Gradually, as the need arose and as we have mentioned above, the main apartment was surrounded by chambers at the sides and even in front. A free space was reserved for the entrance alone, which eventually became an open hall or vestibulum (dressing-room). In this hall visitors put on the toga, or at least arranged it properly, and adjusted the toilet generally. While the ordinary class of citizens were satisfied with the house as thus enlarged, the better classes looked for more than mere shelter. The Greek dwelling of the last centuries B. C. suggested what they needed. The peristyle with its adjoining rooms was adopted, and thus the way was prepared for the magnificent architecture of imperial times, which reached its acme in the Golden House of Nero, the Then= of Caracalla, and other extravagant palaces. (See Vol. IV.) Plate 31 (,-. 2) illustrates the usual ground-plan of a Roman dwelling. It will be easily understood from what has been said.
Figure i represents the ground-plan of an excavated dwelling at Pom peii. It presents a characteristic which is to be regarded as customary in the case of all the larger city residences; that is, it shows a number of rooms opening directly on the street, and in part at least wholly separated from the interior of the house. These were small rooms rented to tenants for stores, cook- and work-shops, etc. We also find in some buildings a row of guest-chambers separated by a court from the house proper. The custom existed of entertaining guests at the host's table at the beginning of their visit only; afterward meals were served in their own apartments, and the utmost possible freedom was permitted.
Figure 3 31) shows the longitudinal section of a Roman house. The roof slanting toward the centre, the compluvium and impluvium, as well as the peristyle, are readily distinguished. Figures 4 and 5 show the handsomely finished atrium and skylight of later times; and Figure 7 is one of the cook-shops above referred to. These have been restored in accordance with remains found at Pompeii and Herculaneum and from incidental statements of Roman writers. Figure 8 is the ground-plan of a palace, that of Diocletian at Spalato, the ruins of which are very well preserved, and in Figure 9 we have an illustration which explains a part of its interior arrangement. It was a rectangular edifice, 630 feet long and 510 feet wide, surrounded by walls and towers. The private rooms of the emperor are supposed to have been situated in the narrow side looking toward the sea. The rest of the palace was divided by two streets inter secting each other and forming four squares, lined with pillars, in two of which were temples. The principal entrance was on the narrow side that
looked inland. We need scarcely remark that then, as now, the details of the plan varied according to the taste and means of the owners and the site and purpose of the building, and that consequently there were many deviations from the general rule.
When the atrium became developed into a magnificent hall, it natu rally ceased to be used for domestic purposes. The kitchen was relegated to its own separate room; the rains were carried off by means of pipes, and the impluvium was replaced by a well in the court. This court, or arzyedium, surrounded by a portico, closely resembled the peristyle, the only difference being that the former was used for purposes of domestic life. Like the atrium, it was surrounded by rooms opening into the por tico. The peristyle was converted into a drawing-room surrounded by the more elegant apartments; its open court was laid out in one of those charming little gardens (fig-. 6) the arrangement of which can be easily recognized even to-day among the ruins of Pompeii. Its centre was usually occupied by a basin from which a fountain bubbled and which also served as a fishpond. The whole garden had a brilliant archi tectural setting, and its delicate tastefulness culminated in these artificial fountains.
In one of the gardens we see a sort of grotto ornamented with mosaics, from which the water once flowed down several white marble steps into a basin lined with marble and surrounded by sculptures whose dazzling whiteness still forms a fine contrast to the dark-blue groundwork of the grotto. Small flower-beds divided by narrow gravel-walks surrounded the central basin. Beautiful plants, which still grow around the ashes of Pompeii, formed a magnificent background of bright colors for the diminutive masterpieces of sculpture which occupied every ledge. The tabu/ilium, or study, of the master of the house, reception-rooms for inti mate friends, the dining-room, the grand saloon, picture-gallery, library, etc., were located immediately adjacent to the garden.
Houses which did not possess all these luxuries were at any rate pro vided with every facility for bathing. The Romans in general were so accustomed to the use of the bath that they could not dispense with it even in northern climates, where in order to obtain a more moderate tem perature they had to construct it deep in the earth. Figure io represents a bath, or nympheeum, from excavations near Salzburg.