important passages in Pliny the Younger's
description of his Laurentine villa, that the reader may have some
general notion of the subject, some standard with which to compare
that which we are about to describe.

"My villa is large enough for convenience, though not splendid. The
first apartment which presents itself is a plain, yet not mean,
atrium; then comes a portico, in shape like the letter O, which
surrounds a small, but pleasant area. This is an excellent retreat in
bad weather, being sheltered by glazed windows, and still more
effectually by an overhanging roof. Opposite the centre of this
portico is a pleasant cavaedium, after which comes a handsome
triclinium, which projects upon the beach, so that when the southwest
wind urges the sea, the last broken waves just dash against its
walls. On every side of this room are folding doors, or windows
equally large, so that from the three sides there is a view, as it
were, of three seas at once, while backwards the eye wanders through
the apartments already described, the cavaedium, portico, and atrium,
to woods and distant mountains. To the left are several apartments,
including a bed-chamber, and room fitted up as a library, which jets
out in an elliptic form, and, by its several windows, admits the sun
during its whole course. These apartments I make my winter abode. The
rest of this side of the house is allotted to my slaves and freedmen,
yet it is for the most part neat enough to receive my friends. To the
right of the triclinium is a very elegant chamber, and another, which
you may call either a very large chamber (_cubiculum_), or
moderate-sized eating-room (_coenatio_), which commands a full
prospect both of the sun and sea. Passing hence, through three or four
other chambers, you enter the _cella frigidaria_ of the baths, in
which there are two basins projecting from opposite walls, abundantly
large enough to swim in, if you feel inclined to do so in the first
instance. Then come the anointing-room, the hypocaust, or furnace, and
two small rooms; next the warm bath, which commands an admirable view
of the sea. Not far off is the _sphaeristerium_, a room devoted to
in-door exercises and games, exposed to the hottest sun of the
declining day. Beside it is a triclinium, where the noise of the sea
is never heard but in a storm, and then faintly, looking out upon the
garden and the _gestatio_, or place for taking the air in a carriage
or litter, which encompasse