Page:Vitruvius the Ten Books on Architecture.djvu/225

Rh west; and to the south, large square rooms of such generous di­mensions that four sets of dining couches can easily be arranged in them, with plenty of room for serving and for the amusements.

4. Men's dinner parties are held in these large rooms; for it was not the practice, according to Greek custom, for the mistress of the house to be present. On the contrary, such peristyles are called the men's apartments, since in them the men can stay without interruption from the women. Furthermore, small sets of apartments are built to the right and left, with front doors of their own and suitable dining rooms and chambers, so that guests from abroad need not be shown into the peristyles, but rather into such guests' apartments. For when the Greeks be­came more luxurious, and their circumstances more opulent, they began to provide dining rooms, chambers, and store-rooms of provi­sions for their guests from abroad, and on the first day they would invite them to dinner, sending them on the next chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and other country produce. This is why artists called pictures represent­ing the things which were sent to guests "xenia." Thus, too, the heads of families, while being entertained abroad, had the feeling that they were not away from home, since they en­joyed privacy and freedom in such guests' apartments.

5. Between the two peristyles and the guests' apartments are the pass­age-ways called "mesauloe," because they are situated midway between two courts; but our people called them "andrones."

This, however, is a very strange fact, for the term does not fit either the Greek or the Latin use of it. The Greeks call the large