s it. The gestatio is hedged with box, and
with rosemary where the box is wanting; for box grows well where it is
sheltered by buildings, but withers when exposed in an open situation
to the wind, and especially within reach of spray from the sea. To the
inner circle of the gestatio is joined a shady walk of vines, soft and
tender even to the naked feet. The garden is full of mulberries and
figs, the soil being especially suited to the former. Within the
circuit of the gestatio there is also a cryptoportico, for extent
comparable to public buildings, having windows on one side looking to
the sea, on the other to the garden. In front of it is a xystus,
fragrant with violets, where the sun's heat is increased by reflection
from the cryptoportico, which, at the same time, breaks the northeast
wind. At either end of it is a suite of apartments, in which, in
truth, I place my chief delight."[14] Such was one of several villas
described by Pliny. The directions given by Vitruvius for building
country houses are very short. "The same principles," he says, "are to
be observed in country houses as in town houses, except that in the
latter the atrium lies next to the door, but in pseudo-urban houses
the peristyles come first, then atria surrounded by paved porticoes,
looking upon courts for gymnastic exercises and walking" (_palaestras
et ambulationes_).[15] It will appear that the distribution of the
Suburban Villa was entirely in accordance with these rules.

The house is built upon the side of the hill, in such a manner that
the ground falls away, not only in the line of the street, across the
breadth of the house, but also from the front to the back, so that the
doorway itself being elevated from five to six feet above the roadway,
there is room at the back of the house for an extensive and
magnificent suite of rooms between the level of the peristyle and the
surface of the earth. These two levels are represented on the same
plan, being distinguished by a difference in the shading. The darker
parts show the walls of the upper floor, the lighter ones indicate the
distribution of the lower. A further distinction is made in the
references, which are by figures to the upper floor, and by letters to
the lower. There are besides subterraneous vaults and galleries not
expressed in the plan.

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF THE SUBURBAN VILLA OF DIOMEDES.]

1. Broad foot pavement raised nine inches or a foot above the carriage
w