sically termed impluvium), which was
admitted by an aperture in the roof above; the said aperture being
covered at will by an awning. Near this impluvium, which had a peculiar
sanctity in the eyes of the ancients, were sometimes (but at Pompeii
more rarely than at Rome) placed images of the household gods--the
hospitable hearth, often mentioned by the Roman poets, and consecrated
to the Lares, was at Pompeii almost invariably formed by a movable
brazier; while in some corner, often the most ostentatious place, was
deposited a huge wooden chest, ornamented and strengthened by bands of
bronze or iron, and secured by strong hooks upon a stone pedestal so
firmly as to defy the attempts of any robber to detach it from its
position. It is supposed that this chest was the money-box, or coffer,
of the master of the house; though as no money has been found in any of
the chests discovered at Pompeii, it is probable that it was sometimes
rather designed for ornament than use.

In this hall (or atrium, to speak classically) the clients and visitors
of inferior rank were usually received. In the houses of the more
'respectable', an atriensis, or slave peculiarly devoted to the service
of the hall, was invariably retained, and his rank among his
fellow-slaves was high and important. The reservoir in the centre must
have been rather a dangerous ornament, but the centre of the hall was
like the grass-plot of a college, and interdicted to the passers to and
fro, who found ample space in the margin. Right opposite the entrance,
at the other end of the hall, was an apartment (tablinum), in which the
pavement was usually adorned with rich mosaics, and the walls covered
with elaborate paintings. Here were usually kept the records of the
family, or those of any public office that had been filled by the owner:
on one side of this saloon, if we may so call it, was often a
dining-room, or triclinium; on the other side, perhaps, what we should
now term a cabinet of gems, containing whatever curiosities were deemed
most rare and costly; and invariably a small passage for the slaves to
cross to the further parts of the house, without passing the apartments
thus mentioned. These rooms all opened on a square or oblong colonnade,
technically termed peristyle. If the house was small, its boundary
ceased with this colonnade; and in that case its centre, however
diminutive, was ordinarily appropriated to the purpose of a garden, and
adorned with