves of Jupiter, Apollo, and Daphne;
Mars and Venus; Adonis dying; Zephyr and Flora; but, above all, the
heroes of renown, Theseus and Andromeda, Meleager, Jason, heads of
Hercules; his twelve labors, his combat with the Nemaean lion, his
weaknesses,--such are the episodes most in favor with the decorative
artists of the little city. Sometimes they take their subjects from the
poems of Virgil, but oftener from those of Homer. I might cite a whole
house, viz., that of the Poet, also styled the Homeric House, the
interior court of which was a complete Iliad illustrated. There you
could see the parting of Agamemnon and Chryseis, and also that of
Briseis and Achilles, who, seated on a throne, with a look of angry
resignation, is requesting the young girl to return to Agamemnon--a fine
picture, of deserved celebrity. There, too, was beheld the lovely Venus
which Gell has not hesitated to compare, as to form, with the Medicean
statue, or for color, to Titian's painting. It will be remembered that
she plays a conspicuous part in the poem. A little further on we see
Jupiter and Juno meeting on Mount Ida.

[Illustration: Exedra of the House of Siricus.]

"At length" says Nicolini, in his sumptuous work on Pompeii, "in the
natural sequence of these episodes, appears Thetis reclining on the
Triton, and holding forth to her afflicted son the arms that Vulcan had
forged for him in her presence."

It was in the peristyle of this house that the copy of the famous
picture by Timanthius of the sacrifice of Iphigenia was found. "Having
represented her standing