Museum of Antiquity Part 7

[16] It was made of the entrails of fish macerated in brine. That made from the fish called s...o...b..r was the best. This word is sometimes translated a herring, but the best authorities render it a mackerel.

It was caught, according to Pliny, in the Straits of Gibraltar, entering from the ocean, and was used for no purpose but to make garum. The best was called garum sociorum, a term of which we have seen no satisfactory explanation, and sold for 1,000 sesterces for two congii, about $20 a gallon. An inferior kind, made from the anchovy (aphya), was called alec, a name also given to the dregs of garum. "No liquid, except unguents," Pliny says, "fetched a higher price."--Hist.

Nat. x.x.xi. 43.

[17]

"Hence, seek the sty--there wallow with thy friends."

She spake. I drawing from beside my thigh My faulchion keen, with death-denouncing looks Rushed on her; she with a shrill scream of fear Ran under my raised arm, seized fast my knees, And in winged accents plaintive thus began: "Say, who art thou," etc.--Cowper's Odyss. x. 320.

[18]

She sat before him, clasped with her left hand His knees; her right beneath his chin she placed, And thus the king, Saturnian Jove, implored.--Il. i. 500.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST WALLS DISCOVERED IN POMPEII.]

[Page Decoration]

AMUs.e.m.e.nTS.

The amphitheatre stands some hundred yards from the theatres, in the south-eastern angle of the walls of the town. Although, perhaps, of Etruscan origin, the exhibitions of the amphitheatre are so peculiarly Roman, and Pompeii contains so many mementos of them, that a detailed account of them will not perhaps be misplaced. At an early period, B.C. 263, the practice of compelling human beings to fight for the amus.e.m.e.nt of spectators was introduced; and twelve years later the capture of several elephants in the first Punic war proved the means of introducing the chase, or rather the slaughter, of wild beasts into the Roman circus. The taste for these spectacles increased of course with its indulgence, and their magnificence with the wealth of the city and the increasing facility and inducement to practice bribery which was offered by the increased extent of provinces subject to Rome. It was not, however, until the last period of the republic, or rather until the domination of the emperors had collected into one channel the tributary wealth which previously was divided among a numerous aristocracy, that buildings were erected solely for the accommodation of gladiatorial shows; buildings entirely beyond the compa.s.s of a subject's wealth, and in which perhaps the magnificence of imperial Rome is most amply displayed. Numerous examples scattered throughout her empire, in a more or less advanced state of decay, still attest the luxury and solidity of their construction; while at Rome the Coliseum (see frontispiece) a.s.serts the pre-eminent splendor of the metropolis--a monument surpa.s.sed in magnitude by the Pyramids alone, and as superior to them in skill and varied contrivance of design as to other buildings in its gigantic magnitude.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF THE AMPHITHEATRE AT POMPEII.]

The Greek word, which by a slight alteration of its termination we render amphitheatre, signifies a theatre, or place of spectacles, forming a continuous inclosure, in opposition to the simple theatre, which, as we have said, was semicircular, but with the seats usually continued somewhat in advance of the diameter of the semicircle. The first amphitheatre seems to have been that of Curio, consisting of two movable theatres, which could be placed face to face or back to back, according to the species of amus.e.m.e.nt for which they were required.

Usually, gladiatorial shows were given in the Forum, and the chase and combats of wild beasts exhibited in the Circus, where once, when Pompey was celebrating games, some enraged elephants broke through the barrier which separated them from the spectators. This circ.u.mstance, together with the unsuitableness of the Circus for such sports, from its being divided into two compartments by the spina, a low wall surmounted by pillars, obelisks, and other ornamental erections, as well as from its disproportionate length, which rendered it ill adapted to afford a general view to all the spectators, determined Julius Caesar, in his dictators.h.i.+p, to construct a wooden theatre in the Campus Martius, built especially for hunting, "which was called amphitheatre (apparently the first use of the word) because it was encompa.s.sed by circular seats without a scene."

The first permanent amphitheatre was built partly of stone and partly of wood, by Statilius Taurus, at the instigation of Augustus, who was pa.s.sionately fond of these sports, especially of the hunting of rare beasts. This was burnt during the reign of Nero, and though restored, fell short of the wishes of Vespasian, who commenced the vast structure completed by his son t.i.tus--called the Flavian Amphitheatre, and subsequently the Coliseum. The expense of this building it is said would have sufficed to erect a capital city, and, if we may credit Dion, 9,000 wild beasts were destroyed in its dedication. Eutropius restricts the number to 5,000. When the hunting was over the arena was filled with water, and a sea-fight ensued.

The construction of these buildings so much resembles the construction of theatres, that it will not be necessary to describe them at any great length. Without, they usually presented to the view an oval wall, composed of two or more stories of arcades, supported by piers of different orders of architecture adorned with pilasters or attached pillars. Within, an equal number of stories of galleries gave access to the spectators at different elevations, and the inclined plane of the seats was also supported upon piers and vaults, so that the ground plan presented a number of circular rows of piers, arranged in radii converging to the centre of the arena. A suitable number of doors opened upon the ground floor, and pa.s.sages from thence, intersecting the circular pa.s.sages between the piers, gave an easy access to every part of the building. Sometimes a gallery encompa.s.sed the whole, and served as a common access to all the stairs which led to the upper stories. This was the case in the amphitheatre at Nismes.

Sometimes each staircase had its distinct communication from without: this was the case at Verona.

The arrangement of the seats was the same as in theatres; they were divided horizontally by praecinctiones, and vertically into cunei by staircases. The scene and apparatus of the stage was of course wanting, and its place occupied by an oval area, called arena, from the sand with which it was sprinkled, to absorb the blood shed, and give a firmer footing than that afforded by a stone pavement. It was sunk twelve or fifteen feet below the lowest range of seats, to secure the spectators from injury, and was besides fenced with round wooden rollers turning in their sockets, placed horizontally against the wall, such as the reader may have observed placed on low gates to prevent dogs from climbing over, and with strong nets. In the time of Nero these nets were knotted with amber, and the Emperor Carinus caused them to be made of golden cord or wire. Sometimes, for more complete security, ditches, called _euripi_, surrounded the arena.

This was first done by Caesar, as a protection to the people against the elephants which he exhibited, that animal being supposed to be particularly afraid of water. The arena was sometimes spread with pounded stone. Caligula, in a fit of extravagance, used chrysocolla; and Nero, to surpa.s.s him, caused the brilliant red of cinnabar to be mixed with it.

In the centre of the arena was an altar dedicated sometimes to Diana or Pluto, more commonly to Jupiter Latiaris, the protector of Latium, in honor of whom human sacrifices were offered. Pa.s.sages are to be found in ancient writers, from which it is inferred that the games of the amphitheatre were usually opened by sacrificing a _bestiarius_, one of those gladiators whose profession was to combat wild beasts, in honor of this bloodthirsty deity. Beneath the arena dens are supposed to have been constructed to contain wild beasts.

At the Coliseum numerous underground buildings are said by Fulvius to have existed, which he supposed to be sewers constructed to drain and cleanse the building. Others with more probability have supposed them to be the dens of wild beasts. Immense accommodation was requisite to contain the thousands of animals which were slaughtered upon solemn occasions, but no great provision need have been made to carry off the rain-water which fell upon the six acres comprised within the walls of the building. Others again have supposed them formed to introduce the vast bodies of water by which the arena was suddenly transformed into a lake when imitations of naval battles were exhibited. Doors pierced in the wall which supported the podium communicated with these, or with other places of confinement beneath the part allotted to the audience, which being thrown open, vast numbers of animals could be introduced at once. Vopiscus tells us that a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, and a thousand boars were thrown into the arena at once by the Emperor Probus. Sometimes, to astonish, and attract by novelty, the arena was converted into a wood. "Probus," says the same author, "exhibited a splendid hunting match, after the following manner: Large trees torn up by the roots were firmly connected by beams, and fixed upright; then earth was spread over the roots, so that the whole circus was planted to resemble a wood, and offered us the gratification of a green scene."

The same order of precedence was observed as at the theatre--senators, knights, and commons having each their appropriate place. To the former was set apart the podium, a broad precinction or platform which ran immediately round the arena. Hither they brought the curule seats or bisellia, described in speaking of the theatres of Pompeii; and here was the suggestus, a covered seat appropriated to the Emperor. It is supposed that in this part of the building there were also seats of honor for the exhibitor of the games and the vestal virgins. If the podium was insufficient for the accommodation of the senators, some of the adjoining seats were taken for their use. Next to the senators sat the knights, who seem here, as in the theatre, to have had fourteen rows set apart for them; and with them sat the civil and military tribunes. Behind were the popularia, or seats of the plebeians.

Different tribes had particular cunei allotted to them. There were also some further internal arrangements, for Augustus separated married from unmarried men, and a.s.signed a separate cuneus to youths, near whom their tutors were stationed. Women were stationed in a gallery, and attendants and servants in the highest gallery. The general direction of the amphitheatre was under the care of an officer named _villicus amphitheatri_. Officers called _locarii_ attended to the distribution of the people, and removed any person from a seat which he was not ent.i.tled to hold. We may notice, as a refinement of luxury, that concealed conduits were carried throughout these buildings, from which scented liquids were scattered over the audience. Sometimes the statues which ornamented them were applied to this purpose, and seemed to sweat perfume through minute holes, with which the pipes that traversed them were pierced. It is this to which Lucan alludes in the following lines:--

---- As when mighty Rome's spectators meet In the full theatre's capacious seat, At once, by secret pipes and channels fed, Rich tinctures gush from every antique head; At once ten thousand saffron currents flow, And rain their odors on the crowd below.

Rowe's _Lucan_, book ix.

Saffron was the material usually employed for these refres.h.i.+ng showers. The dried herb was infused in wine, more especially in sweet wine. Balsams and the more costly unguents were sometimes employed for the same purpose.

Another contrivance, too remarkable to be omitted in a general account of amphitheatres, is the awning by which spectators were protected from the overpowering heat of an Italian sun. This was called Velum, or Velarium; and it has afforded matter for a good deal of controversy, how a temporary covering could be extended over the vast areas of these buildings. Something of the kind was absolutely necessary, for the spectacle often lasted for many hours, and when anything extraordinary was expected the people went in crowds before daylight to obtain places, and some even at midnight.

The Campanians first invented the means of stretching awnings over their theatres, by means of cords stretched across the cavea and attached to masts which pa.s.sed through perforated blocks of stone deeply bedded in the wall. Quintus Catulus introduced them at Rome when he celebrated games at the dedication of the Capitol, B.C. 69.

Lentulus Spinther, a contemporary of Cicero, first erected fine linen awnings (carbasina vela). Julius Caesar covered over the whole Forum Romanum, and the Via Sacra, from his own house to the Capitol, which was esteemed even more wonderful than his gladiatorial exhibition. Dio mentions a report that these awnings were of silk, but he speaks doubtfully; and it is scarcely probable that even Caesar's extravagance would have carried him so far. Silk at that time was not manufactured at Rome; and we learn from Vopiscus, that even in the time of Aurelian the raw material was worth its weight in gold. Lucretius, speaking of the effect of colored bodies upon transmitted light, has a fine pa.s.sage ill.u.s.trative of the magnificence displayed in this branch of theatrical decoration.

This the crowd surveys Oft in the theatre, whose awnings broad, Bedecked with crimson, yellow, or the tint Of steel cerulean, from their fluted heights Wave tremulous; and o'er the scene beneath, Each marble statue, and the rising rows Of rank and beauty, fling their tint superb, While as the walls with ampler shade repel The garish noonbeam, every object round Laughs with a deeper dye, and wears profuse A lovelier l.u.s.tre, ravished from the day.

Wool, however, was the most common material, and the velaria made in Apulia were most esteemed, on account of the whiteness of the wool.

Those who are not acquainted by experience with the difficulty of giving stability to tents of large dimensions, and the greater difficulty of erecting awnings, when, on account of the purpose for which they are intended, no support can be applied in the centre, may not fully estimate the difficulty of erecting and managing these velaria. Strength was necessary, both for the cloth itself and for the cords which strained and supported it, or the whole would have been s.h.i.+vered by the first gust of wind, and strength could not be obtained without great weight. Many of our readers probably are not aware, that however short and light a string may be, no amount of tension applied horizontally will stretch it into a line perfectly and mathematically straight. Practically the deviation is imperceptible where the power applied is very large in proportion to the weight and length of the string. Still it exists; and to take a common example, the reader probably never saw a clothes-line stretched out, though neither the weight nor length of the string are considerable, without the middle being visibly lower than the ends. When the line is at once long and heavy, an enormous power is required to suspend it even in a curve between two points; and the amount of tension, and difficulty of finding materials able to withstand it, are the only obstacles to constructing chain bridges which should be thousands, instead of hundreds of feet in length.

In these erections the piers are raised to a considerable height, that a sufficient depth may be allowed for the curve of the chains without depressing the roadway. Ten times--a hundred times the power which was applied to strain them into that shape would not suffice to bring them even so near to a horizontal line but that the most inaccurate and un.o.bservant eye should at once detect the inequality in their level; and the chains themselves would probably give way before such a force as this could be applied to them. The least diameter of the Coliseum is nearly equal in length to the Menai bridge; and if the labor of stretching cords over the one seems small in comparison with that of raising the ponderous chains of the other, we may take into consideration the weight of cloth which those cords supported, and the increase of difficulties arising from the action of the wind on so extensive a surface.

In boisterous weather, as we learn from Martial and other authors, these difficulties were so great that the velum could not be spread.

When this was the case the Romans used broad hats, or a sort of parasol, which was called _umbella_ or _umbraculum_, from _umbra_, shade. We may add, in conclusion, that Suctonius mentions as one of Caligula's tyrannical extravagances, that sometimes at a show of gladiators, when the sun's heat was most intense, he would cause the awning to be drawn back, and, at the same time, forbid any person to leave the place.

The difficulty of the undertaking has given rise to considerable discussion as to the means by which the Romans contrived to extend the velum at such a height over so great a surface, and to manage it at pleasure. Sailors were employed in the service, for the Emperor Commodus, who piqued himself on his gladiatorial skill, and used to fight in the arena, believing himself mocked by the servile crowd of spectators, when once they hailed him with divine honors, gave order for their slaughter by the sailors who were managing the veils.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLISEUM OF ROME.]

Concerning the method of working them no information has been handed down. It is evident, however, that they were supported by masts which rose above the summit of the walls. Near the top of the outer wall of the Coliseum there are 240 consoles, or projecting blocks of stone, in which holes are cut to receive the ends of spars, which ran up through holes cut in the cornice to some height above the greatest elevation of the building. A sufficient number of firm points of support at equal intervals was thus procured; and, this difficulty being overcome, the next was to stretch as tight as possible the larger ropes, upon which the whole covering depended for its stability.

The games to which these buildings were especially devoted were, as we have already hinted, two-fold--those in which wild beasts were introduced, to combat either with each other or with men, and those in which men fought with men. Under the general term of gladiators are comprised all who fought in the arena, though those who pitted their skill against the strength and ferocity of savage animals were peculiarly distinguished by the name of _bestiarii_. In general these unhappy persons were slaves or condemned criminals, who, by adopting this profession, purchased an uncertain prolongation of existence, but freemen sometimes gained a desperate subsistence by thus hazarding their lives; and in the decline of Rome, knights, senators, and even the emperors sometimes appeared in the arena, at the instigation of a vulgar and degrading thirst for popular applause.

The origin of these b.l.o.o.d.y entertainments may be found in the earliest records of profane history and the earliest stages of society. Among half-civilized or savage nations, both ancient and modern, we find it customary after a battle to sacrifice prisoners of war in honor of those chiefs who have been slain. Thus Achilles offers up twelve young Trojans to the ghost of Patroclus. In course of time it became usual to sacrifice slaves at the funeral of all persons of condition; and either for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the spectators, or because it appeared barbarous to ma.s.sacre defenceless men, arms were placed in their hands, and they were incited to save their own lives by the death of those who were opposed to them.

In later times, the furnis.h.i.+ng these unhappy men became matter of speculation, and they were carefully trained to the profession of arms, to increase the reputation and popularity of the contractor who provided them. This person was called _lanista_ by the Romans. At first these sports were performed about the funeral pile of the deceased, or near his sepulchre, in consonance with the idea of sacrifice in which they originated; but as they became more splendid, and ceased to be peculiarly appropriated to such occasions, they were removed, originally to the Forum, and afterwards to the Circus and amphitheatres.

Gladiators were first exhibited at Rome, B.C. 265, by M. and D.

Brutus, on occasion of the death of their father. This show consisted only of three pairs. B.C. 216, the three sons of M. aemilius Lepidus, the augur, entertained the people in the Forum with eleven pair, and the show lasted three days. B.C. 201, the three sons of M. Valerius Laevinus exhibited twenty-five pairs. And thus these shows increased in number and frequency, and the taste for them strengthened with its gratification, until not only the heir of any rich or eminent person lately deceased, but all the princ.i.p.al magistrates, and the candidates for magistracies, presented the people with shows of this nature to gain their favor and support.

This taste was not without its inconveniences and dangers. Men of rank and political importance kept _families_, as they were called, of gladiators--desperadoes ready to execute any command of their master; and towards the fall of the republic, when party rage scrupled not to have recourse to open violence, questions of the highest import were debated in the streets of the city by the most despised of its slaves.

In the conspiracy of Catiline so much danger was apprehended from them, that particular measures were taken to prevent their joining the disaffected party; an event the more to be feared because of the desperate war in which they had engaged the republic a few years before, under the command of the celebrated Spartacus. At a much later period, at the triumph of Probus, A.D. 281, about fourscore gladiators exhibited a similar courage. Disdaining to shed their blood for the amus.e.m.e.nt of a cruel people, they killed their keepers, broke out from the place of their confinement, and filled the streets of Rome with blood and confusion. After an obstinate resistance they were cut to pieces by the regular troops.

The oath which they took upon entering the service is preserved by Petronius, and is couched in these terms: "We swear, after the dictation of Eumolpus, to suffer death by fire, bonds, stripes, and the sword; and whatever else Eumolpus may command, as true gladiators we bind ourselves body and mind to our master's service."

From slaves and freedmen the inhuman sport at length spread to persons of rank and fortune, insomuch that Augustus was obliged to issue an edict, that none of senatorial rank should become gladiators; and soon after he laid a similar restraint on the knights.

Succeeding emperors, according to their characters, encouraged or endeavored to suppress this degrading taste. Nero is related to have brought upwards of four hundred senators and six hundred knights upon the arena; and in some of his exhibitions even women of quality contended publicly. The excellent Marcus Aurelius not only retrenched the enormous expenses of these amus.e.m.e.nts, but ordered that gladiators should contend only with blunt weapons. But they were not abolished until some time after the introduction of Christianity. Constantine published the first edict which condemned the shedding of human blood, and ordered that criminals condemned to death should rather be sent to the mines than reserved for the service of the amphitheatre. In the reign of Honorius, when he was celebrating with magnificent games the retreat of the Goths and the deliverance of Rome, an Asiatic monk, by name Telemachus, had the boldness to descend into the arena to part the combatants. "The Romans were provoked by this interruption of their pleasures, and the rash monk was overwhelmed under a shower of stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they respected the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honors of martyrdom, and they submitted without a murmur to the laws of Honorius, which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre." This occurred A.D. 404. It was not, however, until the year 500 that the practice was finally and completely abolished by Theodoric.

Some time before the day appointed for the spectacle, he who gave it (_editor_) published bills containing the name and ensigns of the gladiators, for each of them had his own distinctive badge, and stating also how many were to fight, and how long the show would last.

It appears that like our itinerant showmen they sometimes exhibited paintings of what the sports were to contain. On the appointed day the gladiators marched in procession with much ceremony into the amphitheatre. They then separated into pairs, as they had been previously matched. An engraving on the wall of the amphitheatre at Pompeii seems to represent the beginning of a combat. In the middle stands the arbiter of the fight, marking out with a long stick the s.p.a.ce for the combatants. On his right stands a gladiator only half armed, to whom two others are bringing a sword and helmet. On the left another gladiator, also only partly armed, sounds the trumpet for the commencement of the fight; whilst behind him two companions, at the foot of one of the Victories which enclose the scene, are preparing his helmet and s.h.i.+eld.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EXAMINING THE WOUNDED.]