they could conveniently remove. Cutting from
above into the deposit of ashes that filled the streets, they managed to
reach in course of time the level of the ground, after which they
tunnelled from room to room, from house to house, collecting every object
they thought worth the trouble of transporting. Perhaps the owners of the
house, the Vettii themselves, presuming they escaped in the general
catastrophe, may have returned with skilled workmen to recover some of
their treasures; perhaps some "man of three letters"--the colloquial Roman
term for thief (_fur_)--may have forestalled the masters' efforts--who
knows? And at this distance of time, who cares?

The house once occupied by Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius
Corvina stands in a quiet district not far from the Capuan Gate, and
consequently at some distance from the Forum. Like all Roman habitations
it was essentially Oriental in its outward aspect, and must have resembled
closely any one of those mysterious dwellings of wealthy Arab citizens
which we constantly encounter in the native quarters of Algiers or Tunis.
The gateway giving on the street was wide, certainly, but it was well
defended both by human and canine porters; its windows were few and small,
and were probably closely latticed like those of the nunneries which we
sometimes perceive overhead in the crowded streets of Naples. There must
have been something austere, even suspicious, in the external appearance
of the Casa de' Vettii, but snarling dog and grim janitor have long since
disappeared, and we pass unmolested through the _atrium_ and thence into
the Great Peristyle, which is perhaps the most remarkable feature of this
house. The peristyle, as its name implies, is a Greek importation in a
Roman city, and its use would have been scorned by the old-fashioned
citizens, such as the master of the "House of the Surgeon"; yet it was in
truth admirably suited to the character of Southern Italy, where it
afforded shelter from sun and wind, and its arcades protected from the
rainfall. The peristyle of the Vettii, with its gaudily tinted pillars of
stucco, is highly ornate; perhaps it passes the limits of good taste in
certain points of colour and aesthetic decoration, yet the general effect
is undoubtedly pleasing to the eye. This courtyard is at once a lounge
open to the sky; it is a garden; it is an art-gallery; for the cheerful
court of Greek domestic architecture had nothing in common with its