ix. 6), which is so named from the figures of the Dioscuri, holding

their horses by the bridle, painted on the walls of the principal fauces. Between the two atriums, one of which is of the Corinthian type, lies a large peristyle; and behind the Corinthian atrium is a garden with a colonnade in front. The decoration of the house is especially effective; that of the larger tablinum was by one of the best artists who worked at Pompeii. The paintings in the two central panels of this room are often mentioned; on the right wall, the recognition of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes; on the left, the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. The representation of Venus Pompeiana shown in Fig. 4 is from the peristyle.

Beyond the house of Castor and Pollux is that of the Centaur (VI. ix. 3), which received its name from a painting in which Hercules, Deianira, and Nessus appear; the end of a bedroom in this house is shown in Fig. 122. The rest of the insula belongs to the large house of Meleager, named from a picture representing Meleager and Atalanta. The walls contained numerous mythological pictures, part of which were transferred to the Naples Museum; those left on the walls have suffered from exposure to the weather.

The house of Apollo also (VI. vii. 23), on the opposite side of the street, is noteworthy on account of its decoration, in the last style; the god appears in a series of paintings. Two houses in the next insula, on the south, have in their gardens fountain niches veneered with bright mosaics, the casa della Fontana Grande (VI. viii. 22) and the casa della Fontana Piccola (VI. viii. 23).

At the middle of the tenth Insula, in the same Region, is the house of the Anchor (VI. x. 7), so called from an anchor outlined in the black and white mosaic of the fauces. The peristyle here presents an interesting peculiarity of construction. The level of the street at the rear of the house was below that of Mercury Street. Instead of filling up the lot so as to raise the garden to the height of the front part, the builder constructed a kind of basement under the colonnade of the peristyle, the floor of which was thus adjusted to the level of the floors in the front rooms; the garden and the floor of the basement were on the same level as the street at the rear. The colonnade was higher on the north than on the other three sides (Fig. 180). The effect of the whole was far from unpleasing. Whether the projections seen in the niches below, at the level of the garden, are pedestals or small altars cannot be determined. The niches at the front end were made larger, and were three in number. In the middle niche was a diminutive temple; the other two had the form of an apse, and contained fountain figures.

Houses were sometimes enlarged at the expense of neighboring dwellings, which, in some cases, were destroyed to the foundations, in others remodelled or incorporated with slight change. An example is the house of the Citharist, which fills the greater part of the fourth Insula in Region I, on the east side of Stabian Street. A bronze statue of Apollo playing the cithara, found in the middle peristyle (Fig. 181, 17), gave its name to the house. It is apparently a faithful copy of a Greek masterpiece at Sparta, and is now in the Naples Museum. The house is sometimes referred to as that of Popidius Secundus.

There are two atriums (6, 47) and three peristyles (17, 32, 56). A large part of the house, the west atrium (6), with the connecting rooms and the two peristyles, 17 and 32, was built in the Tufa Period, in the place of several older houses. The rooms east of the two peristyles, and the north atrium (47) and peristyle (56), with the adjoining rooms, were added in Roman times, probably near the end of the Republic; the house was afterwards decorated in the second style. Remains of the third and fourth styles also are found in some parts of the house. The better apartments are grouped about the peristyles; the rooms about the atriums were turned over to the slaves or used for domestic purposes.

In the large room (35) opening on the south peristyle were two paintings of unusual merit, both of which were transferred to the Naples Museum. The subject of one was the finding of the deserted Ariadne by Bacchus; in the other Orestes and Pylades appear as captives before Thoas, the king of Tauris (Fig. 182).

At the right of the picture sits Thoas, looking at the captives, his sword lying across his knees, his hands resting upon the end of his sceptre. Behind him stands a guard with a long spear in the right hand. Another guard with two spears stands behind Orestes and Pylades, whose hands are bound. Orestes, upon whose head is a wreath of laurel, looks downward, an expression of sadness and resignation upon his finely chiselled features. Pylades is not without anxiety, but is alert and hopeful. Between the two groups is an altar on which incense is burning. In the background Iphigenia is seen moving slowly forward; the head is entirely obliterated. It is unfortunate that the painting is so badly preserved. The faces of the two youths are individualized with remarkable skill, and the picture here used as the centre of a decorative framework of the fourth style is evidently a copy of a masterpiece.

On the south side of Abbondanza Street, opposite the Stabian Baths, is the house of Cornelius Rufus (VIII. iv. 15), a view of the interior of which has already been given. The name of the proprietor is known from the dedication on the herm (seen in Fig. 121), _C. Cornelio Rufo_; the carved table supports behind the impluvium are among the finest yet discovered.

In the same block is the house of Marcus Holconius (VIII. iv. 4), a good example of a house completely restored and decorated after the earthquake of 63. The right ala was fitted up with shelves, on which at the time of the eruption were kitchen vessels of bronze, iron, and terra cotta. The colonnade about the peristyle was in two stories. From the columns at the front six jets of water, at a height of about four feet, fell forward into the gutter; and there was an equal number at the rear. There was also a little fountain in the exedra at the rear of the peristyle.