immediately to the left on entering the ambulatory.
It is a strictly private apartment, and the bedchamber of the master of
the house. The name is taken from the Greek.
White walls and dark red dado. A charming little Cupid occupies the
centre of each of the three panels, which have a peculiar border to
them. The upper part of the wall dividing the Thalamus from the fauces
has been thrown open for the better admission of light and air. The
decorations of this room are copied from the House of the Dioscuri. On
the right hand wall are two pictures of great interest and
sprightliness. They are taken from the triclinium or exhedra of the
house described by Mr. Falkener, and in his work (p. 64) may be seen
rough outlines done from memory.[60] In the original apartment these
pictures form side panels to still larger compositions. Cupids and
Psyches are the only actors in these scenes; and, in the left-hand
picture, a Cupid dances holding an _amphora_ or _diota_ on his left arm.
A Cupid seated on the left of the picture plays a lyre, and other Cupids
are reclining upon couches, beneath an awning. A statue of a bearded
Bacchus appears behind, raised on a round pedestal; holding a _thyrsus_
in his left hand. The corresponding picture has a Psyche dancing in
similar company, who recline on a couch beneath a broad-spread awning
supported by branches of trees. The statue at the back is a Psyche
holding a bow in the left hand. A Cupid playing the flute sits on the
left; a reclining figure near him holds a _scyphus_ or drinking cup. The
dancing Psyche has four butterfly wings and plays the _crotala_ or
castanets; her feet are bare, but she wears bracelets. This picture is
engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. xv., tav. 18. Falkener, p. 65.
[60] The excessive illiberality of the Neapolitan government can
hardly be conceived by those who live in a country where leave to copy
and publish is so freely accorded. No one is allowed to draw a
monument that has not already been published until after the
expiration of three years, at the end of which time the paintings are
so often changed by the fading of colours and the obliteration of the
details as to render any attempt at copying them hopeless. Falkener,
pp. 62 and 65.
The ceiling has a circular aperture, necessary for the admission of
light and air, which is authorised by the example in the _caldarium_ of
the baths at Pompeii (Gell, Pompeiana, vol. i. pl. 31. Zahn, vol. ii.
pl. 94.) The doorway breaking irregularly through the panel is not in
accordance with modern notions of order and symmetry.