eceptacle for
lamps, several of which were found there.

Adjoining this room is a large _exedra_ with a little _impluvium_ in
the middle, which seems to indicate an aperture in the roof, a
construction hitherto found only in _atria_. The absence of any
channels in the floor for conducting water seems to show that it could
not have been a fountain. This exedra is remarkable for its paintings.
In the wall in front is depicted Narcissus with a javelin in his hand,
leaning over a rock and admiring himself in the water, in which his
image is reflected; but great part of the painting is destroyed. A
little Cupid is extinguishing his torch in the stream. In the
background is a building with an image of the bearded Bacchus; and
near it a terminal figure of Priapus Ithyphallicus, with grapes and
other fruits. This picture was much damaged in the process of
excavation.

On the left wall is a painting of a naked Hermaphroditus. In his right
hand is a little torch reversed; his left arm rests on the shoulders
of Silenus, who appears to accompany his songs on the lyre, whilst a
winged Cupid sounds the double flute. On the other side is a
Bacchante with a thyrsus and tambourine, and near her a little Satyr,
who also holds a torch reversed.

But the best picture in this apartment is that representing Ariadne
discovered by Bacchus. A youthful figure with wings, supposed to
represent Sleep, stands at Ariadne's head, and seems to indicate that
she is under his influence. Meanwhile a little Faun lifts the veil
that covers her, and with an attitude indicating surprise at her
beauty, turns to Bacchus and seems to invite him to contemplate her
charms. The deity himself, crowned with ivy and berries, clothed in a
short tunic and a pallium agitated by the breeze, holds in his right
hand the thyrsus, and lifts his left in token of admiration. In the
background a Bacchante sounds her tympanum, and invites the followers
of the god to descend from the mountains. These, preceded by Silenus,
obey the summons; one is playing the double flute, another sounding
the cymbals, a third bears on her head a basket of fruit. A Faun and a
Bacchante, planted on a mountain on the left, survey the scene from a
distance.

The adjoining triclinium, entered by a door from the exedra, had also
three paintings, one of which however is almost destroyed. Of the
remaining two, that on the left represents Achilles discovered by
Ulysses among the damsels of Lycomedes