The audience chamber was of no extraordinary size, perhaps one-quarter as large as the peristyle of Esmo's dwelling.

Along the emerald walls ran a series of friezes wrought in gold, representing various scenes of peace and war, agricultural, judicial, and political; as well as incidents which, I afterwards learnt, preserved the memory of the long struggles wherein the Communists were finally overthrown.

The lower half of the room was empty, the upper was occupied by a semicircle of seats forming part of the building itself and directly facing the entrance.

These took up about one-third of the space, the central floor being divided from the upper portion of the room by a low wall of metal surmounted by arches supporting the roof and hung with drapery, which might be so lowered as to conceal the whole occupied part of the chamber.

The seats rose in five tiers, one above the other.