, shell-fish, and birds of passage; under Capricorn
(January), lobsters, sea-fish, wild-boar and game; under Aquarius
(February), ducks, plovers, pigeons, water-rails, etc.

[Illustration: TRICLINIUM.]

"The table, made of citron wood[11] from the extremity of Mauritania,
more precious than gold, rested upon ivory feet, and was covered by a
plateau of massive silver, chased and carved, weighing five hundred
pounds. The couches, which would contain thirty persons, were made of
bronze overlaid with ornaments in silver, gold and tortoise-shell; the
mattresses of Gallic wool, dyed purple; the valuable cushions,
stuffed with feathers, were covered with stuffs woven and embroidered
with silk mixed with threads of gold. Chrysippus told us that they
were made at Babylon, and had cost four millions of sesterces.[12]

"The mosaic pavement, by a singular caprice of the architect,
represented all the fragments of a feast, as if they had fallen in
common course on the floor; so that at the first glance the room
seemed not to have been swept since the last meal, and it was called
from hence, _asarotos oikos_, the unswept saloon. At the bottom of the
hall were set out vases of Corinthian brass. This triclinium, the
largest of four in the palace of Scaurus, would easily contain a table
of sixty covers;[13] but he seldom brings together so large a number
of guests, and when on great occasions he entertains four or five
hundred persons, it is usually in the atrium. This eating-room is
reserved for summer; he has others for spring, autumn, and winter, for
the Romans turn the change of season into a source of luxury. His
establishment is so appointed that for each triclinium he has a great
number of tables of different sorts, and each table has its own
service and its particular attendants.

"While waiting for their masters, young slaves strewed over the
pavement saw-dust dyed with saffron and vermilion, mixed with a
brilliant powder made from the lapis specularis, or talc."

Pinacotheca, the picture-gallery, and Bibliotheca, the library, need
no explanation. The latter was usually small, as a large number of
rolls (_volumina_) could be contained within a narrow space.

Exedra bore a double signification. It is either a seat, intended to
contain a number of persons, like those before the Gate of
Herculaneum, or a spacious hall for conversation and the general
purposes of society. In the public baths, the word is especially
appli