Pompeii - by W. Clarke Author:William Clarke Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Portico of the House of Diomedes, view of the Atriam beyond. Chapter XI. SUBURBAN VILLA. The most interesting, and by far the most extensive of ... more »the private buildings yet discovered, is the Suburban Villa, as it is called, from its position a little way without the gates. Excavations were made in this part of the town in 1763, and it was probably discovered at that time. It is worthy of remark that the plan of this edifice is in close accord with the descriptions ot country houses given us by Vitruvius and others,— a circumstance which tends strongly to confirm thebelief already expressed, that the houses of the city are built upon the Roman system of arrangement, although the Greek taste may predominate in their decoration. We will commence by extracting the most important passages in Pliny the younger's description of his Laurentine villa, that the reader may have some general notion of the subject, some standard with which to compare that which we are about o describe. " My rilla is large enough for convenience, though not splendid. The first apartment which presents itself is a plain, yet not mean, atrium ; then comes a portico, in shape like the letter O, which surrounds a small, but pleasant area. This is an excellent retreat in bad weather, being sheltered by glazed windows , and still more effectually by an overhanging roof. Opposite the centre of this portico is a pleasant cava- dium, after which comes a handsome triclinium, which projects upon the beach, so that when the south-west wind urges the sea, the last broken waves just dash against its walls. On every side of this room are folding doors, or windows equally large, so that from the three sides there is a view, as it were, of three seas at once, while backwards the eye wanders through the apartme...« less