there is a well-known story of the
way in which he deceived Pompey and Cicero, when they insisted on
going home with him to see his family supper, by merely sending word
home that he would sup in the Apollo, one of the most splendid of his
halls, in which he never gave an entertainment for less than 50,000
denarii, about $8,000. Sometimes the ceiling was contrived to open and
let down a second course of meats, with showers of flowers and
perfumed waters, while rope-dancers performed their evolutions over
the heads of the company. The performances of these _funambuli_ are
frequently represented in paintings at Pompeii. Mazois, in his work
entitled "Le Palais de Scaurus," has given a fancy picture of the
habitation of a Roman noble of the highest class, in which he has
embodied all the scattered notices of domestic life, which a diligent
perusal of the Latin writers has enabled him to collect. His
description of the triclinium of Scaurus will give the reader the best
notion of the style in which such an apartment was furnished and
ornamented. For each particular in the description he quotes some
authority. We shall not, however, encumber our pages with references
to a long list of books not likely to be in the possession of most
readers.

"Bronze lamps,[10] dependent from chains of the same metal, or raised
on richly-wrought candelabra, threw around the room a brilliant light.
Slaves set apart for this service watched them, trimmed the wicks, and
from time to time supplied them with oil.

"The triclinium is twice as long as it is broad, and divided, as it
were, into two parts--the upper occupied by the table and the couches,
the lower left empty for the convenience of the attendants and
spectators. Around the former the walls, up to a certain height, are
ornamented with valuable hangings. The decorations of the rest of the
room are noble, and yet appropriate to its destination; garlands,
entwined with ivy and vine-branches, divide the walls into
compartments bordered with fanciful ornaments; in the centre of each
of which are painted with admirable elegance young Fauns, or
half-naked Bacchantes, carrying thyrsi, vases and all the furniture of
festive meetings. Above the columns is a large frieze, divided into
twelve compartments; each of these is surmounted by one of the signs
of the Zodiac, and contains paintings of the meats which are in
highest season in each month; so that under Sagittary (December), we
see shrimps