To the right of the oecus, at the end of the court, is half hidden a smaller and less obtrusive apartment, probably an exedra.  On the right wing of the peristyle, on the last range, recedes the triclinium.  The word signifies triple bed; three beds in fine, ranged in horse-shoe order, occupied this apartment, which served as a dining-room.  It is well known that the ancients took their meals in a reclining attitude and resting on their elbows.  This Carthaginian custom, imported by the Punic wars, had become established everywhere, even at Pompeii.  The ancients said “make the beds,” instead of “lay the table.”

To the right of the peristyle on the first range, glides a corridor receding toward a private door that opens on a small side street.  This was the posticum, by which the master of the house evaded the importunate visitors who filled the atrium.  This method of escaping bores was called postico fallere clientem.  It was a device that must have been familiar to rich persons who were beset every morning by a throng of petitioners and hangers-on.

The left side of the peristyle was occupied by three bedchambers, and by the kitchen, which was hidden at the end, to the left of the oecus.  This kitchen, like most of the others, has its fireplaces and ovens still standing.  They contained ashes and even coal when they were discovered, not to mention the cooking utensils in terra cotta and in bronze.  Upon the walls were painted two enormous serpents, sacred reptiles which protected the altar of Fornax, the culinary divinity.  Other paintings (a hare, a pig, a wild boar’s head, fish, etc.) ornamented this room adjoining which was, in the olden time among the Pompeians, as to-day among the Neapolitans, the most ignoble retreat in the dwelling.  A cabinet close by served for a pantry, and there were found in it a large table and jars of oil ranged along on a bench.

Thus a large portico with columns, surrounding a court adorned with a marble basin (piscina); around the portico on the right, three bedchambers or cubicula; on the right, a rear door (posticum) and an eating room (triclinium); at the end, the grand saloon (oecus), between an exedra and kitchen—­such was the peristyle of Pansa.

This relatively spacious habitation had still a third depth (allow me the expression) behind the peristyle.  This was the xysta or garden, divided off into beds, and the divisions of which, when it was found, could still be seen, marked in the ashes.  Some antiquaries make it out that the xysta of Pansa was merely a kitchen garden.  Between the xysta and the peristyle was the pergula, a two-storied covered gallery, a shelter against the sun and the rain.  The occupants in their flight left behind them a handsome bronze candlestick.