This house was formerly decorated with paintings taken from the Odyssey, and from the elegant fictions of Grecian mythology. When Mazois visited it in 1812, two paintings in the atrium were still in existence, though in a very perishing state. Shortly after he had copied them they fell, owing to' the plaster detaching itself from the wall. One of them is taken from the Odyssey, and represents Ulysses and Circe, at the moment when the hero, having drunk the charmed cup with impunity, by virtue of the antidote given him by Mercury, draws his sword and advances to avenge his companions. The goddess, terrified, makes her submission at once, as described by Homer, while her two attendants fly in alarm; yet one of them, with a natural curiosity, cannot resist the temptation to look back, and observe the termination of so unexpected a scene.

Painting representing Circe and Ulysses.

Circe uses the very gesture of supplication so constantly described by Homer and the tragedians, as she sinks on her knees, extending one hand to clasp the knees of Ulysses, with the other endeavouring to touch his beard. This picture is remarkable, as teaching us the origin of that ugly and unmeaning glory with which the heads of saints are often surrounded. The Italians borrowed it from the Greek artists of the lower empire, in whose paintings it generally has the appearance, as we believe, of a solid plate of gold. The glory round Circe's head has the same character, the outer limb or circle being strongly defined, not shaded off and dividing into rays, as we usually see it in the Italian school. This glory was called nimbus, or aureola, and is defiled by Servius to be "the luminous fluid which encircles the heads of the gods." It belongs with peculiar propriety to Circe, as the daughter of the sun. The emperors, with their usual modesty, assumed it as the mark of their divinity; and, under this respectable patronage, it passed, like many other Pagan superstitions and customs, into the use of the church.

The other picture represents Achilles at Scyros, where Thetis had hidden him among the daughters of Lycomedes, to prevent his engaging in the Trojan war. Ulysses discovered him by bringing for sale arms mixed with female trinkets, in the character of a merchant. The story is well known. The painting represents the moment when the young hero is seizing the arms. Deidamia seems not to know what to make of the matter, and tries to hold him back, while Ulysses is seen behind with his finger on his lips, closely observing all that passes.

We will now take a house of a better class, yet still intermediate between those which we have been describing and the houses of the first class in Pompeii; and there is none which will suit our purpose better than the Casa Carolina, as it is called, the House of Queen Caroline, so named because it was excavated in her presence. 1. Vestibule. 2. Corinthian atrium, a species of atrium of rare occurrence in Pompeii. The roof is supported by square pillars, painted with foliage, as if in imitation of climbing-plants, placed upon a pluteum or dwarf wall which surrounds the impluvium, or court rather, for there was a small basin in the centre for the reception of rain water, which was further supplied by a fountain. 5. Kitchen, lighted by windows to the street. 6, 7, 8, 12. Rooms for various purposes surrounding the atrium. Opposite to the prothyrum is the tablinum, 9, entirely open to the atrium as Vitruvius describes, but closed at the other end, which is not usual. 10. Ala, richly decorated with tasteful paintings, which, when Mazois wrote, were in perfect preservation. 0 11. Lararium, decorated as richly as the ala, and in the same taste. 13. Passage to another division of the house, which contains all the parts necessary for a small but separate establishment, and could have been made such by merely closing up the door of communication. It has, 14, its own entry; a court, 15; a kitchen, 18; and four rooms marked 17, for the various uses of the family. In the centre of the court, where we see the places of two pillars, destined apparently to support a trellis, like that described in the former part of this chapter, there is a circular triclinium, if the expression is allowable, of masonry. This was properly called stibadium, as we learn from Servius's definition of that word, that it is " a semicircular bed suitable to a round table, which the Romans used instead of three beds, after tables made of citron wood came into general use." This sort of table was also called sigma, from its likeness to the Greek letter, as we learn from Martial, who also tells us how many persons it was meant to hold. In another epigram he speaks of seven, as the number which his sigma would hold. In the centre stood a round table on one foot, called thence monopodium. Several marble tables of this sort have been found during the course of the excavations.

The paintings found here, described by Mazois as being in good preservation, have been so often wetted to refresh the colours for the gratification of visitors, that very few traces of them now remain. Two of them are engraved in Sir W. Gell's Pompeii. The subject of one is doubtful; it has been explained to be Diana and Endymion, or Venus and Adonis : the latter seems to be the most probable. It contains only three figures : a youth sitting, down, whose head is encircled with rays of light, holding two spears; a female figure of great beauty approaching him; and between them Hymen, with his torch and a palm-branch. The female is rather scantily dressed, but richly ornamented with earrings, necklace, armlets, and bracelets. The other picture represents Perseus and Andromeda, after the hero has slain the monster. He holds behind him something like a skull, which is probably intended for Medusa's head, and his double-pointed sword, a very inconvenient-looking weapon, lies beside him on the ground. Andromeda is in full costume, and wears a white tunic with a blue peplum, or large wrapper. The ancient painters seem to have had no very wide choice of subjects. Almost all their serious compositions are mythological, and the desertion of Ariadne and the deliverance of Andromeda recur so frequently at Pompeii, that we may conclude these stories enjoyed a very extensive popularity. They were indeed well suited to that display of the human figure, in which the ancients took so much delight. In a neighbouring house is a beautiful painting of Venus and Adonis. His dogs lie at his feet, and a Cupid armed with two spears stands beside him, bewailing the untimely fate of the young hunter. In the same house are several tasteful decorations, and among them marine horses engaged in a variety of gambols.

Mercury, from a painting.

Dancing Faun.