friend of his obtained on the Atlas Mountains.
It resembles the woods which we know as tuyere and amboyna.[2]

Roman, like Greek houses, were divided into two portions--the front for
reception of guests and the duties of society, with the back for household
purposes, and the occupation of the wife and family; for although the
position of the Roman wife was superior to that of her Greek contemporary,
which was little better than that of a slave, still it was very different
to its later development.

The illustration given here of a repast in the house of Sallust,
represents the host and his eight male guests reclining on the seats of
the period, each of which held three persons, and was called a triclinium,
making up the favorite number of a Roman dinner party, and possibly giving
us the proverbial saying--"Not less than the Graces nor more than the
Muses"--which is still held to be a popular regulation for a dinner party.

[Illustration: Roman Scamnum or Bench.]

[Illustration: Roman Bisellium, or Seat for Two Persons. But generally
occupied by one, on occasions of festivals, etc.]

From discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii a great deal of information
has been gained of the domestic life of the wealthier Roman citizens, and
there is a useful illustration at the end of this chapter of the furniture
of a library or study in which the designs are very similar to the Greek
ones we have noticed; it is not improbable they were made and executed by
Greek workmen.

It will be seen that the books such as were then used, instead of being
placed on shelves or in a bookcase, were kept in round boxes called
_Scrinia_, which were generally of beech wood, and could be locked or
sealed when required. The books in rolls or sewn together were thus easily
carried about by the owner on his journeys.

Mr. Hungerford Pollen mentions that wearing apparel was kept in
_vestiaria_, or wardrobe rooms, and he quotes Plutarch's anecdote of the
purple cloaks of Lucullus, which were so numerous that they must have been
stored in capacious hanging closets rather than in chests.

In the _atrium_, or public reception room, was probably the best furniture
in the house. According to Moule's "Essay on Roman Villas," "it was here
that numbers assembled daily to pay their respects to their patron, to
consult the legislator, to attract the notice of the statesman, or to
derive importance in the eyes of the public from an apparent intimacy with
a ma