Lectus medius.
+--------------------------------+----------------+
Chief  |                                |                |
Guest  |                                |                | Lectus
|                                |                | Summus
+-----------------+--------------+                |
H      |                 |              |                |
|                 |              |                |
Lectus |                 | Mensa        |                |
Imus   |                 |              |                |
|                 +--------------+                |
|                 |              +----------------+
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
|                 |
+-----------------+

PLAN OF A TRICLINIUM.

will show this sufficiently without elaborate description; but it is necessary to notice that the host always or almost always occupied the couch marked H on the plan, while the one immediately above him, i.e.  No. 3 of the lectus medius, was reserved for the most important guest, and called lectus consularis.  Plutarch’s account, and a little consideration, will show that the host was thus well placed for the superintendence of the meal, as well as for conversation with his distinguished guest; and that the latter occupied what Plutarch calls a free corner, so that any messengers or other persons needing to see him could get access to him without disturbing the party.[445] The number that could be accommodated, nine, was not only a sacred and lucky one, but exactly suited for convenience of conversation and attendance.  Larger parties were not unheard of, even under the Republic, and Vitruvius tells us that some dining-rooms were fitted with three or more triclinia; but to put more than three guests on a single couch, and so increase the number, was not thought courteous or well-bred.  Among the points of bad breeding which Cicero attributes to his enemy Calpurnius Piso, the consul of 58, one was that he put five guests to recline on a single couch, while himself occupying one alone; so Horace: 

  Saepe tribus lectis videas cenare quaternos.[446]

As the guests were made so comfortable, it may be supposed that they were not in a hurry to depart; the mere fact that they were reclining instead of sitting would naturally dispose them to stay.  The triclinia were open at one end, i.e. not shut up as our dining-rooms are, and the air would not get close and “dinnery.”  Cicero describes old Cato[447] (no doubt from some passage in Cato’s writings) as remaining in conversation at dinner until late at night.  The guests would arrive with their slaves, who took off their walking shoes, if they had come on foot, and put on their sandals (soleae):  each wore a festive dress (synthesis), of Greek origin like the other features of the entertainment, and there was no question of changing these again in a hurry.  Nothing can better show the difference between the old Roman manners and the new than the character of these parties; they are the leisurely and comfortable rendezvous of an opulent and educated society, in which politics, literature or philosophy could be discussed with much self-satisfaction.  That such discussion did not go too deeply into hard questions was perhaps the result of the comfort.