The foyer was lit by a hanging lamp, its flames reflected in the polished marble walls and floor. I stepped closer to the shimmering red curtains, fascinated by them. "Do you know what these are, Eco?

These must be the famous Attalic draperies. There's genuine gold thread in them. To see them by firelight, you'd think the fabric was woven of flames!"

I should explain that the house of Publius Clodius, and its furnishings, had a brief but remarkable history. The original owner had been Marcus Scaurus, who began building the house six years before. That was the same year that Scaurus was elected aedile, and was thus obliged, at his own expense, to entertain the masses with theatrical productions during the autumn festivals. Following the age-old tradition, Scaurus constructed a temporary theatre on the Field of Mars outside the city walls. Two years later Pompey would build the first permanent theatre in Rome – Roman children would grow up thinking nothing of such Greek decadence in their midst – but Scaurus's theatre was built to stand for only a season.

I have been to many cities and seen many remarkable buildings, but never the like of Scaurus's theatre. There were seats for 80,000 people. The enormous stage was three storeys high, supported by 360 marble columns. Between these columns and tucked in various niches throughout the building there were a total of 3,000 bronze statues. These outlandish numbers were talked about until everyone knew them by heart, and they were not exaggerations; in slack moments during the plays, gawkers would count the columns and statues out loud while the poor actors emoted to no avail, upstaged by the decor.