yellow. Black dado, ceiling white, corresponding to that of the œcus
opposite. The walls are also decorated in the same manner, with the
exception of a frieze of boys carrying large garlands composed of fruits
and flowers entwined with a pink and green ribband. The small central
picture on a blue ground, represents a dish of fruit--grapes,
pomegranates, green fig, dates, apricots, apple, and fircone.
[Illustration]
The triclinium was the dining-room of an ancient Roman house. The guests
did not sit at table, they reclined on couches arranged round three
sides of a space for the table, leaving the rest open for the servants
to arrange the dishes and move the trays. The word _triclinium_ is
derived from the _three_ couches occupying the apartment which
surrounded the _mensa_ or table in the manner just described. Much
importance was attached, in ancient times, to the disposal of the
guests. The right hand couch was the most honourable; the person
reclining upon it, with his left elbow nearest the railing, was the
chief person in the assembly. The Romans were accustomed to rest with
the left arm upon cushions during their meals, and after dinner to lie
upon their backs and take their repose. In some Pompeian houses, the
three couches forming the triclinium, were permanently fixed. The
accompanying woodcut shows the arrangement of the places for a party of
nine, the favourite number for a dinner among the Romans.
The guests, preparatory to reclining on the couches, took off their
shoes, and were then provided with napkins, generally fringed, and often
richly embroidered. Water was poured over their hands into basins of
precious metal, a process repeated many times during an entertainment,
and doubtless very necessary, as the fingers were much used in the
course of eating. They had knives and spoons, but forks are entirely a
modern invention and their mode of eating was very similar to that
practised in oriental countries, where the right hand alone is made use
of. Women, when admitted to the entertainment, always sat upon the
couches. The same custom may be observed on the painted vases and
bas-reliefs of the Greeks down to a late time.
The dinner consisted of three courses; first, the _promulsis_, or
_gustatio_, chiefly stimulants to the appetite; the second contained an
immense variety of dishes; the principal dish was called _cœnæ caput_ or
_pompa_. Among them chief delicacies were the pheasant, thrush, liver of
a capon steeped in milk, and fig-eaters dressed with pepper. Hortensius
the orator first introduced the peacock. The favourite fish were the
turbot and mullet: eels, also, stewed with prawns. Pork, boar’s-flesh,
and venison, were the most highly esteemed meats. The carving was
performed to the sound of music, by an especial servant called the
_scissor_, or _carptor_. The third course was the _bellaria_, or
dessert, which consisted of uncooked fruits, such as occupy the centre
of the wall before us. In addition to the fruits of the dessert great
varieties of pastry were introduced, modelled in imitation of other
articles of food; showers of perfume and occasional jets d’eau
contributed to the luxury of the scene, but these were extravagancies,
probably confined to the most wealthy citizens of Rome. The pages of
Horace, Juvenal, Petronius, Martial, Athenæus, Suetonius, Aulus Gellius,
and Macrobius, afford curious detail of these entertainments, from which
we may easily comprehend the enormous sums they are said to have cost.
An extraordinary feast is represented, in a painting, at Pompeii,
described by Mr. Donaldson. The table is set out with every requisite
for a grand dinner. In the centre is a large dish containing four
peacocks, their tails forming a magnificent dome. Around are lobsters,
one of which holds in his claws a blue egg, a second an oyster, and
another a little basket full of grasshoppers. Four dishes of fish
decorate the bottom, above which are several partridges, hares, and
squirrels, each holding its head between its paws. These are surrounded
by something resembling a German sausage, then a row of yolks of eggs,
then a row of peaches, small melons and cherries; lastly, a row of
different vegetables, and the whole seems to be covered by a green
coloured sauce.
_Mulsum_, wine made into a syrup by the addition of honey, was handed
round to the guests at the commencement of the feast. Wine was kept in
large earthenware jars, called Amphoræ, stopped with a cork or wooden
plug, covered with resin, or gypsum. These amphoræ were sometimes made
of glass. On the outside, the jars were marked with the names of the
consuls in office at the time of the vintage from which the wine was
made, to indicate its age. Sometimes little tickets to this effect were
suspended from the necks. They generally had two ears, and were stored
up in repositories such as were found in the suburban villa (p. 19). It
was customary at great feasts according to Petronius (chap. xxxiv.) for
the amphoræ to be shown to the guests for them to read the labels before
they were opened. Many of these vessels are represented in the paintings
of Pompeii, and several originals from Rome and Alexandria are to be
seen in the British Museum. Some of the glass cups and bowls filled with
water are admirably represented. In one picture a decanter with the
glass for drinking turned down over it, is in exact accordance with our
modern custom. Elegant glass vases filled with fruit occur also among
the paintings of the House of the Augustals, together with small earthen
jars, having labels affixed.
In great houses it was not unusual for the guests after dinner to enjoy
their wine in another room. After-dinner drinking, _comissatio_, or
_convivium_, was equivalent to the _symposium_ of the Greeks.