as a press let into the wall which does duty as a
library, and holds books not merely to be read, but read over and over
again[96]."

It must not, however, be supposed that cupboards were always, or even
usually, sunk into the wall in Roman times. They were detached pieces of
furniture, not unlike the wardrobes in which ladies hang their dresses at
the present day, except that they were fitted with a certain number of
horizontal shelves, and were used for various purposes according to the
requirements of their owners. For instance, there is a sarcophagus in the
Museo Nazionale at Rome, on which is represented a shoemaker at work. In
front of him is a cupboard, exactly like those I am about to describe, on
the top of which several pairs of shoes are set out.

I can, however, produce three representations of such presses being used
by the Romans to contain books.

The first occurs on a marble sarcophagus (fig. 13), now in the garden of
the Villa Balestra, Rome, where I had the good fortune to find it in
1898[97]; and Professor Petersen, of the German Archaeological School, was
so kind as to have it photographed for me. He assigns the work to about
200 A.D.

[Illustration: Fig. 13. A Roman reading a roll in front of a press
(_armarium_).

From a photograph of a sarcophagus in the garden of the Villa Balestra.
Rome.]

In the central portion, 21 in. high, by 15 1/2 in. wide, is a seated
figure, reading a roll. In front of him is a cupboard, the doors of which
are open. It is fitted with two shelves, on the uppermost of which are
eight rolls, the ends of which are turned to the spectator. On the next
shelf is something which looks like a dish or shallow cup. The lower part
of the press is solid. Perhaps a second cupboard is intended. Above, it is
finished off with a cornice, on which rests a very puzzling object. There
are a few faint lines on the marble, which Professor Petersen believes are
intended to represent surgical instruments, and so to indicate the
profession of the seated figure[98]. There is a Greek inscription on the
sarcophagus, but it merely warns posterity not to disturb the bones of the
deceased[99].

The second representation (fig. 14) is from the tomb of Galla Placidia, at
Ravenna. It occurs in a mosaic on the wall of the chapel in which she was
buried, A.D. 449[100]; and was presumably executed before that date. The
press closely resembles the one on the Roman sarcophagus, but it is
evidently inte