as Moliere would have
said, among the Romans of the olden times.

[Illustration: KITCHEN UTENSILS FOUND AT POMPEII]

None but men entered this kitchen: they were the cook, or _coquus_, and
his subaltern, the slave of the slave, _focarius_. The meal is ready,
and now come other slaves assigned to the table,--the _tricliniarches_,
or foreman of all the rest; the _lectisterniator_, who makes the beds;
the _praegustator_, who tastes the viands beforehand to reassure his
master; the _structor_, who arranges the dishes on the plateaux or
trays; the _scissor_, who carves the meats; and the young _pocillatro_,
or _pincerna_, who pours out the wine into the cups, sometimes dancing
as he does so (as represented by Moliere) with the airs and graces of a
woman or a spoiled child.

There is festivity to-day: Paratus sups with Pansa, or rather Pansa with
Paratus, for I persist in thinking that we are in the house of the
elector and not of the future aedile. If the master of the house be a
real Roman, like Cicero, he rose early this morning and began the day
with receiving visits. He is rich, and therefore has many friends, and
has them of three kinds,--the _salutatores_, the _ductores_, and the
_assectatores_. The first-named call upon him at his own house; the
second accompany him to public meetings; and the third never leave him
at all in public. He has, besides, a number of clients, whom he protects
and whom he calls "my father" if they be old, and "my brother" if they
be young. There are others who come humbly to offer him a little basket
(_sportula_), which they carry away full of money or provisions. This
morning Paratus has sent off his visitors expeditiously; then, as he is
no doubt a pious man, he has gone through his devotions before the
domestic altar, where his household gods are ranged. We know that he
offered peculiar worship to Bacchus, for he had a little bronze statue
of that god, with silver eyes; it was, I think, at the entrance of his
garden, in a kettle, wrapped up with other precious articles, Paratus
tried to save this treasure on the day of the eruption, but he had to
abandon it in order to save himself. But to continue my narration of the
day as this Pompeian spent it. His devotions over, he took a turn to the
Forum, the Exchange, the Basilica, where he supported the candidature of
Pansa. From there, unquestionably, he did not omit going to the Thermae,
a measure of health; and, now, at length, he has just