DESCRIP J ION 
 
 CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 ROME; 
 
 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CIRCEN SI AN GAMES. 
 
 By the Rev. RICHARD BURGESS, 
 
 CHAPLAIN TO THE ENGLISH RESIDENTS AT GENEVA, 
 
 AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LIEUTENANT- 
 GENERAL LORD AYLMER. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXVIII. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by W. CLOWES, 
 Stamford-street. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 Circus on the Via Appia, to whom dedicated - 3 
 
 General Distribution of the parts of the Circus - - 13 
 
 Pompa Circensium - - - - 13 
 
 Sacrifices - - 20 
 
 Authorities ------- 22 
 
 The Carceres - - - - - - - -23 
 
 Oppidum and Towers - - - - - 29 
 
 Corridor and Approaches - - - - - 32 
 
 Seats -------- 34 
 
 Vaults under the Seats 38 
 
 Principal Pulvinar - -- -- - 39 
 
 Station for the Inferior Officers - - - - 42* 
 
 Principal Gate 43 
 
 Seat of the “ Editor” - 45 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Porta Libitinensis - 
 Side Entrances - 
 
 Hermuli and Ropes 
 Spatium and Arena - 
 
 Alba Linea - 
 
 Spina and its Ornaments 
 
 The Races and Charioteers 
 Factions of the Circus - 
 Dexterity of the Charioteers 
 
 Origin of the Games - 
 
 Consus 
 
 Consualia - 
 
 Allegory of the Circus, and its Games 
 
 Conclusion - 
 
 Page 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 57 
 
 59 
 
 62 
 
 83 
 
 91 
 
 94 
 
 96 
 
 97 
 
 99 
 
 100 
 
 103 
 
 Explanation of the Plates 
 
 - 107 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 
 LORD AYLMER, K.C.B., 
 
 8fc. Sfc. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 It was my original intention to 
 have written a series of Discourses on the Topo- 
 graphy and Antiquities of Rome ; nor is the hope 
 of my being able at some time to fulfil that 
 intention entirely relinquished. 
 
 The work I now have the honour to dedicate 
 to your Lordship may be considered as a part 
 of that undertaking: but as attempting to illus- 
 trate only one object, it would have been incom- 
 
VI 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 mensurate with the generai view I intended to 
 take of ancient Rome ; — as such, I have made it 
 a separate publication. 
 
 Distinguished as your Lordship’s name appears 
 in services of a public nature, which have called 
 forth the admiration of all those who are ac- 
 quainted with them ; it is rather from the oppor- 
 tunity I have had of appreciating your virtues in 
 private life, that I asked permission to inscribe this 
 first production of my studies with your name. The 
 substance of the following pages your Lordship 
 has already had the patience to listen to, when I 
 had the honour of partaking in that society at 
 Rome which you contributed so effectually to 
 render dignified and agreeable. 
 
 I am rather apprehensive that the notes which 
 accompany this description may appear to impose 
 upon your patronage a heavier burden than it is 
 willing to bear ; and, perhaps, in a work of any 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 other nature they might have incurred the charge 
 of ostentation. The propriety, however, of citing 
 authorities in subjects relating to antiquity, is now 
 universally acknowledged; and it cannot be sup- 
 posed that a patron of literature should occupy 
 himself with the laborious researches of every 
 author. 
 
 That your Lordship may long live to enjoy 
 the honours you have so nobly acquired in the 
 service of your country, is the ardent wish of, 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship’s obedient and obliged 
 Servant and Chaplain, 
 
 RICHARD BURGESS. 
 
 Geneva ; 
 
 December 21 , 1826 . 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 
 
 Line 
 
 
 Vi. 
 
 4, 
 
 for as, read though. 
 
 1 , 
 
 4, 
 
 for antiquarian, read antiquary. 
 
 3. 
 
 13, 
 
 for (le read di. 
 
 8, 
 
 18, 
 
 for note t read note *. 
 
 8, 
 
 21, 
 
 for note * read note f. 
 
 23, 
 
 19, 
 
 for archeology read archaeology. 
 
 26, 
 
 15, 
 
 for (,) read (:)• 
 
 26, 
 
 17, 
 
 for (;) read (,). 
 
 36, 
 
 21, 
 
 for seat read set. 
 
 48, 
 
 8, 
 
 for pulverem read pulvere. 
 
 51, 
 
 6, 
 
 for Perpetuae read Perpetua. 
 
 60. 
 
 27&2S 
 
 $, for page 84, note J read page 84, note §. 
 
 90, 
 
 15, 
 
 “ ex” is omitted in the word extracted. 
 
 108, 
 
 11, 
 
 for 57 read 58. 
 
 a more effectual discovery in a few hours, than his 
 

 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • " ' i '■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... ' \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE CIRCUS. 
 
 T he study of Antiquities, at Rome, has been mate- 
 rially promoted, of late years, by the excavating of 
 the ruins, and the antiquarian has often been obliged 
 to confess that the spade of the labourer has made 
 a more effectual discovery in a few hours, than his 
 tedious researches could have effected in as many 
 years : the French, under Napoleon, restored to 
 the Colosseum its original symmetry by disinterring 
 
 B 
 
0 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the foundation arches ; they ascertained something 
 of the pristine splendour of Trajan’s Forum, and 
 rendered other objects, of no less classical interest, 
 accessible. Pius VII., restored to the peaceful 
 possession of his states, did not disdain to follow 
 the example of his enemies, and the taste has even 
 been diffused among private individuals. These 
 things, happening at a period when Rome has be- 
 come the resort of so many strangers, have almost 
 rescued the study of antiquities from the reproach 
 of tediousness and uncertainty ; and the classical 
 scholar may still expect to derive pleasure and in- 
 struction from the further discoveries which such a 
 method is likely to produce. But these researches 
 have not been confined within the walls of the city : 
 some of the towns of Latium have received their 
 share of attention, and Tusculum may even remind 
 the traveller of the streets of Pompeii. In the 
 immediate vicinity of Rome, no district has afforded 
 more encouragement to the excavator than the en- 
 virons of the Via Appia ; the Sepulchres and Co- 
 lumbaria are seldom opened in vain ; and after a 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 3 
 
 lapse of more than two thousand years, we may 
 still tread the pavement of Appius Claudius the 
 Censor. 
 
 The tomb of Caecilia Metella will be familiar to 
 the recollection of every one who has personally 
 verified these remarks : in the valley beneath it, on 
 the left side of the Via Appia, lie the ruins of a 
 Circus, at a distance of about two miles and a half 
 from the nearest point in the walls of Rome ; this 
 has always been an object of great interest to archi- 
 tects and antiquaries, but it is now rendered still 
 more so by the excavations made in it, at the 
 expense of the Duca de Bracciano, in 1825. It is 
 the object of the following pages to illustrate the 
 remains of this Circus, with a due attention to the 
 recent discoveries, and to the concurrent authorities 
 of ancient authors. 
 
 Upon the doubtful authority of a Medal, which 
 was subsequently aided by the discovery of a Statue, 
 this Circus has passed through three centuries with 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the name of Caracalla : the medal proves * that he 
 built or repaired a Circus somewhere, but his 
 statue, found at some distance from these ruins, to- 
 gether with that of Julia his mother -f-, affords no 
 evidence whatever. 
 
 * We learn from Donatus that the antiquaries adopted the name 
 from no other authority. “ Quintus et stantibus muris Circus Lateri- 
 tius Via Appia non longe ab TEde S. Sebastiani hodieque visitur, 
 quern antiquarii ascribunt Antonio Caracallse, quod in ejus numismatis 
 ea sit figura expressus. Spectatur in eo loco ingentis magnitudinis 
 jacens obeliscus, 8fc." — Donatus de Urbe Roma, lib. iii., cap. 14. 
 But it will be seen, from the impression of the Medal here given, that 
 it represents a circus with porticos round it, and therefore was, in all 
 probability, struck on some occasion of repairing the Circus Maximus ; 
 something also may be deduced from the date implied in the super- 
 scription. — Compare IMP. II. COS. Ill I., and Gibbon's History of the 
 Roman Empire, vol. i., chap, vi., § 17. 
 
 f The Statues were found in the beginning of the last century, but 
 no one seems to know, with any degree of accuracy, where they were 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 5 
 
 Panvinio was the first to insinuate that the con- 
 jecture might be wrong, and he thought the con- 
 struction was better suited to the age of Constan- 
 tine*. Fabretti, whose judgment in these cases 
 is much to be relied on, agreed with the learned 
 men of his time who assigned the Circus to Galli- 
 
 enusf It has also been imagined, by those who 
 
 would fix a still later date than either of these, that 
 the Christian Emperors, desiring to abolish gra- 
 dually the games of the Circus, transferred them 
 to a respectful distance from the converted city ; 
 others again have supposed that it was a private 
 Circus built by some wealthy citizen as an appen- 
 dage to his Villa ; such was indeed the one annexed 
 to the house of Sallust the historian, and of which 
 
 first discovered. Ficoroni, whom Signor Nibby calls a “ scrittore 
 sospetto” gives the original story. — Vestigia di Roma Antica , lib. i., 
 c. 24. Venuti’s notice of the Statues is vague enough, “ trovate verso 
 le sue [t. e. del Circo] rovine che riguardono la Via Appia.’ — Venuti, 
 Antich. di Roma, tom. ii., p. 24. 
 
 * Panvinio de Ludis Circensibus, lib. i., cap. xxiv. 
 
 f Fabretti de Aquis et Aqueductibus, Dissert, iii., § 16. ( P- 157. 
 
6 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 some remains are still visible at Home, near the 
 Salarian Gate ; this supposition receives further 
 support from the actual existence of those ruins, 
 most probably of a Villa, with which the Circus on 
 the Via Appia communicates. But, however plau- 
 sible some of these conjectures may seem, it will 
 be manifest, to any one who has an opportunity of 
 examining and comparing ruins at Rome, that this 
 can never have been the work of Caracalla * ; 
 wherever a specimen of ornament is found, it 
 exhibits a proof of the total decline of sculpture, 
 except such fragments as have clearly been taken 
 from other buildings f ; the jars, which appear 
 in the vaults for the purpose of filling up space, to 
 save materials, and to diminish the weight of the 
 
 * The curious reader may see all the arguments for establishing the 
 claims of Caracalla, spun out in the Preface to Bianconi’s work, 
 
 ‘ Descrizione de ’ Circhi, fyc but when weighed in the balance of 
 just criticism they do not amount to a single grain. 
 
 f Amongst the ruins of the Carceres are several fragments of this 
 description, particularly a piece of a cornice beautifully sculptured ; 
 any one on the spot may compare this specimen with the rude frag- 
 ments belonging to the Metac and the small Temple on the Spina. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 7 
 
 arches *, were an expedient not known to have been 
 resorted to until the fourth century ; the paintings, 
 still to be traced in one of the towers, betray a 
 rudeness of the art scarce worthy of the age of 
 Constantine -f-, and the whole differs materially, both 
 in style and magnificence, from the baths which 
 Caracalla built in the beginning of the third cen- 
 tury ; nor can the construction of those two edifices 
 be in any way assimilated so as to warrant a 
 supposition that they were built in the same age. 
 Spartianus, who enumerates the works of Caracalla, 
 
 * The idea of these jars (testa) being inserted in the walls for the 
 purpose of assisting sound, or echo, is absurd enough-did the Tomb 
 of Helena (now called the Torre Pignattara, and situated on the Via 
 Labicana,— see Nibby’s Viaggio Antiquario, vol. i., p. 246.) require 
 such an expedient P or the building near the Church of Santa Croce, 
 called the Temple of Venus and Cupid ? or, finally, the Brick Tower 
 of the Frangipani, on the top of the Arch of Janus Quadrifrons P 
 
 f This is not the opinion of the Avvocato Fea, and some others. It 
 would be an amusement to compare the style of these paintings with 
 some frescos now in the possession of the Principe Rospigliosi, which 
 -were recovered from the ruins of the Baths of Constantine, if any one 
 could obtain permission so to do. But see the Collection, entitled 
 Pieta Crypt a, Roman., tab. x., 8fc.in the Appendix. 
 
8 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 gives not the least intimation of a Circus, whilst he 
 dwells with seeming wonder on the magnificence of 
 that Emperor *. It must be confessed, in the study 
 of Roman antiquities, tradition sometimes becomes 
 the only resource of the antiquary, and may often 
 be admitted as good authority, but it is necessary 
 that such tradition should be traced to a period 
 previous to the revival of letters, or at least before 
 antiquarian controversy commenced; perhaps the 
 name given to this Circus arose out of some such 
 disputation f, and as it can hardly be traced back 
 for three centuries +, it will not readily be admitted 
 as traditional evidence. To the reasons already 
 alleged for relinquishing it, succeeds another still 
 more convincing, afforded by the late discoveries. 
 Professor Nibby has composed, out of fifty-one 
 
 Spartian. in Pita Caracall ,, cap. ix. 
 f See note f, page 4. “ q U em antiquarii ascribunt, 8fc” 
 
 + 11 does not a PP ear tha t Fulvio had ever heard it called the Circus 
 of Caracalla, and he dedicated his work on Rome to Pope Clement 
 (See note , p. 77.) I do not think Biondo even notices the 
 
 ruins. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 9 
 
 fragments *, the following inscription, which seems 
 to have been placed above the gate at the east end 
 of the Circus. 
 
 DIVO ROMVLO. N. M. V f 
 COS. ORD. II FILIO 
 D. N. MAXENTII INVICT. 
 
 VI RI ET SEMP. AVG. NEPOTI 
 T. D1VI MAXIMIANI. SEN. 
 ORIS. AC BIS AVGVSTI. 
 
 * See Dissertazione del Circo, 8fc. di A. Nibby. Roma, 1 825. 
 page 8. 
 
 f It is deduced, from the authority of medals only, that Magnia 
 Urbica, the wife of Maxentius, was the mother of this Romulus, and 
 he seems to have died before the defeat and death of his father at the 
 Milvian Bridge ; the medals, aided by the newly discovered inscrip- 
 tion, will throw light on the following passage found in the Anonymous 
 Panegyric of Constantine , — “ Sancte Tibris, quondam hospitis monitor 
 /Eneae, mox Romuli conservator expositi, Tu nec falsum Romulum 
 diu vivere nec parricidam Urbis passus es enatare. The initials 
 N. M. V. are explained NOBILIS MEMORIAE VIRO, which obliges 
 the professor to explain further in what sense the title of VIR. can be 
 applied to a boy. (See Dissert, page 24, note 1.) The inscription, 
 as it stands, may be compared with the letters on a Medal of Romulus, 
 which was kindly sent to me by Sir Nicholas Trant : 
 
 The most obvious reading would be DIVO ROMVLO NOBILI VIRO 
 
10 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 The two last words are supplied from the au- 
 thority of Lactantius, who informs us that Max- 
 entius, in his embarrassment, sent the Roman purple 
 to his father in Campania, and with it the title of 
 Bis Augustus *. 
 
 Besides the fragments of which the above letters 
 are composed, there were others of a like inscrip- 
 tion, but with more names and titles apparently 
 expressed in it, found in the same spot, and which 
 probably had been placed over the other front of 
 the gate ; the only reliance, therefore, is upon the 
 accuracy of the professor, who would be careful, 
 no doubt, not to join together two or more pieces 
 without evident traces of their belonging to each 
 other. But if the discovery of this inscription 
 
 BIS CONSVLI ; and on the reverse, AETERNAE MEMORIAE. 
 ROMAE SI GNAT A, which lends its mutual aid to the inscription : yet 
 it might also be proposed to read D — R — NOSTRAE VRBIS 
 BIS, 8fc.; but consult Les Cummentaires Historiques , 8fc., par Jean 
 Tristan, tom. iii, p. 464—8. Edit. Paris, 1657 ; also, Nibby’s 
 Dissert., page 24, 8fc. 
 
 See passage quoted in Nibby’s “ Dissertazione,” p. 27, from 
 Lactantius de Mortibus Persecutorum, cap. xxvi. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 11 
 
 abolishes the title of CaracaUa, it must be allowed 
 also to have great weight in fixing the age of the 
 building; the mere circumstance of finding the 
 name of Maxentius, or even of Maximinian, leaves 
 but one question to decide * — whether the Inscrip- 
 tion is dedicatory, that is, indicative of a new work 
 begun and finished, or it was written on some occa- 
 sion of repairing the edifice. The learned Professor 
 adduces the absence of the verb as a proof of the 
 former position, and supports his argument by the 
 examples of several Inscriptions still to be read on 
 monuments existing at Rome + ; besides this, in no 
 part of the building is there any appearance of its 
 
 * I have heard another question, which is rather cruel —whether 
 this inscription might not have belonged to a Sepulchral Monument ! 
 Fabretti certainly found one of this nature employed in the building, 
 with the letters inverted : — 
 
 ZOSIMI. L. IVLI RVFFI 
 VICCIANA. 
 
 See Fabretti Inscrip., cap. vii., No. 358, 
 
 f Of the first class, the Arches of Titus, of Septimius Severus, and 
 Constantine; of the second, the Pantheon, the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, 
 the Portico of Octavia, and the Temple of Fortune.— See Dissert., p. 10. 
 
12 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 ever having been repaired. That the Circus on the 
 Via Appia is not the work of Caracalla, is a con- 
 clusion that might have been drawn even without 
 the aid of the Inscription. That it was dedicated 
 by Maxentius, and consequently erected in the age 
 of Constantine, is not so satisfactorily proved ; but 
 it is the most probable account that has ever yet 
 been given of it *. 
 
 Fortunately, however, for the view it is here 
 proposed to take of these ruins, the name becomes 
 of little importance ; we shall assume one indisput- 
 able fact, that these are the remains of a Roman 
 Circus, and accordingly proceed to examine them 
 
 * Since this dissertation was written, I am informed that the ancient 
 inscription, mentioned at page 9, and also a modern one comme- 
 morating the recent excavations, have been erected under the arch of 
 the principal gate of the Circus. The modern inscription is as 
 follows : — 
 
 IOHANNES . TORLONIA . DVX . BRACCIANI . 
 
 SPINAM . CARCERES . PVLVINAR . ET PORTAM 
 CIRCI . DIVI . ROMVLI . MAXENTII . AVG . F . 
 
 SVMPTV . PROPRIO . EFFODIENDAM . CVRAVIT . 
 
 ANNO . MDCCCXXV . 
 
 CVR . AGENTE. ANTONIO , NIBBY. VINC . F . PROF . ARCHAEOL . 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 13 
 
 minutely, with a view to illustrating an essential 
 branch of the manners of antiquity. 
 
 The general idea of the Circus may be compre- 
 hended in four Distributions of its Parts : viz., the 
 Carceres, or places where the chariots were restrained 
 until the signal given for starting ; the Cavea , or 
 fabric constructed for the seats of the spectators *, 
 with the approaches to them ; the Spatium, or 
 Arena, being the whole flat inclosed by the walls ; 
 and the Spina, or Ridge , consisting of a low wall 
 which divides two-thirds of the length of the Arena 
 into two parts, and round which the chariots ran : 
 — these four principal parts of the Circus will 
 develop themselves in the detail. 
 
 The Games of the Circus were preceded by a 
 
 * Cavea, (auctore Servio in viii. .ffineid.) dicitur ubi populus spectat. 
 Plautus in Amphit. 
 
 £ ‘ Ut conquisitores singuli in subsellia eant per totam caveain. 
 
 — See Jul. Ccbs. Bulenger, De Circo Romano, Sfc., cap. xxxn. 
 
14 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 grand Procession called the Pompa. In the city it 
 issued forth from the Capitol, led on by the chief 
 magistrates, and moved through the Forum to the 
 Circus Maximus. First in the train went com- 
 panies of boys approaching the age of manhood * ; 
 those whose fathers were of the rank of knights, 
 according to the census, sat on horses, and they 
 who had not that privilege went on foot ; a distri- 
 bution was made of them all into classes and troops, 
 to represent the civil and military hopes of the 
 rising generation. After the boys followed the 
 charioteers, conducting respectively their chariots, 
 drawn by four, and by two horses, with others who 
 managed single horses free from the yokef. Next 
 
 * In all processions preparatory to theatrical shows, boys of that 
 age, clothed with pretty tunics, and armed with swords, shields, and 
 helmets, led the way, and were called •jroy.rrn; kyiyoon ; ; and, as if that 
 ceremony had been invented by the Lydians, they were called by the 
 Romans “ Ludiones .” — See Diony. Halicarn. de Antiq. Roma, lib. ii., 
 p. 130. Oxford edit. 1704. 
 
 f rob; aZ,i.uKrob; 'inrzfov; ixauvovris — the historian seems here to 
 designate the “ equi desultorii'' Men on horseback, accompanying 
 the chariots in the race, are frequently seen represented on has- 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 15 
 
 came the Wrestlers, the Pugilists, and the Runners, 
 called by the general name of Athleta; these men 
 were all naked except their loins, a circumstance 
 which leads Dionysius into some discussion on the 
 origin of Greek and Roman customs, but which it 
 is not necessary here to follow *. After the Ath- 
 letse came a number of Dancers called “ the armed 
 dancing troop *j* they were divided into three 
 
 reliefs — but in the Pompa they probably led their horses. For a 
 further account of them, seep. 84, and notes , and comp. Suet, in Julio, 
 cap. xxxix. 
 
 * Previous to the 15th Olympiad, i. e. near a century before the 
 foundation of Rome, it was thought disgraceful for the Athletse to 
 appear without the ^lu^Mfiocra . ; and Acanthus, the Lacedemonian, was 
 the first who broke througli the custom. It did not escape the notice 
 of Thucydides — that the more savage practice should succeed to the 
 more civilized. — Comp. Diony. Halicar. lib. vii., cap. 71. and Thucyd. 
 lib. i., p. 3, Stephan, edit. 1564. 
 
 f iv ovXois i. e. Armata Saltatio ; this was called among 
 
 the Greeks the Pyrrhic dance, either because it was invented by 
 Minerva, who led the chorus of the armed dancers after the defeat of 
 the Titans, and danced in armour, or because it was instituted by the 
 inhabitants of the island of Crete when they drowned the cries of the 
 young Jupiter. — Diony s. Halicar. lib. vii., fyc.; see also Panvinio “ de 
 Ludis, 8fc.” in art. “ Pyrrhica Saltatio quid?" or Grcevius, tom.ix., 
 p. 346, edit. 1699. 
 
16 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 companies, the first consisting of men, the second 
 of grown-up youths, and the third of boys ; and 
 they were attended by the Tibicines , playing on 
 small short pipes, and by the harpers and lyrists, 
 striking their instruments of seven strings, and 
 playing on the lute; each of the Choruses was 
 headed by one man, beating time, and inspiring, by 
 the violence * of his gestures, the sentiments of war. 
 To the armed Choruses of Dancers succeeded troops 
 of Satyrists dancing and singing in an ancient Gre- 
 cian fashion — some of these grotesque figures were 
 to represent Sileni, and others Satyrs, and they 
 were permitted every license for the purpose of ex- 
 citing laughter among the spectators. Behind them 
 followed a great number of Harpers and Pipers; 
 after whom were carried the golden and silver 
 
 * This dance was called 'Sikivvi;, and, according to Athenseus, seems 
 to have had its name from Sicinnius, a certain barbarian, who invented 
 it. Even at the funerals of distinguished persons, Dionysius says, 
 he had seen those choruses of Satyrists, (“ itbov crarv^x; xo^us 
 xiMspivas tjjv ogxno’w »»*)»,”) and he thinks that the license, granted 
 to the people in a triumph, to say what they pleased, is derived from 
 this custom. — See note 1, in Grcevius, vol. ix., page 347. 
 
and of the circensian games. 
 
 17 
 
 censers, whether consecrated or dedicated to the 
 public service*. Last in the Pompa were carried 
 the images of the Gods on men’s shoulders. Greek 
 statues, with their proper costume, were generally 
 preferred: the first places were assigned to Jupitei, 
 Juno, Minerva, Neptune y, and the rest of those 
 which the Greeks number amongst their twelve 
 great deities J ; also those from whom the twelve 
 
 * Panvinio (Jib. i., cap. vii., art. 8.) adds, that they burnt incense 
 and perfumes by the way : if so, this was another instance in which 
 the Pompa Circensium resembled a modern procession. 
 
 Macrobius informs us, that the streets, through which the Pompa 
 passed, were covered with sheets ; this custom was instituted after a 
 child had once peeped into the sacred casket, “ area,” and told the 
 secret contents to its father : some find, in these circumstances, the 
 etymology of the word “ velabrum but it will be easier to trace in 
 it the origin of the ceremony observed in Roman Catholic countries, 
 viz., that of covering the windows and streets with sheets, where the 
 host has to pass. — Compare Macrobius, lib. i. in Saturn, cap.vi., and 
 Plutarch in Romulo, and Ovid. Amor. Hi., Eleg. xiii., ver. 12. 
 
 + Neptune was once in disgrace with Augustus for having suffered 
 him to be shipwrecked ; he punished the god by taking away his 
 statue from the Pompa.— See Sueton. in Vit. August., and compare 
 Ovid. Amor. Hi., Eleg. ii., v. 47 . 
 
 t “ Quis est enirn,” exclaims the indignant Arnobius, “ qui Deum 
 ilium fuisse credat, qui currentibus frustra delectaretur equuleis, 
 evocarique se genere hoc ludicri jucundissimuin duceret!’ Arnob. 
 adversus gentes, lib. vii. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 deities are fabled to have sprung, as Saturn, 
 Ops, Themis, Latona, Mnemosyne, together with 
 the rest of those whose temples were in Greece. 
 Next succeeded those who were supposed to be after 
 the time of Jupiter, as Proserpine, the Nymphs, 
 Muses, the Hours, Graces, &c. ; and the Demi- 
 gods, as Hercules, JEsculapius, the Castors, whose 
 souls, loosened from the bonds of the body, had 
 ascended to Heaven, and received like honours with 
 the Gods. 
 
 In this brief sketch of the Pompa, we have confined 
 ourselves to the description of Dionysius * ; but it 
 would be easy to crowd the procession with victims 
 for sacrifice and priests, with vehicles for conveying 
 the ornaments of the Gods, called Thensce f, with 
 
 * Vide De Antiquit. Romre, lib.vii., cap. 71, 72. 
 
 t From the collection of passages made by Panvinio and his com- 
 mentators, ( apud Grcevium, tom. ix., p. 358.) it may be deduced, that 
 the Thensa was properly a cover, whether so fixed as to be used for 
 a canopy, or merely to spread over a seat or chair of state. When it 
 was taken in the former acceptation, probably the vehicle to which 
 it was fixed, also took the name of Thensa ; but a ferculum in the 
 Pompa, was a portable conveyance for a statue, borne on men’s 
 shoulders ; and perhaps, the greatest state in which a statue could 
 be carried was, when placed on a ferculum with a thensa held over 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 19 
 
 Fercula * for bearing aloft the various ensigns 
 of office and religion, and with Armamaxce or 
 Chariots for parading the instruments of war, 
 — all of which is minutely described by the la- 
 bours of Panvinio and Bulengerf. The proces- 
 sion, led on by the chief magistrates, entered the 
 Circus by a gate in the middle of the Carceres , 
 reserved for the occasion and which might, there- 
 fore, be called the P orta Pompce. The appearance 
 of the ceremonial train seems to have imposed a re- 
 
 it. J ulius Caesar was vain enough to accept this honour for his statue, 
 on which Suetonius remarks, “ sed ampliora etiam humano fastigio 
 decerni passus est, sedem auream in curia, et pro tribunali, thensam et 
 ferculum in Circensi Pompa.” — Suet, in Vit.Jul. Cces., cap. 76. — The 
 ferculum of Romulus, on which he suspended the arms of King Acron, 
 was the trunk of an oak tree. — See Plutarch in Romulo, and Livy , 
 lib. 1., c. 10. ; but I have endeavoured to preserve the explanation of 
 Festus. — See Sex. Pom ., Festus, lib. xviii. 
 
 * Vide note above. 
 
 t De Ludis Circen., lib. xi., cap. 2., and Bulenger de Circo Rom., 
 fyc. cap. xxxviii. Their authority for the Armamaxce seems to be 
 derived from Tertullian . De Spectaculis. 
 
 J It was, in all probability, used for no other purpose. 
 
 Ostia quot pro parte aperit stridentia Circus, 
 
 Excepto medium quod patet ad Stadium. 
 
 Ausonius, Epist. xviii. ad Ursulum. But Sec Note J, p. 89. 
 
20 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 spectful silence upon the spectators assembled* * * § , 
 and the length of the ceremony sometimes wearied 
 their patience f ; the procession moved slowly round 
 the Spina and thus the Pompa finished. 
 
 The usual Sacrifices then commenced upon the 
 Spina § : first the Priests washed their hands, and 
 caused the victims to be sprinkled with pure water. 
 After some prayers, addressed, as is most probable, 
 to the Gods supposed to preside over the Games, 
 the order was given for proceeding with the immo- 
 lation : one struck the head of the victim whilst 
 standing, and others applied the knives to the throat 
 as it fell ; they took off the skin and cut the body 
 
 * Sed jam Pompa venit, linguisque animisque favete : 
 
 Tempus adest plausus, aurea Pompa venit. 
 
 Ovid,., lib. Hi., Amor., Eleg. ii., ver. 43. 
 
 Vid eetiamidem, Amor. Hi., Eleg.xiii., v. 29. 
 
 f Sed jam non sustineo vos morari . . Scio quam sit odiosa Circen- 
 sibus pompa. — M. Seneca in Preef. Controv. (in fine.) 
 
 | Circus Maximus dictus * * et quod ibi circum metas fertur 
 pompa, et equi currunt. — M. Varro, de Ling. Latin., lib. iv., p. 37. 
 8vo. edit. 1581. 
 
 § Vide page 70, 8fc. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 21 
 
 in pieces, and having put the choice parts of the 
 entrails and limbs into vessels, they carried them to 
 the Priest. He placed them upon the altar and 
 burnt them, pouring wine into the flame. These 
 sacrifices bore so striking a resemblance to those of 
 the Greeks *, as well as other customs observed in 
 the Circus, that Dionysius is frequently induced to 
 consider Rome not founded by Barbarians, but by 
 settlers from Greece f . 
 
 At the time the Pompa entered the Circus w r e 
 have supposed the rows of seats to be crowded with 
 spectators; it has consequently become a subject 
 of curious inquiry, where those people retired to 
 who had assisted in the procession. Bianconi, with 
 every appearance of truth, supposes the gallery 
 above the Carceres to have been reserved for that 
 purpose l . It will now be necessary to enter 
 
 * See Homer, cited by Dionysius, lib.vii. ; and compare Virgil. 
 JEneid., lib. v. 
 
 •f- Vide Diony. lib.viii., cap. 72., et alibi. 
 
 I Vide Bianconi dei Circhi, 8fc., p. Ixviii. and ix . : his opinion is 
 supported by the bas-relief of Foligno, and the two Mosaics which 
 will shortly be mentioned more particularly ; but I have searched in 
 
OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 into some description of the Carceres, which, as 
 has been already intimated, were the places from 
 whence the chariots issued. 
 
 To assist us in forming a just idea of a Roman 
 Circus, besides the visible remains of the one in 
 question, there is the authority of ancient bas- 
 reliefs and medals *, the two Mosaics disco- 
 vered at Lyons f , and at Italica J in Spain ; the 
 
 vain for written authority, except so far as the words of Sidonius 
 Apollinaris apply. See Note *, page 30. 
 
 * These will be referred to, as they are wanted, to authenticate any 
 peculiarity. 
 
 t An engraving of this precious monument of antiquity, accompa- 
 nied by a dissertation on the Games of the Circus, has been published 
 by Monsieur Artaud, director of the Museum at Lyons. It gives more 
 information than even the one found at Italica ; we shall refer to the 
 particulars of it, as occasion requires, under the title of the Lyons 
 Mosaic. 
 
 X The Mosaic of Italica was found on the 12th of December, 1799, 
 by some peasants, who were digging in a field belonging to the Convent 
 of S. Isidoro, at a depth of 3^ feet ; it is 38 French feet in length, and 
 27 \ in breadth : it is chiefly valuable for the details it exhibits of the 
 Carceres, and has been published with explanations in a splendid 
 manner, by Alexandre La Borde, Paris, chez Didot freres. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 23 
 
 descriptions of Dionysius and Cassiodorus *, with 
 occasional hints to be collected from other ancient 
 authors. 
 
 The Car ceres, which close in one end of the 
 Circus, do not preserve a rectilinear direction, but 
 form the arc of a large circle whose centre is a 
 point taken in the Jlrena towards the right (or, in 
 the case of our Circus, the southern) side of the 
 building. (See Plate I. No. 42.) This renders, 
 with scrupulous exactness, the several stations foi 
 the Chariots equidistant from that given point, and 
 the side of the Circus on which it is placed is 
 wider than the opposite onef. The spaces on 
 each side of the central gate, or Porta Pomp a, 
 which is alone laterally closed, are each divided 
 
 * I mention these two authors as the principal, though perhaps 
 Sidonius Apollinaris might be considered as giving a more detailed 
 description than either. If an historian and a poet come in competi 
 tion in archeology, the former should doubtless be preferred. 
 
 f The same thing is observable in the Mosaic of Italica, conse- 
 quently the Carceres are there also curvilinear.— See Plates ix. andx. 
 in La Borde’s Description , 8fc. 
 
24 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 into six equal parts, which Cassiodorus faithfully 
 enumerates by the word ii Bissena *. v> These 
 twelve compartments, properly called the Carceres , 
 were the places for restraining the Chariots, until 
 the signal given for starting f. The roofs were 
 arched j, and when closed they presented a front of 
 twelve doors, with lunettes above them, cross-barred 
 oi ornamented in the way the Romans called 
 “ cancellatc e§.” The doors were separated by the 
 
 * Bissena quippe ostia ad duodecim signa posuerunt, h®c ab Her- 
 mulis, &c. Cassiod. lib. Hi., Fariar. tom. t.,p. 53, (but we shall have 
 occasion to remark more particularly, that Cassiodorus has sometimes 
 confounded the Carceres of the Greek Hippodrome with his descrip- 
 tion).— See also Ovid. Metamorph., lib. ii., v. 18. 
 
 f See Note +, page 29. 
 
 t v h r£v iXar'Iivm nXtv&v efflytts impm 
 
 ivxa.<pitn,; i%ti, 'bia gtai Uff-nx-zifyoi ago. <7ra<ra. i avotyoyHa,;. — Diony. 
 Halicar., lib. Hi., cap. 68. 
 
 ( $ T he magnificent room in the Baths of Caracalla was worked with 
 “ canceUl " of bra ss or copper. (See Spartian in Fit. Caracall., c. ix.) 
 
 Amongst the various appellations given to the doors, [See Note *, 
 p. 29.] that of “cancelli” seems likely to have been the most com- 
 mon, and answered to the il^Xnyl rope, or barrier in the Greek 
 Hippodrome. See Note f, page 54. vff-TrXny^ v rav x/perngiu. 
 
 rtv xdyxiXXov bftti; QagH.— Schol. in Theocrit. Idyll, ix., p. 142. 
 Bulenger has produced another passage from Calisthenes, (not the 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 25 
 
 breadth of a pilaster, which served as an architec- 
 tural ornament to the marble jambs on which the 
 doors hinged, and in front of each pilaster was a 
 Hermes *. It is not very well known in what 
 manner the doors were opened at the signal for 
 beginning the race. Dionysius and Cassiodorus 
 intimate that they were all opened at the same 
 timef, which, probable as it may seem, was not 
 
 contemporary of Alexander,) which teaches us to discriminate between 
 “ cancelli” and carceres: i£/iX&ov a! rauXam/s ruv 'Iwutv hvotywruv 11 
 tuv xuyxiXXav VooiTrilrtirav «|u a^ftetli %gri<rdy.tvoi — 
 
 aipeT^s; xayxiXku\, “ cancelli carcerum.” — See Bulenger de 
 Circ. Rom. Ludisque Circens., cap. xi. ; and compare Isidor. de Orig., 
 lib.xviii., Ovid. Tristium, lib.v., Eleg.ix., v. 29. 
 
 * Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, and for the statue of that 
 god, came subsequently to mean any statue with a head fixed on a 
 square cut pillar of marble. Originally these statues were made, so 
 that the heads could be taken off and replaced with others at pleasure ; 
 and after the Greeks ceased to change the heads, they preserved in the 
 marble the two holes for inserting handles to raise the head up with. 
 (See several Hermes in the Vatican , “ Sala delle Muse.”) Amongst 
 other fragments of the Hermes belonging to our Circus, was found a 
 head of Demosthenes. (See Nibby's Dissert., p. 46.) Of course 
 Hermuli (see page 52 of this “ description”) were small Hermes. 
 
 f See Note \ , page 24 ; also Cassiodorus, tom. i., lib. Hi., Epist. 51. 
 Variar. 
 
26 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the case in the Greek Hippodrome *. Bianconi 
 was in possession of a bas-relief, which showed men 
 standing beside the doors in the act of opening 
 themf: now, from the ruins of the Carceres, as 
 discovered by the recent excavations, this circum- 
 stance, as well as the other particulars here men- 
 tioned, may be explained. Besides the twelve 
 divisions and the Central Gate of which we have 
 spoken being distinctly recognized, there are frag- 
 ments of the arches that formed the roofs, several 
 of the blocks of marble which served as the jambs J 
 
 * See the description of Pausanias translated, with the notes 
 thereon, in page 53, &c. 
 
 f This fragment of a bas-relief, purchased by Bianconi, is placed 
 at the head of Fea’s preface to that author’s Dissertation on Circuses, 
 although most writers on the subject agree in supposing that the can- 
 celli, or doors, were opened by means of levers, or instruments ; in 
 this fragment, the men are in the act of opening them with their 
 hands, a singularity as Bianconi thought, and for which chiefly he 
 purchased the relief. (See page Ixix of his work, and the descrip- 
 tion of the Vignettes, page cxii.) The fragment has been published 
 also by Guattani, and others, and finally by La Borde, Description, 
 8fc . ; but in the Lyons Mosaic, a person is represented on the top of 
 the Carceres, in the act of opening the doors with a lever. 
 
 I * * Impulsi nequeunt obsistere pastes, 
 
 Claustraque compressae transfumat anhelitus irse ; 
 
 Stare adeo miserum est ! — Statius, lib. vi., v. 398. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 27 
 
 of the doors, and almost all the bases of the Hermes 
 in their original position, and one nearly entire 
 which has afforded the proportions for the rest. 
 Behind all the Hermes (that is, between the Hermes 
 and the Pilaster) are to be observed double base- 
 ments of marble, which seem to have served for no 
 other purpose than stepping stones, and to fill up 
 the intervening spaces : these we have not scrupled 
 to call the places where men were stationed for 
 opening the Carceres ; and it also appears that the 
 doors opened at about one foot from the ground. 
 These twelve doors and the Porta Pompae, as has 
 been described, were surmounted by an uninter- 
 rupted parapet*, which is now entirely destroyed, 
 but has left some marks visible against the lateral 
 Towers shortly to be mentioned : the parapet was, 
 in all probability, of marble, and ornamented some- 
 
 * And thus the Carceres are represented on the bas-relief now 
 existing at Foligtio. It may be observed once for all, that the bas- 
 reliefs continually referred to as authorities, are usually found on 
 sarcophagi. It was a favourite subject with the ancients, to allego- 
 rize human life by a chariot race, where the charioteers were meta- 
 morphosed into genii ; — the metaphor St. Paul did not disdain to make 
 use of. — 1 Corinthians , chap, ix., ver. 24. 
 
28 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 thing like the lunettes above the doors. Besides 
 the parapet, the Central Gate presented a second 
 story, supported by columns and forming a magni- 
 ficent Lodge for the chief magistrate or the presi- 
 dent of the Games # . This was crowned by Horses 
 and Chariots in bronze *f*, and on the Frize bore a 
 large Inscription. In the ruins about the middle 
 gate were discovered several characters, which may 
 have formed part of that inscription, and which 
 Professor Nibby has combined and filled up with 
 perhaps more ingenuity than it is safe to exercise 
 on such occasions j . 
 
 * See the bas-relief of Folignoy engraved in Grcevius, tom. ix., 
 p. 184, and the Mosaic of Italica in La Borders Description, 8fc., and 
 compare Note *, page 30. 
 
 f The authority of medals, (see the one in page 4, Note *), and the 
 analogy to triumphal arches, warrant this assertion. 
 
 J The inscription above the Porta Pompae is supposed by Pro- 
 fessor Nibby to have been the following ; although the only letters 
 hitherto discovered among the ruins near the gate are the fragments 
 . . TI . . . PI . . . VG . . . and II. 
 
 DIVO ROMVLO N . M .V . 
 
 COS . ORD . II 
 FILIO. D . 2V. MAXENTl. 
 
 PI/ . F ELI CIS . ET INF . AVG . 
 
 TRIB . POT. VI. COS .II II . &c. 
 
 See Dissert., page 30. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 29 
 
 At each end of the Carceres rose a lofty Tower, 
 which sometimes gave the name of “ Oppidum 
 to this part of the Circus ; an oppidum being, 
 according to the explanation of Nsevius by Varro, 
 a place closed in by walls and defended by towersf . 
 These towers were three stories high, and doubtless 
 crowned with statues of men, chariots and horses j, 
 and towards the Via Appia they presented a cir- 
 cular form. The two rooms that remain in the 
 first story of each preserve their original form entire, 
 and have been ornamented with painted stucco, of 
 
 * Oppidum dicitur et locus in Circo unde quadrigae emittuntur. 
 Sex. Pomp. Festus in verbo. Besides the names already mentioned 
 for designating the Carceres, wholly or in part, we may add — claus- 
 tra, septa, cryptae, repagula, fores ; — they convey no additional 
 meaning ; repagula is the most synonymous with “ cancelli,” and 
 answers equally to the v<rx\ny\. — See Note §, page 24. 
 
 f “ In circo primo unde mittuntur equi nunc dicuntur Carceres : 
 Noevius Oppidum appellat : Carceres dicti quod coercentur equi ne 
 inde exeant ante quam magistratus misit ; Oppidum quod a mun 
 parte pinneis turribusque carceres olim fuerunt : Scripsit Poeta, 
 ‘ Dictator ubi currum insidit, pervehitur usque ad oppidum.’ ” 
 Varro de Ling. Latin., lib. iv. } p. 37. 
 
 + See note f, page 28, and several medals published by Panvinio, 
 — Apud Grcevium, tom. ix., p. 64. 
 
30 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 which some traces are visible. Annexed to the 
 Northern Tower is a square building, in which are 
 the vestiges of a staircase leading to the upper 
 stories, and to the parapet above the Car ceres : the 
 same must have served as the only communication 
 with the Southern Tower, for there are no remains 
 of any such staircase to be found annexed to the 
 latter: and this communication is the more ma- 
 nifest from the position of the doorways in the 
 Towers corresponding to the supposed elevation 
 of the parapet. Now these places, as Bianconi has 
 suggested, were reserved for those persons who had 
 formed the procession. The chief magistrate with 
 some of his friends took possession of the lodge 
 above the central gate* ; those of inferior dignity 
 most probably disposed themselves on either side 
 on the top of the Carceres ‘f*, and the upper stories 
 
 * Turn qua est janua Consulumque sedes. 
 
 Ambit quam paries utrumque senis 
 Cryptis carceribusque fornicatus, 
 
 Uno e quattuor, &c. — Sid. Apollinar. in Panegyric. 
 
 t Compare the bas-relief of Fohgno, and see Bianconi Dei Cir- 
 chi, page Iviii, ix. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 31 
 
 of the towers were in all probability occupied by 
 the Tibicines and other musicians *, who ceased 
 not to inspire the combatants with their warlike 
 sounds of music f : the less conspicuous parts of 
 
 * Tandem murmure buccinse strepentis 
 Suspensas tubicen vocans quadrigas, 
 
 Effudit celeres in arva eurrus ; 
 
 Non sic fulminis, &c. — Sidon. Apollin. in Panegy. 
 
 Signa tubae dederunt, cum carcere pronus uterque 
 Emicat, &c. — Ovid. Metamorph. x., v. 652. 
 
 And as it thus appears that the signal for starting was sometimes 
 given by the sound of horns or trumpets, no place in the Circus can 
 be assigned for the Tibicines more appropriate than the towers, 
 which were at the Carceres, and near the seat of the Consul or Pre- 
 sident. Panvinio de Ludis , 8fc., p. 350, produces an inscription 
 in which the office is mentioned. 
 
 TIBICINES ROMANI 
 QVI SACRIS 
 PVBLIC. PRtEST.SVNT. 
 
 They were doubtless aided in their noisy chorus by singers, as 
 Seneca (lib. xii. epist. 84) intimates. In comissionibus nostris 
 [scilicet ludorum] plus cantorum est quam in theatris olim spec- 
 taculorum fuit — cum omnes vias, &c. — If any one is curious about 
 the distinctions of the wind-instruments he may consult the Atticee 
 Nodes of Aulus Gellius , with the Notes of Gronovius, Epist. xi., 
 lib. i. 
 
 t Qui nunquam castra viderunt neque tubarum sonum nisi in 
 spectaculis audierunt. — P/in. Secund. lib. ii., epist. vii. 
 
 Commissio contracta est piaculi si cursu in solemnibus ludis cur- 
 
32 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the towers and parapet might be crowded with the 
 Choruses of Dancers and other inferior characters, 
 described in the ceremony of the Pompa. Such 
 being the description and use of the Carceres, (for 
 a faithful representation of which we refer to the 
 plan and elevation restored,) * we may now proceed 
 to some more general explanation. 
 
 The Circus, or rather the interior flat area in 
 which the games and races were performed, occu- 
 
 riculisque divinis per imprudentiam quis deeraverit commissum 
 statim in religiones clamatis sacras, si ludius constitit aut tibicen 
 refente conticuit, aut si patrimus ille qui dicitur puer omisit per 
 ignoranliam locum aut thensam tenere potuit. ( Arnobius adversus 
 gentes, lib. tv.) And compare the passages cited in the preceding 
 Note. But if the music inspired the combatants during the race 
 in the Roman Circus, the same was the case in the Greek Hippo- 
 drome.—^ iWss] tfsgi r > iv vver/rav xa, Wi) rtis trtiXinyyos 
 
 l vrtra%vvtv rov Sgogov. — Pausanias , Eliac. Post, si^e lib. vi. 
 c. 13., p.484., edit. Lips. 1696 ; but see Solinus, cap. lvii.,page 329, 
 edit. Basil. 
 
 * See Plate II., Jig. 1 and 2. In making this restoration, besides 
 the authorities already referred to, we have consulted the bas-relief 
 in the Villa Albani at Rome; another now (April, 1826) in the pos- 
 session of Vescovali (Piazza di Spagna, Rome) ; also the engraving 
 of one that existed in the Farnese Gardens, beyond the Tyber ; but 
 the Mosaic of Italica has afforded the most satisfactory evidence. 
 
AND OF THE C1RCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 33 
 
 pies an oblong space of about 1635 feet in length, 
 and on the average nearly 250 feet in breadth. 
 At the lower extremity were the Carceres, as they 
 have been described : the upper end is circular, 
 containing a principal gate. It was surrounded, 
 except on the part next the Carceres, by a corridor 
 fifteen feet wide, formed by an inner and outer 
 wall, each four feet thick, and covered by a vault, 
 the most massy part of which was relieved by the 
 insertion of empty earthen jars *. The entrance 
 into this corridor was by several open doors, dis- 
 posed at regulated distances in the exterior wall, 
 in which were also a number of windows : to these 
 doors, with only one exception f, corresponded a 
 flight of steps, ingeniously formed in the interior 
 wall, the steps leading first to a doorway called a 
 “ Vomitorium \ ,” diverged on each side of it, and 
 
 * Vide Note *, page 7. 
 
 t Vide page 41 . 
 
 S The technical terms here made use of, are most of them to be 
 found in Vitruvius, but are perhaps more closely applicable to the 
 Amphitheatre. (See Justus Lipsius de Amphith. apud Grcevium, 
 tom. ix., page 1297 , 8fc .) We are, however, indebted to Macro- 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 conducted the spectator to the upper part of the 
 vault of the corridor. These particulars are repre- 
 sented on that side of our general Plan [See Plate 
 I.], which is delineated in the darker tints. 
 
 The Vault of the Corridor served as the founda- 
 tion of the Seats, which gradually ascended in rows 
 to the number of ten ; so that, upon a moderate 
 calculation, this Circus was capable of containing 
 26,000 spectators, independent of the Seats reserved 
 for the senators, magistrates, and nobles : these 
 distinguished places were immediately above the 
 Vomitoria, and were defended by a wall, which 
 projected into the Arena like a foot put forward, 
 and from that circumstance derived the name of 
 Podium * ; and hence the phrase “ ad Podium 1 '' 
 
 bias for the popular term of Vomitories — “ inde et nunc Vomitoria in 
 spectaculis dicimus unde homines glomeratim ingredientur in sedilia 
 se fundunt.” ( Macrob . de Saturn lib. vii., cap. iv.) Vitruvius, in- 
 deed, describes the Vomitoria, but does not give the name. (Lib. v., 
 cap. Hi., de Architectura, fyc.) 
 
 * nous, nobos. Podium enim appello (says Justus Lipsius) pro- 
 jecturam hanc quae in summo muro quae paullum provehitur et pro- 
 pendet instar pedis, unde et nomen, (he produces three inscriptions 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 35 
 
 was used to designate the first order of seats *, 
 which in this Circus consisted but of one row. 
 Behind the Podium the stair for ascending was 
 interrupted by an omission of two or three steps, 
 which were supplied by an ambulacrum, or landing- 
 place, that went round the Circus : upon this, as 
 a foundation, rose a perpendicular wall, ''"which, 
 according to the precepts of Vitruvius, was not to 
 be higher than the other was broad f, and upon it 
 
 in which the Podium is mentioned, and then continues :) itaque ut 
 clare capias non aliud Podium hoc nostrum quam muri pars projec- 
 tior et prominentior ante imum spectaculorum gradum. ( Lipsius de 
 Amphitheat ., cap. xi.) I suppose the Podium to admit of the same 
 explanation in the Circus as in the Amphitheatre ; but Philander 
 and Barbarus throw very little light upon it. (See Baldo de Verb. 
 Viiruv. signijlcat ., p. 131. See Note * to page 37, and Bianconi, 
 dei Circhi, fyc. p. xviii.') 
 
 * Generosior et Marcellis, 
 
 Et Catullis Paullique minoribus et Fabiis et 
 Omnibus ad Podium, spectantibus. 
 
 Juvenal, Sat. ii., v. 144. 
 The common people might probably envy the comfortable seats of 
 the Podium. 
 
 Tu quoque qui spectas post nos tua contrahe crura 
 Si pudor est, rigido nec prerne terga genu. 
 
 Ovid., Amor. Lib. in., Eleg. ii., v. 23. 
 t Preecinctiones ad altitudines theatrorum pro rata parte faciundas 
 
36 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 recommenced the stair. The ambulacrum was 
 called Iter, and the wall perpendicular to it the 
 Prcecinctio , or belt * : from the Praecinctio, there- 
 fore, the people continued to ascend by the flights 
 of steps f, cutting the rows of seats at regulated 
 
 videntur, neque altiores quam quanta Prcecinctionis Itineris sit 
 latitudo : si enim excelsiores fuerint, repellent et ejicient in supe- 
 riorem partem vocem, nec patientur in sedibus summis quae sunt 
 supra praecinctiones verborum casus certa significatione ad aures 
 pervenire. (Vitruvius, lib. v., c. iii.) The former part of this pas- 
 sage has mightily perplexed the commentators of Vitruvius. Phi- 
 lander in verbo Prcecinet., and Albertus , lib. viii., have only involved 
 it in greater obscurity. Justus Lipsius de Amphltheat ., cap. ociii., 
 is perfectly unintelligible ; and the only explanation that seemed to 
 me satisfactory, is written in a few words in the margin of his work, 
 (de Amphith.) id est, cingulum non altius sit quam latum est illud 
 ipsum subcingulare Iter. — In the Amphitheatre there were three 
 or more of these Praecinctiones or Girders. In the Circus there could 
 not well be more than one, for there was, I apprehend, a Praecinctio 
 to every set of rows of seats, reckoning one for the Podium ; but 
 as the Circus was not high enough to admit of more than one seat, 
 there was only one Praecinctio. Signor Nibby appears to make no 
 distinction between the set of rows and the Praecinctio. Quindi ve- 
 nivano le gradinate dell’ Anfiteatro distinte in tre precinzioni o divi- 
 sioni, &c. — Vide Foro Romano, p. 243., — and comp. Bianconi dei 
 Circhi, p. xxi. 
 
 * See the preceding Note. 
 
 t These are the stairs that, in all probability, were called Vice ; 
 and if a spectator arrived too late, or was jostled out of his place, he 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 37 
 
 intervals, until they arrived at the top. These 
 particulars, relating to the upper part of the sur- 
 rounding walls, are represented in fainter lines on 
 the remaining half of our general Plan. The ele- 
 vation, therefore, of the interior, as seen from the 
 Arena, presented itself thus : first, the Podium, 
 having in all probability a low ornamented Balus- 
 trade * ; and above this the rows of seats for the 
 
 was said “ in Via stare." See Tertullian de Spectac., cap. 20., in 
 Maffei degli Anfit., lib. ii., cap. viii, and Martial, Epigram xiv., lib. v., in 
 Lipsius de Amphith. cap. xiii. — The rows of seats are also frequently 
 called in Livy “ Fori.” We find also employed to express the same 
 thing, sella, cathedra, scamna, gradus ; these would all admit of 
 an explanation, which, as it would become tedious in a note, has 
 deterred me from introducing the terms in the description. See, 
 however, Note, page 13 ; and the curious reader may consult Bu- 
 lenger de Circo Rom. Ludisque Circens., cap. xxxiv. and v. 
 
 * Supra Podium columnae cum capitulis et spiris altae quarta 
 parte ejusdem diametri. ( Vitruv ., lib. v., cap. viii) It was also orna- 
 mented with statues — die Circensium, quum tres victories more so- 
 ldo essent locatae gypsese cum palmis, media, quae Severi nomine 
 ascripta orbem palmis tenebat, vento icta de Podio stans decidet et 
 humi constitit; eaque quae Getae nomine inscripta erat, &c. — Spar- 
 lian. in Scvero. 
 
 But La Borde has confounded these statues of Victory placed on 
 the Podium, with the statues on the Spina. (See page 76, &c.) 
 Fide Description d'une Mosaique , and compare Note in Bian- 
 coni, page 18. 
 
38 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 common spectators, intersected by the flights of 
 steps for ascending. To this general appearance, 
 however, we shall have to add the two Pulvinars ; 
 and some few other observations will occur in 
 making the circuit of the ruins. We begin at 
 the Northern Tower. 
 
 At the flight of steps corresponding to the second 
 door of the outer wall, the Corridor is intersected 
 by a Buttress and an Arch, and the same thing is 
 to be traced in the corresponding opposite part of 
 the Circus : by this division there is taken off from 
 the general corridor a portion of 270 feet. The 
 corridor, like the arches of the Colosseum, served 
 for shelter, passage, and such like accommodation ; 
 but the portion of it here described was probably 
 reserved for the prostitutes that were about the 
 Circus in great numbers * : this opinion is rendered 
 
 * See Lampndius in Vzta Ileliogabuli , and Juvenal^ Sat • m.y 
 v. 65. The appellation of “ sub fornicibus or “ spatia fornicata,” 
 is applicable to this part of our Circus •, (but comp. Bulenger de 
 Circo Rom. < Sfc., cap. Ivi.') 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 39 
 
 more probable because the place has been very 
 obscure, not being lighted by windows in the exte- 
 rior wall like the rest of the corridor . d he dreadful 
 scenes of vice acted in these dark recesses, gene- 
 rally took place after the games were finished; 
 they were only equalled by others at the public 
 baths and theatres, and perhaps have been already 
 too minutely described by the indignant zeal of 
 ecclesiastical historians *. 
 
 At the distance of about 450 feet from the 
 northern tower of the Oppidum, or Carceies, was 
 placed the Grand Pulvinar, or Imperial Seat, being 
 nearly opposite to the first Meta, and situated so 
 as to afford the best view of the beginning and end 
 of the race : it is about 110 feet in length, and is 
 so constructed as not to intersect the line of seats 
 appropriated to the common spectators. The Em- 
 
 * See the authors who have treated the subject enumerated by 
 Bulenger, de Theatro, lib. i., apud Grcevium, tom. ix., p. 867 ; to 
 which may be added several others (idem, page 925) ; but many of 
 them are absolutely indecent. 
 
40 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 peror s lodge was sometimes placed on the Podium, 
 and from being generally elevated was also called 
 a “ Suggestus We shall shortly arrive at a 
 second 1 ulvinar, but the one in question was 
 doubtless the principal: in what manner it was 
 ornamented cannot now be ascertained, the form 
 and dimensions only being preserved. Behind it 
 is a circular apartment which must have served as 
 a retiring room or ante-chamber : it communicates 
 with a Gallery, which we have traced for at least 
 250 feet in length. About the middle is a passage 
 underneath it, formed by an arch f , and it is sur- 
 rounded by ruins, most probably of an extensive 
 villa, but of which no satisfactory description can 
 
 * The Ptilvinar is mentioned twice by Suetonius, as being the 
 seat of the Emperor, in vita August., cap. xlv., and in vit. Claudii, 
 cap. iv. Julius Caesar received the “ Suggestus” amongst his su- 
 perfluous honours. Suet, in Julio Cces., cap. Ixxvi. $ an honour which 
 Trajan refused ; vide Pliny, Panegyric., cap. h. It was also called 
 a cubiculum — Suet, in Neron. c. xii. Icarus primo statim conatu 
 juxta cubiculum ejus decidit, ipsumque cruore respersit, nam perraro 
 praesidere, caeterum accubans, primum parvis foraminibus, deinde 
 toto podio adaperto spectare consuerat. 
 
 t See General Plan, Plate /., Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 41 
 
 be given * : it may be doubted, indeed, whether 
 the villa was made as an appendage to the Circus, 
 or the Circus to the villa ; the gallery of communi- 
 cation will justify either supposition; but it must 
 also prove that this Pulvinar was the most distin- 
 guished seat in the Circus.— But to continue our 
 progress along the Corridor. Towards the upper 
 or circular end, Bianconi discovered that one flight 
 of steps, instead of being turned inward like the 
 rest, led immediately into the Arena y , and oppo- 
 site to them there was no corresponding doorway in 
 
 * Amongst other conjectures about these ruins, it has been sup- 
 posed that the Villa of Symmachus stood here, because (as I ima- 
 gine) he says, in one of his Epistles to Flavian, “ Suburbanum prae- 
 dium quod vise Appiee adjacet incolebam,” &c. — Epist. Ixix., lib. it. 
 Symmachus was a person of consular rank, nearly contemporary 
 with S. S. Hieronymus and Ambrosius, and the poet Claudian he 
 was consul about A. D. 394; (but see Ammiun. Marcel/in., lib. xxvii .) 
 However, the following passage in one of his letters to Ricomer 
 seems to oppose the opinion here alluded to, except he had two 
 preedia suburbana. — ■“ Ager autem qui me interim tenet Tiberim 
 nostrum juncto aquis latere prospectat hinc libens video quid frugis 
 seternm urbi indies accedat, quid Bomanis horreis Macedonicus au- 
 jiciat commeatus. Epist. lv. } lib. Hi. But in any case the opinion 
 is unsupported by authority. 
 
 f See Plate I., No. \\~and comp. Bianconi dei Circhi, 8fc. 
 
42 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the exterior wall : as this is a solitary instance of 
 the steps being turned towards the Arena, we shall 
 be led to assign them a specific use. 
 
 There were several persons employed about the 
 Circus during the games, whose duties sometimes 
 called them into the arena, such as the Procuratores 
 Dromi , the Conditores, Spartores , and several 
 others enumerated by Panvinio*. It would often 
 
 * De Ludis Circensibus, lib. i., cap. xv., with the Notes of Argoli. 
 Several of those offices are gathered from inscriptions, several from 
 obscure authors, and some from inference. — In the theatre, Augustus 
 assigned a place for the Vestal Virgins, in a position somewhat rela- 
 tive to this. “ Solis Virginibus locum in Theatro separatim et con- 
 tra Pretoris Tribunal dedit.” — Suet, in Aug., cap. xliv.,and see 
 page 46. Some conjecture may be formed from this passage, but I 
 cannot draw any conclusion from it. 
 
 I shall take this opportunity of subjoining a list of the subordinate 
 officers about the Circus. 
 
 Medici Surgeons for attending the wounded com- 
 
 batants. 
 
 Aurigatores The charioteer’s attendants. 
 
 Procuratores Dromi . . Those who cleared the arena. 
 
 Conditores Those who greased the chariot-wheels. 
 
 Moratores Ludi .... Those who stopped the horses at the end 
 of the course, or opened the doors of 
 the Carceres, &c. — (See page 27.) 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 43 
 
 happen that these persons had to return suddenly 
 to their places ; and hence, that they might not be 
 under the necessity of going out of the Circus to 
 enter by the outer doors, these steps were placed 
 for their accommodation, and seats assigned them 
 in this part of the Podium. 
 
 We come now to the great Gate placed in the 
 middle of the circular extremity. The threshold 
 of this Gate is found to be higher than the level of 
 the arena by about five feet and a half; hence it 
 required a flight of steps to descend from the ancient 
 road that passes close by it # : the ground at this 
 
 Lineatores The directors of the alba linea . — (See 
 
 page 60, n. *. 
 
 Erectores Ovorum . . . Those who set up the eggs on the Spina. 
 
 — (See page 74, n. *.) 
 
 Spartores, or Sparsores . Those who threw water on the chariots 
 and horses. 
 
 Sutores and Sarcinatores . Tailors and sewers for preparing the cos- 
 
 tumes of the combatants. 
 
 Viatores Running messengers. 
 
 Armentarii Grooms or equerries. 
 
 * It was the Via Asinaria, according to Professor Nibby, who argues 
 from a passage in Festus, (Dissert, delle Vie antiche, p. 110, 124, 
 
44 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA AEPIA, 
 
 end of the building being higher, was the manifest 
 cause of this slight inconvenience. The Gate we 
 are now describing has been usually called the 
 Triumphal Gate, but the discovery of seven steps 
 has ridiculed the opinion of the conqueror going 
 out of it in his chariot : it would be easy, however, 
 to obviate the difficulty by taking away the chariot, 
 nor could we by so doing be charged with opposing 
 classical authority *. The name of the Triumphal 
 
 in Nardini, vol. iv.) — the only passage that intimates there ever 
 was such a Via. 
 
 * We know nothing about a triumphal gate in the Circus, except 
 from inference ; it may be doubted, under the Emperors at least, 
 whether the honours went any farther than the mere presentation of 
 a crown and a palm-branch. ( Vide Sidonius Apollin. in Panegyric. 
 Amniian. Marcellin., lib. xiv., cap.xi.; and Virgil. Ain. v., v. 70 
 and 111.) — It can hardly be supposed that the envy of Nero, and 
 some of his successors, could have endured the sight of a common 
 charioteer parading in the Circus. ( Vide Suet, in Neron., cap. xxii. 
 and xxiv.) — In Greece the conquerors were conveyed to their own 
 cities in triumph, and in their chariots, and a part of the wall of the 
 town was broken down for them to enter ( Plutarch Smy. ii., lib. ii. 
 Vitruvius, lib. far.); and this Nero imitated at Naples, ( Suet . in 
 Neron., cap. xxv.) — but see Bulenger de Prcemiis, cap. Iv., 8fc . — - 
 In Vescovali’s bas-relief the conqueror appears on foot, with his 
 palm-branch. The Emperors, however, triumphed in cars ; see a 
 collection of medals engraved by Panvinio, {apud Grcevium, tom. ix., 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 45 
 
 Gate may therefore remain * ; but its most obvious 
 use was to serve for a principal entrance from the 
 side of the Via Latina : the inscriptions placed on 
 both its fronts, as well as the traces of ornament 
 still discovered about it +, show that it was a prin- 
 cipal entrance; and if it was always open, like the 
 central gate of the Carceres, the Circus might serve 
 as a passage from the Via Latina to the Via Appia. 
 Underneath the lowest step is to be seen a small 
 channel for the purpose of letting off water from 
 the arena. 
 
 The next thing worthy of remark in our circuit 
 is the Pulvinar on the southern side, and which is 
 constructed upon a different plan from the other. 
 
 p. 125.) ; amongst them is also a private charioteer, a Domnus Phi- 
 locomus, but under Severus. — Idem. 
 
 * It has been suggested to me that a. part of the procession of 
 the Pompa might also quit the Arena by this gate after the termina- 
 tion of the Sacrifices ; an arrangement which would obviate much 
 delay and confusion. 
 
 + An eagle upon a square basement of moderate sculpture was 
 found without this gate ; it may have been placed on the vertex of 
 the pediment, and denoted the apotheosis of the young Romulus— 
 (compare the reverse of the medal in page 9.) 
 
46 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 It interrupts the seats and the Podium, and occu- 
 pies about fifty-five feet in length * : its platform, 
 reared conspicuously above the seats of the specta- 
 tors, is surmounted by a now broken arch, which 
 has probably been crowned, like the towers of the 
 Carceres, with bronze chariots or horses f. It may 
 have presented an elevation relieved by columns, 
 but in that case they must have been both small 
 and few in number. It communicates immediately 
 with the arena, by means of two lateral staircases, 
 which at the height of eleven steps, or about six- 
 teen feet from the arena, turn inward at a right 
 angle, and after six steps more lead to the platform 
 of the Pulvinar. Still higher is another staircase, 
 seemingly leading to the very top. In the space 
 between the two lateral stairs is a square recess, and 
 a little above, a receptacle, as if for water: from the 
 continuous traces of a canal about the higher parts 
 of the Pulvinar , it would appear that these were 
 cisterns, from whence a fountain in front of this 
 distinguished lodge might be supplied. In conti- 
 
 * See Plate l, No. 23. 
 
 f See Notefypage^ft. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 47 
 
 nuing to call it a Pulvinar , it should be borne in 
 mind that we have already described the seat of 
 the Emperor, and that of the consuls or chief 
 magistrates who led the Pompa: but there was 
 another personage of great distinction, for whom 
 we suppose this place was reserved ; — the person at 
 whose expense the games were given was called the 
 “ Editor spectacular um” or exhibitor of the games. 
 The Editor does not seem always to have been 
 the president, although the two honours might be 
 united in an emperor * or a consul : the chief 
 
 * The office of President seems to have been a 'privilege of the 
 Emperor on all occasions, but which he did not always make use of. 
 ( Compare Suet, in Aug., cap. xxxv. — idem in Calig., cap. xviii . — 
 idem in Claudio, cap. vii.) — giving the honour to others. — Julius 
 Pollux thus enumerates all the magisterial offices about the Circus : — 
 ’ Kymol'irui, ulXol'irai, uyuvuv 'bia.iiru.t, aDXuv Wig.zXtjrui, iQogoi, \<7rorf\ai, 
 •z‘Qos‘oiru. 1 , ivrlffKOMU, ro 1z •z’QU.yp.a., uyuvoUffiu, cLlXolifftu, ij oj; ' Agi^o- 
 Quvv;, ulXotlzriu, uyuvuv Oiultris, dlXav \<xig.iXuu., zvo-^pis — 
 
 x. r. X . — Segm. 140, lib. in., cap. xxx. In Tertullian, lib. de spec- 
 taculis, are mentioned auctores, administratores spectaculorum ; and 
 in Suetonius, we find curatores munerum, editores, munerarii, (vide 
 Panvinio de Ludis, &c., cum notis Argoli, tom. ix., p. 440, apud 
 Grcevium, additamentum Nic. Pinelli ,•) but most of these offices 
 enumerated by Pollux, maybe comprised in one general designation, 
 “ Inspectors of the Games and Prizes,” and it would be tedious and 
 
48 
 
 07 THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 honour the Editor had was in paying all the 
 expenses. The Emperors did not always give 
 games in their own name, and consequently had 
 frequently to choose an Editor *. The Praetor, or 
 Quaestor, or any of the chief magistrates who ex- 
 hibited shows, on entering upon their office, were 
 entitled to be “ Editores They were conveyed 
 into the Circus in chariots, and splendidly habited +, 
 
 unprofitable to make any further discrimination ; those of Suetonius 
 are all subordinate to that of “Editor.” 
 
 * See references to Suetonius , in the preceding Note, p. 47 — Fecisse 
 ludos se ait, suo nomine quater, pro aliis magistrates, qui aut abessent 
 aut non sufficerent, ter et vicies — Suet, in Aug cap. xliii. This might 
 be liberality, but Caracalla acted from a different motive, o&yuvoQlTyiv Ss 
 tj tuv nva 7\ nruv a././.ujv tuiv vrX&iricdv \xtx.Qu(rzv 7vas Jta) \v thtm 
 
 u.w\itx.Yira.i, 8fc. — Dion, in Caracalla, lib. Ixxvii., cap. 10. (P. 1295, 
 tom. ii. Hamburgh edit. 1752.) 
 
 t This is described by Juvenal, where the Editor is a Praetor. 
 Quid, si vidisset Praetorem curribus altis 
 Extantem, et medio sublimem in pulverem Circi 
 In Tunica Jovis, et pictae Saranna ferentem 
 Ex humeris aulaea togae, magnoeque coronae 
 Tantum orbem, quanto cervix vix sufficit ulla ? 
 
 Quippe tenet sudans hanc Publius et sibi Consul 
 Ne placeat curru servus portatur eodem, 
 
 Da nunc et volucrum, &c. — Juv., Sat. x., v. 36, &c. 
 
 The tribunes, who first gave the Ludi Augustales, were allowed 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 49 
 
 and gave the order for beginning the entertainment*. 
 This pulvinar had, as we have seen, a communica- 
 tion with the arena, from whence the Editor, hav- 
 ing descended from his chariot, might go to his 
 
 the triumphal habit in entering the Circus, (see Tacit. Ann., lib. i.) 
 
 but were denied the use of the chariot Dio. lib. Ivi., cap. 46. 
 
 See also Bulenger, cap. 43, de Circo, 8fc. 
 
 * Before the Emperors usurped the privilege, the Editor was the 
 proper person to give the signal for starting ; “ Nec discrepant quin 
 Dictator eo anno A. Cornelius fuerit ; id ambigitur, belline gerendi 
 caussa creatus sit, an ut esset qui Ludis Romanis (quia L. Plautus 
 Praetor gravi morbo forte implicitus erat) signum mittendis quadrigis 
 daret.” — Tit. Liv., lib. viii., cap. 40. 
 
 The signal was given sometimes, but not always, (for see Note *, 
 P- 31.) by throwing a napkin, a custom dated by some from the age 
 of Nero, though Quintilian {lib. i., cap. ix.) intimates a more remote 
 antiquity. But during the empire, the Praetor was not accustomed to 
 give this signal. Universorum se oculis in Circo Maximo praebuit, 
 aliquo liberto mittente mappam unde magistmtus solent. {Suet, in 
 Neron., cap. xxiii) It would appear, from the two Mosaics often cited, 
 that the president, sitting above the Porta Pompse, threw the mappa ; 
 but the signal was not necessarily given from that place, “ Dalmaticus 
 in publico processit atque ita signum Circensibus quadrigis commit- 
 tendis dedit.” {Lampridius in Commodo.) — See also Livij, lib. lv.,in 
 verbis, “ ad x Kal. Octobris Ludorum,” &c., with the criticisms of 
 Bulenger and Argoli, on the word “ ascendenti," {apud Grcevium, 
 lom.ix.,p. 169 and 630.); and compare Martial, Epigram xxix., 
 hb. xii. 1 have, therefore, used the expression the Editor “ gave the 
 order, &c., in preference to “ gave the signal for starting.” 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 seat conveniently. Besides being a very conspi- 
 cuous object in the Circus, it was situated for seeing 
 at once the whole length of the Spina and the 
 turning of the second Meta. Whilst, therefore, the 
 president sat above the Porta Pompae, (or, if the 
 Emperor were president, he remained in his own 
 pulvinar,) this may properly be called the seat of 
 the Editor, or (since the Praetor seems to have 
 been most frequently the Editor) the Praetor’s 
 tribunal. 
 
 Continuing along the southern side. of the Circus, 
 we shall find a Gate within about 450 feet of the 
 end. It is situated nearly opposite the point equi- 
 distant from all the Carceres, about which the 
 principal contest took place among the combatants 
 to get near the Spina. Thus placed, it could have 
 but one specific use, and that was for conveying 
 quickly off the arena the charioteers who were 
 thrown down, wounded, or killed in the first rush 
 of the chariot race *. 
 
 * See a representation of this on the bas-relief of Foligno, and 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 51 
 
 Between the towers of the Carceres and the be- 
 ginning of the Podium, are two other Gates, and 
 it cannot be affirmed that they were not used for 
 the like purposes. They are denominated in our 
 Plan, Side-entrances, and might serve occasionally 
 for every purpose we have hitherto enumerated ; 
 the chariot might go out in triumph, the praetor 
 might enter in his car, the procession might leave 
 the arena, and by them the Athletae be introduced 
 after the equestrian games *. 
 
 We have now gone round the Circus, examining 
 what was most worthy of attention ; but (follow- 
 ing the order of the games) before we describe the 
 
 compare the Lyons Mosaic : — ro Kguvos avrS Kara, ra; vvXa; naff a,; 
 oi n\ivruv]is haplgovrai l^Kop.itr6n, Dio. in Commodo, lib. Ixxii., cap. 
 21. Lampridius, (in eodeni) calls this gate Porta Libitinensis, a 
 name I am much more inclined to adopt, than either Sanavivaria, 
 or Sandapilaria ; words obtained, I presume, from the following pas- 
 sages : — Et coepi, inquit Perpetuae, ire cum gloria ad portam Sanavi- 
 variam : * * * ambae * * * revocatae sunt ad portam Sana- 
 
 vivariam . — Ex Passione SS. Perpetuce et Felicitatis. 
 
 * In Circo, aurigas, cursoresque, et confectores ferarum, et nonnun- 
 quatn ex nobilissima juventute, produxit. Suet, in Aug., cap. 43 
 See also Dionys., lib. vii., cap. 73., and Pliny, lib. vii., cap. xx. 
 
52 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 Spina, it may be necessary to bring the chariots to 
 the first meta. 
 
 It will be recollected, according to our descrip- 
 tion, that the Carceres were closed by cancellated 
 doors, which were opened at a given signal for the 
 chariots to rush forth into the arena ; but, inde- 
 pendent of these doors, Cassiodorus speaks of Ropes 
 sustained by Hermuli, which all dropped at the 
 same moment when the signal was given *. This 
 Christian writer flourished at a period when the 
 Hippodrome at Constantinople had succeeded to 
 the renown of the Circus at Romef; and may 
 
 * “ Haec [scilicet ostia] ab hermulis funibus demissis subitS, 
 requalitate panduntur, docentes totum illic ut putabatur consilio geri 
 ubi imago capitis cognoscitur operari.” — Cassiod., lib. Hi., Variar., 
 Ep. 5 1 . 
 
 t Cassiodorus was born in the year 480, and lived to the age of 
 ninety-five ; his various epistles were dictated between the years 
 509 and 540. The inhuman sports of the Gladiators were abolished 
 by Honorius, A. D. 404 (see a judicious Note on Childe Harold, fyc., 
 Canto iv., Stanza 141); but it was reserved for Theodonc to put 
 down the factions of the Circus. (See Panvimo de Ludis, fyc., 
 chap, ii., lib. 1.) Thomas, the charioteer, who gave occasion to 
 Cassiodorus to write the Epistle, in which the Circus is described, 
 had come from the East. — Epist. 51 as above. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 53 
 
 therefore have easily confounded some accounts of 
 the Greek Stadium, with his description of the 
 Roman Circus. That he has done so in this in- 
 stance will perhaps be more apparent when we have 
 considered the following description, which Pausa- 
 nias gives of the Greek Carceres : 
 
 (< In that part of the Stadium where the umpires 
 sit * is the place from whence the horses start. It 
 is formed like the prow of a ship, with the beak 
 turned towards the arena, and where it joins the 
 reciilinearly -formed portico *f* it attains its greatest 
 width. On the top of the beak is fixed a brazen 
 dolphin, and each side of this fabric so formed pre- 
 sents more than 400 feet in length, and is divided 
 
 * Compare note *, page 30. — I have not thought it necessary to 
 discriminate between the words Stadium and Hippodrome — “ 
 
 Ss ‘Zubi'ji <ra Vi^ari, ctipicri; EvSopjavit;, SfC -” — 
 
 Pausanias, as in note following. The outline of the Stadium Pana- 
 thenaicum, still to be traced at Athens, bears a near resemblance to 
 that of the Roman Circus. — See Colonel Leake’s excellent work on 
 the Topography of Athens, &c., page 51, and the plan of Athens in 
 the plates illustrative. 
 
 t r rH) lcy\ia.g,7r]ov ?o£, — “ quod est quasi fiexu carentem dicas.” — 
 Sec Pausanice Eliacorum Posterior, sive lib. sr.xt., cap. xx., pag. 
 503, Edit. Lipsice, 1696. 
 
54 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 into compartments, which the combatants who 
 enter the lists occupy, according to their respective 
 lots drawn *. In front of the chariots and horses 
 is extended a rope for a barrier +. About the 
 middle of the prow is an altar of brick, which is 
 plastered afresh at every Olympiad ; and upon the 
 altar is fixed a brazen eagle, spreading its wings : 
 a person, who is stationed there for the purpose, 
 touches a spring upon the altar, by means of which 
 the eagle seems to fly up into the air, so that it is 
 visible to all the people ; whilst the dolphin, at the 
 same time, falls to the ground- As soon as this 
 signal is given, they loosen the barriers which are 
 
 * Compare page 88. 
 
 •(’ Ka.\ubiov cc'jr'i u<r i z‘\Yiyyoi‘ Compare Note §, P a ff e 24, and 
 Julius Pollux, lib. Hi., cap. xxx., segm. 148 ; and the description 
 in Homer’s Iliad, lib. xxiii., v. 32 7 and 334, &c. The inventor 
 of the Greek Carceres was Cleotas. These verses were written on 
 a statue at Athens. 
 
 n O; rijv an) ’OXvg.’Xict thfutio "Xgairos 
 
 <7sv§£ f//i K Xtioiras vio ; ’Ag/s'oxXsovs. 
 
 Pausanias, lib. vi., cap. xx. 
 After Cleotas, they say, Aristides invented another plan (idem); but 
 see the description of Pausanias illustrated in Note, at page 55. 
 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 55 
 
 nearest to the above-mentioned portico, and the 
 horses that were confined by them rush forth the 
 first : having come up nearly in a line with those 
 that occupy the second places, the barriers of the 
 second places are also removed, and thus they pro- 
 ceed until all the combatants are equalised towards 
 the beak of the prow 
 
 From this account it appears, that in the Greek 
 Hippodrome the Carceres were convex towards the 
 
 * By the help of La Borde, we may illustrate the description of 
 Pausanias thus. 
 
 The illustration of Visconti does not differ materially; that of 
 Messrs. Gedoin, Bamnier, and Barthelemy, seems absurd . — See 
 Plate xviii., in La Borde' s Description, 8fc. 
 
56 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 arena, but in the Reman Circus they were concave. 
 In the former, also, the chariots were restrained by 
 ropes, but in the latter, as we have seen, by doors : 
 the doors, however, were flanked by Hermes, and 
 it will shortly be explained that ropes were used in 
 the Circus : it is not, therefore, without some foun- 
 dation that Cassiodorus has introduced his Hermuli 
 sustaining ropes ; but by applying them to the 
 carceres, he has both involved his own description 
 in some obscurity*, and opposed the general evi- 
 dence collected from other authorities. If, after 
 all, the Hermuli were thus admitted in the Circus 
 Maximus, we are justified, from the author’s own 
 words *f* , in concluding that there was more allegory 
 than real use in this piece of mechanism ; but if it 
 appears more plainly to be an inaccuracy of the 
 writer, either the description of Pausanias may 
 
 * Hermulos funibus demissos a stadio ad Circuni transtulit, says 
 Salmasius, who may be charged in bis turn with obscurity, in ex- 
 plaining the Alba Linea. — Vide Pliniance Exercitat . in Solinum , 
 pars altera , p. 916; and compare the Notes of Argoli on Pan- 
 vinio, apud Grcevium, tom. ix., p. 67, 68. 
 
 f See Note *, page 52. 
 
AND OF THE CTRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 57 
 
 account for the error, or the whole passage may 
 be applied to the Alba Linea, which Cassiodorus 
 shortly after introduces. 
 
 In frequently alluding to the whole flat inclosed 
 by the walls, we have hitherto employed the po- 
 pular term of “Arena nor is that word, though 
 more properly belonging to the Amphitheatre, 
 inapplicable to the Circus ; but the ancient writers, 
 and especially the poets, called it spatium ; 
 more frequently in the plural number, “ spatia, 
 to denote that it was run over several times in one 
 race *. Between the carceres and the first meta, 
 
 * Lactantius, finishing the seventh Book of his Institutes, does 
 not disdain to express himself thus : — Quoniam decursis propositi 
 operis septem spatiis ad metam provecti sumus . — De Vita Beata, 
 lib. vii., cap. 27. 
 
 The general terms “ Stadium” and “ Circus” were also some- 
 times used, in a more confined sense, to designate merely this 
 flat space, which we have hitherto called the “Arena.” Thus Isi- 
 dorus says, “ Est Circus omne illud spatium quod circuire equi so- 
 lent.” Isid. de Orig., lib. xviii., and Varro, (as already quoted at 
 note p. 20.) ,c Circus .. dictus .. quod ibi circum metas fertur 
 pompa et equi currunt.” Whilst Ausonius, with equal clearness, 
 
58 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 there is a clear space of 512 feet in length, and of 
 the same breadth as the Circus itself : as this was 
 perhaps sometimes used more especially for the 
 same purposes as the Amphitheatre *, for the sake 
 of distinction, we will here call it “ the Arena ” 
 It was here where the first contest took place 
 among the charioteers to get near the meta ; hence 
 arose several phrases and metaphors especially used 
 by the poets f. The Arena (in this restricted 
 sense) was marked by a line drawn across the 
 
 appropriates to the same part the term “ Stadium.” See the pas- 
 sage quoted in note J to page 19. — (S.) 
 
 * See Note *, page 51. It is true, in the Mosaic of Italica, the 
 Athletae are seen at the upper end of the Circus ; but, for genera! 
 convenience, the clear space here described, seems preferable. 
 
 + Haec ubi dicta locum capiunt, signoque repente 
 Corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relinquunt. 
 
 Virg. JEneid. v., v. 316. 
 Ut cum carceribus sese effud^re quadrigae 
 Addunt se in spatia, &c. — Virg. Georg, i., t;.513. 
 
 Jam ruit, atque aequum summisit regula limen, 
 
 Corripuere leves spatium, &c. 
 
 Statius , Tkebaid. lib. vi.j v. 593. 
 Fert, et amat spatiis obstantia rumpere claustra. 
 
 (Metapkorice') Hor., lib. Epist. xiv., v. 9. 
 Compare also the animated description of Silius Italicus, Punicor., 
 lib. ami., v. 303, 8fc. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 59 
 
 Circus, called the Alba Linea, which seems to 
 have served for equalising the chariots before the 
 regular commencement of the race, as they were 
 equalised at the beak of the prow in the Greek 
 Hippodrome. It was not enough that the chariots 
 should be let out of the Carceres, and strive for 
 a place near the first Meta, but the race does not 
 appear to have been absolutely begun, until they 
 had run over this open space. Although the 
 Alba Linea is mentioned or alluded to by several 
 authors, the use of it is only explained by Cassio - 
 dorus. It was drawn, says that writer*, across 
 the Circus, at no great distance from the doors of 
 the Carceres, so that as the chariots advanced to 
 where the race should begin, as they always dashed 
 too furiously against one another, they would ne- 
 
 * Alba linea non longe ab ostiis in utrumque podium quasi regula 
 directa producitur, ut quadrigis progredientibus inde certamen orire- 
 tur, ne dum semper praepropere conantur elidere, spectandi volupta- 
 tem viderentur populis abrogare. — Epist. Variar., lib. in. I tnink 
 it is Visconti who says that the Alba Linea did not cause more 
 stumbling to the charioteers, than it has to the antiquaries of more 
 modern times. 
 
GO 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 cessarily, without this line as a check, deprive the 
 spectators of much pleasure; and it is not unlikely, 
 if a chariot was too late in getting up to the Alba 
 Linea, or by some mischance issued prematurely 
 from its barrier, it was stopped * by means of this 
 line, and not permitted to continue in that race f 
 (“missus ”). The Alba Linea we suppose to have 
 been a rope whitened or chalked + to render it more 
 
 * This office of stopping the chariots belonged to the Moratorcs, 
 alieady enumerated in the list given in Note , page 42. Gruterhas 
 collected several inscriptions in which that word is mentioned ; 
 the following may serve as an authority : 
 
 Q . RAPIDIO . Q . F . LEM . 
 
 MVLION7 
 MORATORI 
 LVDI . CIRCEN . ET . 
 
 AGITATORI, &c. 
 
 Fide Gruter , p. cccxxxix., No. 3. 
 t The Lyons Mosaic is great authority in this particular; there is 
 represented a chariot actually thrown down by the white line, which is 
 drawn across the arena, very near the place we have assigned for 
 the position of it; meanwhile the other chariots are seen continuing 
 the course. Indeed, it was a rare thing if an accident of this sort 
 did not happen, as appears by the two celebrated lines in Varro 
 Nemini fortuna currum carcere emissum intimo 
 Labi inoffensum per sequor candidum ad calcem sinit. 
 
 See some further remarks on the words calx and creta, in page 84, 
 note $, and compare the words “ frustra exit ,” in note $, page 89. 
 
 .t And not a furrow filled with chalk, as has been erroneously 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 61 
 
 conspicuous, and elevated above the ground to 
 serve the purpose described. These remarks re- 
 ceive confirmation from the recent discoveries. In 
 our Circus, near the first meta (No. 41), is a small 
 basement perforated for the reception of a square 
 
 imagined, (see all the arguments for that theory, in Salmasius, Pli- 
 niance Exercitat. in Solinum, 8fc., pars altera, page 917, 8fc.) But 
 compare the collection of terms in Julius Pollux , lib. lii ., cap. xxx • , 
 seg. 148. The word linea means a rope or sling in the following 
 authors : — Vitruvius, lib. v., cap. iii., and lib. vi., cap. ix., and lib. ix . , 
 cap. ix. Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. xxxii., cap. ii., and Columella, lib. iii., 
 cap. xv., and lib. viii ., cap. ix. A metaphorical passage in Tertullian 
 adversus Marcion, lib . v., may serve to illustrate this, and the thiee 
 preceding notes ; “ video aliquas etiam nunc lineas producendas ad 
 quas erit dimicandum.” It has been thought by some that Ovid 
 makes mention of this linea — 
 
 Quid frustra refugis P cogit nos linea jungi. 
 
 Ovid., Amor., lib. ii., v. 19. 
 And it has been hastily concluded, from this passage, that when the) 
 began to prepare the alba linea, the people ran to their places; by 
 comparing the following passage the error is detected : “ Transire 
 
 in diversa subsellia parum verecundum est, nam et Cassius Severus 
 urbane adversus hoc facientem lineam [or lineas] poposeit.” — Quin- 
 tilian, Inst, xi., 3. 
 
 The Conte Carli, Ant. Ital., par. 2., lib. iii., § 4, page 243, gives 
 an inscription found in the Theatre of Verona in front of a seat. 
 
 I . LOC . IIII 
 LIN . I 
 
 which he explains thus: Gradusl. Locus IV. Linea I. 
 
62 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 post or a Hermes, but most probably the latter * : 
 this, then, supported the Alba Linea, drawn across 
 the Circus in the manner explained : it is not meant 
 to be affirmed that in other Circuses it might not 
 be nearer the Carceres, as the words of Cassiodorus 
 intimate, but that would probably depend upon 
 the extent of the Arena • it is sufficient that we 
 have assigned an obvious use to this newly dis- 
 covered object, with the concurrent testimony of 
 ancient writers. 
 
 The chariots having gained their places, ran 
 round the Spina ; a part of the Circus that yet 
 remains to be explained. 
 
 The Spina (we are indebted to Cassiodorus for 
 the term) is 916 feet in length, dividing the Spa- 
 tium longitudinally into two parts. At each ex- 
 tremity of it, but separated by a space of about 
 eleven feet, are the metse or goals, round which the 
 
 * It is to this I would fain apply the obscure passage in Cassio- 
 dorus, already cited in Note *, page 52. But, waving this as autho- 
 rity, we may seem justified in restoring a Hermes to this basement. 
 It is worthy of remark, that Bianconi has drawn his Alba Linea 
 almost in this same place Sec his Piano Terreno, Tav. 1. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN OAMES. 
 
 63 
 
 chariots turned. The first or lower meta is nearly 
 four feet from the “ support 11 of the Alba Linea, 
 and, as we have said, 512 feet distant from the 
 central gate of the Carceres : the second, or upper 
 meta, is about 148 feet from the steps of the 
 triumphal gate ; so that the Spina, together with 
 the metae and intermediate spaces, are very nearly 
 equivalent to three-fifths the length of the whole 
 Circus. This division of the Spatium, however, is 
 not equal, nor is the Spina exactly parallel to the 
 sides of the Circus ; it lies considerably towards 
 the northern or left side, but tends in its direction 
 to the upper meta to recover its equality : the rea- 
 son for this seeming irregularity was to give more 
 room to the charioteers, on the side of the arena 
 where they made their first efforts. The point 
 equidistant from all the carceres, which is marked 
 in our general Plan (No. 42), will illustrate the 
 propriety of this construction. 
 
 The two metae so nearly resemble each other, 
 that in describing one we describe them both ; the 
 only particular in which they differ is, that the 
 
64 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 basement of one is lower than that of the other. 
 The basement of the meta has nearly the form of a 
 semi-ellipse : it is composed of the ordinary mate- 
 rials of brick and cement, but has been faced with 
 mai'ble: it is not solid, but contains a small unfi- 
 nished vault, where some have supposed the sacri- , 
 fices were performed during the games to the god 
 Consus : but we shall have occasion to correct that 
 erroneous opinion. These vaults do not seem to 
 have had the common ornament of plain stucco, 
 nor are the entrances into them at all convenient : 
 they could serve, indeed, for no other purpose than 
 for depositing implements used in sacrifices, or in 
 the service of the games. Upon the hollow base- 
 ment were placed three pillars formed like cones : 
 a piece of the base of one on each meta is left 
 standing, which shows that the nucleus was of 
 brick, but as the diameter decreased, the whole was 
 marble. A sufficient number of fragments have 
 been discovered to give the proportions * ; and it 
 
 * See the Vignette placed at the end of this description, which is 
 a front elevation and a ground-plan of the Meta restored from these 
 fragments. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 65 
 
 appears that these cones were above twenty feet 
 high : they were ornamented, as we learn from 
 other fragments, with bas-reliefs relative to the 
 games of the Circus, and the tops were finished 
 with marble balls or eggs, one of which was found 
 in the excavating. These cones were properly 
 called the Meta , which Ovid, with poetical license, 
 compares to the form of the cypress tree * ; — 
 the whole was collectively called, in the singular 
 number, Metaf. 
 
 The Spina consists of a low broad wall, in no 
 part higher than twelve feet, nor broader than 
 twenty-two : the ends are not straight, but hollowed 
 in the central part, which opens a little more space 
 between the Metae and the beginning of the Spina, 
 without making any difference in the elevation. 
 The top was not a uniformly level superficies, but 
 formed a slight cavity : besides this intimation of 
 its having contained water, there are continual ves- 
 
 * Metas imitata cupressus. — Ovid. Melamorph., lib.x., v. 106; 
 and comp. P/in., lib. xvi., cap.xxxviii. 
 
 t Vide Horace, Ode 1 4., lib. i. 
 
66 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 tiges of small canals running lengthways ; also in 
 some places may be observed specimens of that 
 cemented flooring called the opus signinwri*, which 
 is so commonly found in ancient reservoirs and 
 aqueducts. In the Circus Maximus a stream of 
 water ran round the arena, at the foot of the 
 Podium, and was called the Euripus f : from the 
 excavations made at the Praetor’s tribunal, it does 
 not appear that in our Circus such a thing existed ; 
 
 * This is a Vitruvian term, (see lib. ii., cap. Hi., and lib. viii., 
 cap.vii.,') where he gives the composition of this cement: “ Quid 
 non excogitavit ars ?” exclaims Pliny ; “ fractis etiam testis utendo 
 sic ut firmius durent tusis calce addita quae vocant signina, quo 
 genere etiam pavimenta excogitavit.” — Hist. Nat., lib. xxxv., cap. xii. 
 
 •f* The Euripus was introduced into the Circus Maximus by Julius 
 Caesar. “ Circensibus spatio circi ab utraque parte producto et in 
 gyrum Euripo addito,” &c. (Suet, in Julio, cap. xxxix.) It was 
 taken away by Nero, but soon afterwards was restored as a neces- 
 sary convenience. 
 
 The word (tv bene, et vel (>i«riu jacio) might be applied 
 
 to any free-flowing current, as it was to the Nile, (Cic. ad Q. fra- 
 trem, lib. Hi., epist. ix., et de Leg., lib. ii., cap. Hi), to the Hellespont, 
 or that part of the Euboean Sea near Chalcis. (Plin., Hist. Nat., 
 lib. iv., cap. xii.) The Euripus in the Circus Maximus was ten 
 feet deep, and as many broad . — See Diony. Halicar., lib. iii ., cap. 
 Ixviii 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 67 
 
 the water on the Spina, therefore, was probably 
 arranged to supply this defect, and it will be shown 
 in the proper place where it was poured into a 
 receptacle. The Spina was moreover cut, at irre- 
 gular intervals, by three passages across it, which 
 did not, however, interrupt the line of the lateral 
 wall. These passages or sections are in conformity 
 with the Lyons Mosaic, in which we see two men 
 at one of them, exhibiting a palm branch, as if for 
 the purpose of exciting the ardour of the combat- 
 ants*; but the most obvious use that may be 
 assigned to these passages was for the convenience 
 of traversing quickly the whole breadth of the 
 spatium, — a necessary convenience indeed, when we 
 consider the numerous agents employed about the 
 games. We have illustrated these general obser- 
 vations, afforded by a review of the actual state of 
 the Spina, by drawing a section of it as it exists f . 
 
 The brick wall that now presents itself was 
 
 * Munera principio ante oculos, Circoque locantur 
 Iu medio sacri tripodes, viridesque coronae, 
 
 Et palmae, pretium victoribus. — Virgil. JEneid. v. 110. 
 f See Plate II., Fig. 2. 
 
68 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 doubtless covered with a facing of marble, as well 
 as the Metse : it was also finished at the top with a 
 slightly projecting fascia , as appears from seveial 
 bas-reliefs *, and as we have exhibited it in the 
 restored elevation. 
 
 It was always known, from medals and bas- 
 reliefs, that statues and other objects were placed 
 upon the Spina for the use or ornament of the 
 Circus, but this is the only instance where they 
 can be restored to their original positions with any 
 degree of certainty. There were, however, no 
 regular rules for placing them, for in every repre- 
 sentation in bas-relief they appear differently dis- 
 posed f ; but the similarity of the ornaments them- 
 selves was so great, that the general effect was 
 nearly the same in all. By a reference to our Plan 
 of the Spina, it will be seen that a number of base- 
 ments have been discovered ; atfd several broken 
 
 * See two of the representations of the Sp*na 3 in the Sula della 
 Biga , in the Vatican. 
 
 f The following specimens may be eOHlfiirStt With our r§§lored 
 elevation, in PI. II. and III. — (See the annexed Plan.) 
 
Statue of Cybele. 
 
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 Meta. 
 
 Seven Eggs. 
 
 Statue of Victor 
 
 
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 b» § 
 
 S-.s-a" 
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 3 a * 
 
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 Obelisk. 
 
 An JEdicula. 
 
 Dolphins. 
 
 Columns sur- 
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AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 69 
 
 statues, fragments of columns, and other marbles, 
 were found also in making the excavations *. 
 Guided by these indications, and aided by ancient 
 authorities, we will endeavour to restore the whole 
 to its original state, beginning at the first Meta. 
 
 For the first eighty feet, the surface of the Spina 
 is elevated a little above the rest, and near where 
 the elevation ceases is a basement. It may be 
 inferred from a passage in Solinus, from Pliny f , 
 
 * These marbles are now in the possession of the Duca di Brac- 
 ciano, in the court of his Palazzo Giraud, Borgo Nuovo, Rome. 
 Very few of the pieces of statues were found in their places ; in 
 endeavouring to restore them, therefore, to their original situations, 
 we have considered the propriety of their relative positions, and the 
 emblematical meaning conveyed in some of the statues themselves, 
 as well as the order in which they were discovered. In making this 
 adjustment, and in other architectural illustrations, I had the essen- 
 tial aid of my ingenious friend, Signor Giuseppe Pardini, a young 
 Tuscan Architect, now residing in Rome. If, after all, it were pos- 
 sible to go back fifteen centuries, and see a Venus where an Her- 
 cules ought to have been, or an Apollo instead of a Paris, the error 
 detected would not appear very important. It will, moreover, be 
 seen from the examples adduced in the preceding note, that in every 
 Circus the statues were differently arranged on the Spina; and per- 
 haps in the same Circus they were sometimes removed and changed. 
 
 t Pliny relates, as an instance of the sagacity of the horses, that 
 in the secular games given by Claudius, two horses of the white fac- 
 
70 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 and other authorities, that near the first meta the 
 conqueror, having leaped from his chariot upon the 
 Spina, received his prize, or “ hr avium * ”, and 
 having received it, he made his grateful sacrifice, 
 
 tion, having lost their charioteer at the Carceres, performed the 
 race alone in regular order, and won the praemium, to the envy of 
 the other candidates ; and “ peracto legitimo cursu ad metam ste- 
 teee. ’ — Plin.y Hist. Natur., lib. viii cap. xlii. Solinus, alluding 
 to the same circumstance, says, “ Et post decursa legitima spatia ad 
 locum palmas sponte consisterent velut praemium postularent.” — 
 ( Solinus , cap. Ivii., page 329, edit. Basilice.') Compare also Sido- 
 nim Apollinaris in Narbone ; and see the Exercitationes Pliniance 
 of Salmasius, pars altera, page 914, edit. Parisiis, 1629. But I 
 am ignorant where Panvinio has found the following peremptory 
 authority: “ Juxta metam supra spinam erat praemiorum locus ad 
 
 quern gradibus ascendebatur, et auriga victor e curru desiliens eo con- 
 sceriso bravium propositum tollebat.”— De Ludis, Sfc., lib. i., cap. 
 xvii. See also Philander' s Notes on Vitruvius, page 193 ; and 
 compare Seneca, epist xxx. 
 
 * The prize in Greek was called see St. Paul's Epist. 
 
 to the Corinthians, I., chap, ix., verse 24 •, and Chrysostom. Oratione 
 de Circo ,* from whence is derived the Latin “ bravium ,” and, as 
 Argoli thinks, the “ bravo" of the Italians. The word is used in 
 its popular sense by Prudentius. 
 
 Tu solus obis inclyte 
 Solus bravii duplicis 
 Palmam tulisti, tu duas 
 
 Simul parasti laureas — Prudentius, Peristeph. in 
 Laud. Vincent. Martyr, p. 196, edit. Basil. And compare Julius 
 Pollux, lib. Hi., cap. xxx., segm. 145. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 71 
 
 most probably, to Mars *. Bianconi found a piece 
 of an altar near to the first meta, of which he has 
 given an engraving in his work on Circuses t : we 
 have therefore designated this elevated part of the 
 wall the “ locus braviorum and to the basement 
 have restored an altar. The whole receives confir- 
 mation from the bas-relief of Vescovali, and a medal 
 of Aurelian representing a corresponding part of a 
 spina l- At the foot of this supposed altar is one 
 of those cavities already described as adapted for 
 containing water. We may consider this as within 
 
 * The inscription which Tertullian saw on the altar of Consus, 
 shows that Mars presided over the contest (see note +, page 97) ; 
 compare also the following passage : 
 
 Jamque duse restant nodes de mense secundo 
 Marsque citos junctis curribus urget equos, &c. 
 
 Ovid. Fast., lib. it., v. 858. 
 
 See also Festus, on the words “ October equus," and consult the notes 
 of Argoli and Bulenger, in Grcevius, tom. ix., pages 195 and 730. 
 
 t “ L’ abbiamo trovato,” says Bianconi, “ come dicemmo, in uno 
 scavo fatto nella via tra la Spina e le prime mete; probabilmente ap- 
 parteneva ad un’ ara di quelle che stavario sulla spina. The frag- 
 ment was much corroded, but a chariot at full speed was visible 
 enough upon it to afford a drawing of it, and the ornament seems 
 appropriate to such an altar. — See Bianconi dei Circhi, Sfc. 
 
 + See this medal engraved in Grcevius, tom. ix.,page lo5. 
 
72 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the precincts of the sacrificing altar, and therefore 
 suited for the ablutions and sprinklings of the 
 priests and victims *. 
 
 At a further distance of about seventy feet are 
 the vestiges of two columns which have stood across' 
 the Spina, and within an inclosure of twenty-five 
 feet long, seemingly a receptacle for water. These 
 columns supported a cornice upon which were 
 placed the figures of dolphins, generally seven in 
 number, corresponding to the number of the eggs, 
 which were elevated, as we shall shortly see, in 
 another part of the Spina. We learn from the 
 Lyons Mosaic that the dolphins spouted water, and 
 we here observe a shallow basin for receiving it : it 
 may therefore be concluded the water was supplied 
 from the dolphins, but in what manner it was con- 
 veyed to the tops of the columns it may be difficult 
 to ascertain -j‘. In referring to our restored eleva- 
 
 * See page 20. 
 
 I At this place, according to Signor Nibby, who superintended the 
 excavations, the water was all carried off by means of a drain, or 
 cloaca, which was discovered under the level of the Arena; it con- 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 73 
 
 tion, (Plate III. fig. 1.) it must be borne in mind 
 that it is a geometrical elevation without perspec- 
 tive; the nearer objects hide the corresponding 
 more distant ones, and consequently only one dol- 
 phin on one column appears, instead of seven on 
 two columns : for the same reason, only two cones 
 or metae appear, instead of three. In these cases a 
 reference to the Ground Plan, and to the front ele- 
 vations of the Dolphins and Meta given in the vig- 
 nettes at the beginning and end of this dissertation, 
 will prevent any erroneous idea. The eggs and 
 dolphins were (according to Dion Cassius) intro- 
 duced by Agrippa, in order to correct the mistakes 
 the spectators were liable to make with regard to 
 the number of courses round the Spina*. At every 
 
 tinued along the southern side of the Spina, was more than three feet 
 deep, and received all the waters of the Circus. — (/See Dissertazione, 
 8fc., page 38.) 
 
 * xav rat \zSrtoigog.cti fftyuXXof&ivBs ivS^uitovs rfi/H rov ratv ^lavXatv 
 a.(>i6p,ov ogav, rout 2s SsA ( pitiat xou rot. aoetdtj fttm^yh/toctra xxri?n<far 
 ooratt 2/ uuratv at artf/toboi rut on^t $/top,a>v a'taSitx'JVUivra.t. — Dion Cassius, 
 lib. lxix.,p. 376. 
 
 Amongst the other works of the Censors Fulvius, Flaccus, and 
 Postumius Albinus, Livy enumerates the following : Carceres in Circo 
 
74 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 circuit an egg was set up *, until the usual number 
 of seven was completed, and thus the state of the con- 
 test was exhibited to the assembly without dispute : 
 it does not appear that the dolphins were always used 
 for numbering, but were sometimes placed merely 
 for a corresponding ornament : they were dedicated, 
 says Tertullian, to the honour of Neptune, but the 
 eggs were ascribed to the honour of the Castors f . 
 
 et ova ad notas curriculis numerandas et * * * — dam et metas 
 
 trans, &c., from which mutilated passage it would appear, that the 
 eggs were used in the Circus for numbering before Agrippa, only the 
 eggs are mentioned as particularly used for numbering. Metarum 
 circuitus ovorum erectionibus exprimatur, ( Cassiodorus , lib. iii., 
 Variar .) for it might often be inconvenient to remove the dolphins. 
 
 * From the expression “ ovorum erectionibus" in the passage just 
 cited, we should conclude an egg was set up at every round ; but 
 from the following, that they were all previously arranged, and taken 
 down severally : Nam non modo ovum illud sublatum est quod ludis 
 
 Circensibus novissimi curriculi finem facit quadrigis, sed ne illud qui- 
 dem ovum vidimus quod in Cereali Pompa solet esse primum.” — 
 Varro de Re Rustica , lib. i., cap. i. In the Lyons Mosaic they ap- 
 pear thus, 
 
 O O Q 
 
 O OOP 
 
 perhaps both methods were adopted, according to the fancy of the 
 persons employed. 
 
 t Ova honori Castorum adscribunt, qui illos ovo editos credendo 
 
 m 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENS1AN GAMES. 75 
 
 At a further distance of seventy feet is the 
 foundation of a pedestal to which we suppose 
 belonged the statue of Venus. Amongst the 
 statues discovered was a half-naked Venus: only 
 the head and a hand are wanting : at the left 
 foot is a dolphin : the drapery spreads in folds 
 downwards from the waist, like a shell, which 
 renders it properly a Venus Marina; — for this 
 reason we have placed it on a pedestal discovered 
 nearest to the columns of the dolphins, which, 
 as we have seen, were dedicated to Neptune. 
 
 Forty-eight feet further, along the Spina, was 
 discovered the foundation of another pedestal, in 
 form and dimensions like the former; — we have 
 replaced here the statue of Hercules. Amongst 
 the fragments found in excavating was a head 
 very much corroded, but indicating the cha- 
 racter of the statue by some traces of the lion’s 
 hide left about the ears: — in the fanciful alle- 
 
 de cygno Jove non erubescunt, Delphinos Neptuno vovent. — Tertul- 
 lian, De Spectaculis, cap. viii., and compare Isidorus, lib. xviii., cap. 
 
 xxix. 
 
76 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 gory of the Circus *, the statue of Hercules, em- 
 blem of force and valour, might be placed nearest 
 that of Venus, emblem of grace and love, — thus 
 contrasting the characteristics of the sexes. 
 
 To this basement immediately succeeds another 
 separated space or inclosure, which continues for 
 near fifty feet ; it is comprised between a low divi- 
 sion wall and the first passage across the Spina, and 
 was, according to the opinion of Professor Nibby, 
 a small flower garden. We suppose the learned 
 professor forms his conjecture from the mere ap- 
 pearance of the soil, which does not seem, like the 
 rest, to have been covered with any kind of cement ; 
 otherwise, the supposition stands without any au- 
 thority. 
 
 After crossing the passage, we arrive at the ves- 
 tiges of a third pedestal, smaller than either of the 
 others. Considering that there was discovered a 
 fragment of a statue, consisting of a naked male 
 leg, placed on a small oval base, and supported 
 
 * Seepage 100, &c. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 77 
 
 against the trunk of a tree, with every appearance 
 of the remains of a statue of Apollo ; and that this 
 pedestal is near the site of the Obelisk, which was 
 dedicated to the Sun * ; we have ventured to place 
 here the statue of the God of Day . 
 
 The site of the Obelisk, at about thirty feet 
 distant from hence, was always known. Fulvio f 
 
 * See Cassiodorus, in Epistle often cited, and compare Isidorus, 
 Orig., lib. xviii., cap. xxvii. Every one knows the form of an obe- 
 lisk, but I cannot resist transcribing the following description of it. 
 
 “ Obeliscus est asperrimus lapis, in figuram metae cujusdam sen- 
 sim ad proceritatem consurgens excelsam, utque radium imitetur, 
 gracilescens paulisper specie quadrata in verticem productus angus- 
 tum,manu lrevigatus artificis. Formarum autem innumeras notas hie- 
 roglyphicas appellatas, quas ei undique videmus incisas, initialis sa- 
 pientiae vetus insignivit auctoritas, &c.” — Ammian Marcelhnus, 
 lib. xvii., c. xiv. 
 
 + It is sometimes curious to read the descriptions of the antiqua- 
 ries of the sixteenth century. — <c Un altro (t. e. obelisco) ne e 
 grande ebellissimo vicino alia Via Appia a due miglia lontano nello 
 hippodrome tra santo Bastiano hoggi cos! chiamato et caput bovis, 
 (Tomb of Csecilia Metella,) spezzato in molte parti, ove sono inta- 
 gliate lettere hieroglyphice, ove anchora sono i segnali delle mete 
 in mezo al cerchio, poste per lo lungo ordinatamente 1’ una dopo 
 1’ altra, percioche 1’ erono sette mete, similitudine de sette pianetti, 
 e nel mezo era lo Obelisco, che e consacrato al sole; l’altre mete 
 che eran della destra e sinistra di quello, erono consagrate agli altri 
 pianetti.” Andreas Fulvio delle Antichita della Cittd di Roma, 
 
78 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 saw it laid near its basement broken in several 
 pieces; and towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century it was transported and set up in the Piazza 
 Navona, where it now remains. It is fifty-five feet 
 high, and covered with hieroglyphics, but, accord- 
 ing to Mons. Champollion, is the work of the 
 Romans * : he reads in the characters the names 
 of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian ; so that it has 
 in all probability been taken from some other edi- 
 fice. On the summit of the Obelisk was placed a 
 ball, from whence proceeded an arrow’s point indi- 
 cative of the ray of the sun -J* : this was called the 
 Pyropus, being a composition of copper and gold. 
 
 8fc., tradotto per Paulo dal Rosso. Fenegia, MDXLIII., carta 
 
 The Obelisk was set up in the Piazza Navona, by order of Inno- 
 cent X., under the directions of Bernini, who declared he had ga- 
 thered up every morsel belonging to it; « nell’ ultimo scavo perd 
 (says Signor Nibby), si e conosciuto che egli non si diede tal briga 
 essendosi trovati molti pezzi, &c.”-j Dissertaziom, 8fc„ p. 40. 
 
 * See « Lettre a M. Dacier, relative a l\ Alphabet des Hiero- 
 glyphes,” $-e.-But such is the taste for hieroglyphics in France, 
 that not another copy of this work is to be bought at present. 
 
 f Cassiodorus as cited above.— Isidorus, lib.xvii., cap. ocxxi. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 79 
 
 and calculated for a strong reflector * : it was girt 
 by an astragal of rose leaves -f, and was altogether 
 the chief ornament of the Circus. Although the 
 site cannot be mistaken, it is difficult to identify the 
 basement, a hollow having been formed in the 
 removing of the Obelisk, which is now (1826) filled 
 with stagnant water ; but, as near as we can judge, 
 it was placed in the middle of the Spina. 
 
 Continuing from the site of the Obelisk, and 
 crossing a second division, we arrive at the founda- 
 tion of another basement, which seems rather to 
 
 * See Pliny, lib. xxxiv., cap. viii., and Ovid. Metamorph., 
 
 lib. ii., at the words, 
 
 Flammasque imitante Pyropo. 
 
 + Haec [rosa] viret angusto foliorum tecta galero, 
 
 Hanc tenui folio purpura rubra notat ; 
 
 Haec aperit primi fastigia celsa Obelisci 
 Mucronem absolvens purpurei capitis. 
 
 Ausonius, Idyllia xiv., v. 25, &c. 
 Notwithstanding the interpretation of Panvinio, Bulenger, and others, 
 I should hardly have applied this passage, had I not seen a medal 
 where several palm-branches are fastened beneath the Pyropus of the 
 Obelisk. — Nero, too, once collected all the crowns he had won, and 
 fastened them on the same place. — ( See Dion Cassius, lib. Ixiii., cap. 
 xxi.,page 1041, tom. ii., edit. Hamburgi, 1752.) Argoli is delighted 
 with the idea, “ Quam bene ! nam obeliscus in Spina Circi, et in 
 Obelisco rosa!” — Apud Grcevium, tom. ix.,p. 206. 
 
80 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 have been that of a column. On every Spina there 
 was a statue of Victory in the attitude of flight, 
 holding out a wreath or a palm branch, and placed 
 on the top of a column *. There was, indeed, no 
 fixed rule for placing it on a particular spot, but in 
 several bas-reliefs we find Victory near the temple 
 or columns sustaining the eggs. Amongst the 
 fragments discovered was a piece of the statue of 
 Victory from the knees downwards, covered with 
 flowing drapery, and placed on a small pedestal. 
 On triumphal arches we usually see one foot resting 
 on a globe : by this elevation to the figure the act 
 of flight was better exhibited, and that circumstance 
 helps us to recognize the fragment. Guided by 
 these intimations, we have restored here the statue 
 and column of Victory. 
 
 Within a further distance of thirty-five feet are 
 the vestiges of the small temple just alluded to. 
 It has been nearly of a square form, admitting of a 
 column at each angle : it had a cornice richly but 
 
 * Victory on a column is all that is left of the Spina in the Mo- 
 saic of Italica. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 81 
 
 rudely sculptured, as appears from some fragments 
 on the spot. It corresponds in form to that exhi- 
 bited on the bas-relief of Foligno, and on several 
 others. The eggs for numbering the courses * were 
 set on the top of the cornice, and for the conve- 
 nience of being lifted or raised were made, perhaps, 
 of wood: Juvenal calls them “ Phala” a word 
 which means turrets of wood f. Near this temple, 
 and about the columns of the Dolphins, the rich 
 women consulted the fortune-tellers]: before the 
 games of the Circus began, or during the intervals. 
 The temple, as well as the eggs, was doubtless de- 
 dicated to Castor and Pollux. 
 
 In the third or last division of the Spina occur 
 
 * Compare note *, page 74. 
 
 t See the succeeding note. — The Phalae are thus explained by 
 Nonius : “ Phalae sunt et in Circo quae apud veteres propter spec- 
 tators e lignis erigebantur.” — See the Annotations of Merula on 
 Juvenal , at the word “ Phalae,'’ and compare the term used for the 
 eggs by Dion Cassius , in note *, page 73. 
 
 | Plebeium in Circo positum est et in aggere fatum ; 
 
 Quae nudis longum ostendit cervicibus aurum 
 Consulit ante Phalas Delphinorumque columnas. 
 
 Juvenal. Sat. vi., v. 588. 
 Non vicanos aruspices, non astrologos de Circo. 
 
 Ennius , as cited by Cicero de Divinatione, lib. cap. cxrTii. 
 
 G 
 
OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the traces of two more pedestals : to the first we 
 have restored the statue of an Amazon, because the 
 trunk of such a statue, made of Pentelic marble, was 
 found in the excavating. To the second, which is 
 within seventy feet of the upper Meta, is restored 
 a sitting statue, which, in the opinion of Professor 
 Nibby, is a Proserpine. This statue, found near 
 the end of the Spina, is made reclining against the 
 narrow back of a seat, the legs of which are broken. 
 It is covered with drapery, but the feet are muti- 
 lated. Under the seat lies a large dog with the 
 tail of a lion, enveloped in the drapery : the only 
 objection to this animal representing a Cerberus is, 
 that it has only one head ; but the head of a savage 
 dog, and the tail of a lion, is sufficient to designate 
 it a monster. The Professor goes back to Homer 
 and Pausanias * to show that the notion of a three- 
 headed Cerberus was a fancy of posterior writers ; 
 
 * See Dissertaziune, page 42 ; — and I wish the statue could have 
 been pronounced a Cybele ; for that Goddess, seated on a lion, ap- 
 pears so frequently on the Spina, as represented in medals and bas- 
 reliefs. No such statue, however, having been found, we have not 
 ventured to introduce one. 
 
 ■ 
 
 « 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 83 
 
 but he might have observed that Hesiod * gives 
 fifty heads to the monster, and that Virgil ‘f* is 
 among the “posterior writers.” The statue in 
 question is the work of a late age, when classical 
 taste as well as the arts had declined. All that was 
 here required was to represent a Cerberus, in order 
 to designate a statue of Proserpine, which the artist 
 seems to have effected by making a dog a monster : 
 this is, however, a singular statue, and merits some 
 observation. 
 
 The second Meta, which immediately succeeds, 
 may be considered as already described. Such is 
 the manner in which the elevation of the Spina is 
 restored, as illustrated in Plate III. fig. 1. We shall 
 now proceed to notice some further peculiarities, 
 relative to the games themselves. 
 
 The Chariots were sometimes drawn by two 
 (bijugce), and sometimes by four horses ( quad - 
 
 * Hesiod. Theogonia, ver. 311 . 
 
 + Virgil. /Encid. vi., v. 417 . Sec also Horace, lib. ii., ode xix. 
 
84 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 rig (P, ) *, and were accompanied round the course 
 by riders on horseback *4? and they ran seven times 
 round the Spina We have supposed one half of 
 the Alba Linea to mark the beginning, and the 
 other the end of the race. If so, the latter half 
 was synonymous with the ancient term Calx , and 
 the subsequent appellation of Cr eta §. There is 
 
 * Nero drove a decemjugee at Olympia, but that was an unusual 
 extravagance. — Suet, in Neron., cap. xxiv. In the quadrigae the 
 two foremost horses (leaders) were called funales, the other two 
 jugales. — See Argoli's Notes in Grceviw, tom. ix., p. 195. 
 
 t See the Lyons Mosaic, and the bas-relief of Foligno ; these were 
 the “ equi desultorii ,” or “ singulares’’ — the atyvx\oi ivrvroi that fol- 
 lowed in the Pompa (see page 14, note f); they went forward to 
 announce the race, and perhaps to clear the course. — See Cassio- 
 dorus, lib. Hi., Variar. ep. 51; and Suet, in Julio Ceesare, cap. xxxix.; 
 and compare lsidorus, lib. xviii., cap. xxxviii. and xxxix. But I 
 cannot make out any distinction between the “ equi desultorii” and 
 the “ equi singulares.” 
 
 ;t Seu septem spatiis Circo meruere coronam. 
 
 Ovid., in Halieuticon. v. G8. 
 Tu conamine duplicatus ipso 
 Stringis quadrijugis et arte summa 
 In gyrum bene septimum reservas. 
 
 Sidonius in Narbonc. 
 
 See also Propertius, lib. ii., Elegia xxiv., v. 25. lsidorus, lib. xviii., 
 and Cassiodorus, in the Epistle cited. 
 
 § “ Quoniam sumus ab ipsa calce ejus interpellatione (ait Cicero) 
 revocati : hanc quam nunc in Circo cretam vocamus, calcem antiqui 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 85 
 
 an intimation in the Lyons Mosaic that the race 
 was not always measured by a certain number of 
 complete courses round the Spina, but sometimes 
 by a measured distance ; for we observe in that 
 monument the second half of the Alba Linea transr 
 ferred to another part of the Spatium, correspond- 
 ing in our Circus to an imaginary line drawn from 
 near the Praetor’s tribunal to the Spina ; but 
 wherever this line might fall, it was the ultima 
 linea” and emblematical of the end of human life *, 
 The Carceres were capable, as we have said, of 
 containing twelve chariots at once, but the whole of 
 that number seldom or ever started together. The 
 ordinary number seems to have been four, that 
 
 dicebant.” — Seneca, epist. cviii., page 637, edit. Lips. Antwerp., 
 1652. 
 
 Est et vilissima [creta] qua Circum praeducere ad victorias notam 
 * * * * instituerunt majores. — Plin., Hist. Nat., 
 
 lib. xxxv., cap. xvii. 
 
 Hence the beauty of the metaphor in Cicero de Senectute — “ Et si 
 quis deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac setate repuerascam et in cunis 
 vagiam, valde recusem •, nec vero velim, quasi decurso spatio, ad car- 
 ceres a calce revocari.” — And comp, de Amicitia, cap. ci. 
 
 * Mors ultima linea rerum est. 
 
 Horace, Epist., lib. i. xvi., v. 79, 
 
 Compare also Propertius, lib. iv., el. ti. 
 
86 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 would be one to each faction, until two other fac- 
 tions were added by Domitian, and then six might 
 start * : the four, or the six, or even the whole 
 twelve, were called an emission, “missus;” and on 
 a festival day there were twenty-four emissions f 
 (the Carceres eight times full), besides the “ missus 
 asrarius.” The twenty-fifth emission was so called, 
 because anciently, on that occasion, a collection was 
 made among the people for the conqueror, either to 
 raise him a sum of money [«s], or to erect him a 
 statue The custom of collecting money was 
 subsequently abolished, but the last emission pre- 
 
 * This was the case under Commodus. (See Dion Cassius, in 
 Severm’ Life, lib. Ixxv., cap. iv., page 1258, tom. ii., edit. Ham- 
 burgh.) The greatest number of chariots I have ever seen on a 
 bas-relief is eight ; the most common number is four. 
 
 + See Dion Cassius, lib. lix., page 908, in Caligula, and Cassio- 
 dorus, Epist. U, Sfc . — At the games Claudius gave in the Vatican, (Suet, 
 in Claudio, cap.xxi.,) after every fifth “ missus ” was a chase (ve- 
 natio): thus five times five would include the missus cerarius. 
 
 $ M. Varro , de Gente Populi Romani, as cited by Servius in Virg. 
 Georg., lib. in., v. 18. Of this Argoli has given a proof in an in- 
 scription. 
 
 ***** 
 
 HV1C [scilicet VALERIO] PLEBS VNI VERSA 
 HISTONIENSIVM STATVAM 
 AERE COLLATO DECREVIT. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENS1AN GAMES. 
 
 87 
 
 served the epithet of ararius . In twenty-five 
 
 emissions, therefore, there were employed one hun- 
 dred chariots ; hence Virgil *, alluding to the usual 
 number given on a festival day, sings, I will 
 drive a hundred four-yoked chariots at the streams, 
 &c. Suetonius says, that Domitian, in celebrating 
 the secular games, in order to get through one 
 hundred emissions in one day, one in honour of 
 every year, curtailed the seven times round the 
 Spina to five +. 
 
 * Virg. Georg., lib. Hi., v. 18. 
 
 t Suet, in Domitian, cap. iv. Servius, on the passage oi Virgil 
 referred to in the preceding note, explains the “ centum currus,” as 1 ! 
 
 « centum missus ,” and Bulenger, de Circa, cap. xv., 8fc. approves of the 
 explanation, and applies it to the passage of Suetonius. From such 
 authorities it is dangerous to dissent; but if Domitian only gave the 
 usual number of emissions for a festival day, what was there extraor- 
 dinary in it ? or why curtail the distance of the race nearly one third P 
 Commodus once gave thirty emissions in two hours 1 {Dion 
 Cassius, lib. Ixxii., chap, xv.,) and it should be recollected, that the 
 races continued from the rising to the setting of the sun. {Suet, in 
 Caligula, cap. xviii., and in Neron., cap. xxii., and Amrman. Mar- 
 cel/in. lib. xiv., cap. vi. Taking the measurements of the Circus 
 Maximus as given by Dionysius, {lib. Hi., cap. Ixviii., de Antiquit., 8fc.,) 
 and applying to it the proportions of our Circus, we shall have the 
 distance round the Spina very near to half a mile, consequently the 
 race equivalent to two miles and a half, as ordered by Domitian. 
 
88 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 The ancient Scholiast of Juvenal explains *, that 
 at the games given by the Praetors, there was an 
 emission called “ ordinarius on which occasion 
 the charioteers robbed the horses of their corn : 
 either on this account, or because many horses were 
 thrown down and injured in the contest, Juvenal 
 calls the Praetor the “ Prceda,” or “ Prcedo cabal- 
 lorumP From the vulgar and riotous nature of 
 this race, we may infer that if ever twelve chariots 
 started together, it would be at the “ Missus ordi- 
 narius. ” 
 
 In the Greek Hippodrome the places were taken 
 by lots, in the first, second or third barrier, be- 
 cause, according to the construction of the Carceres 
 described by Pausanias, there was an advantage 
 in the choice: in the Roman Circus, although 
 there was no such advantage in distance, (as a 
 reference to our Plan will show,) they seem to have 
 
 Supposing, therefore, only six emissions, or fifteen miles per hour, one 
 hundred emissions in one day was a thing quite possible : but as to 
 Commodus, he might have started at Newmarket. 
 
 * At the words Praeda caballurum. Sat.xi.,ver. 193. 
 
ANI) OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 89 
 
 observed the same ceremony of lots; hence we 
 find in Virgil* * * § the expression “ loca sorte legunt,'” 
 and there are inscriptions extant to the same 
 effect +. 
 
 It further appears from the tablet diligently 
 copied and published by Panvinio that prizes 
 were also awarded to the second and third places, 
 and Nero extended them still further ; but even the 
 favour of the Emperor could add no honour to the 
 fourth place § : the main prizes, or <c prcemia 
 
 * Virgil. JEneid., lib. v., v. 132., also Sidonius de Narbone, often 
 cited. 
 
 t See inscription in the following note. 
 
 X The following extracts from the document introduced by Pan- 
 vinio, (in his Ludi Cir censes, lib. i., cap. x.,) will suffice to corrobo- 
 rate our remarks. 
 
 C . APVLEIVS DIOCLES, agitator, &c., * * * summa 
 
 quadriga agitavit Annis XXIII1. Missus Ostio 1111 .CCLVII . C . LXII. 
 a pompa CX. Singularum vicit. x Lxiin. Inde praemia majora vicit 
 Lxxxxir .xxx. xxxii. * * * * The next refers to contests 
 
 where he gained no money but honour. Lx ad honorem venit X. ; 
 and the next to inferior rewards. * * vndas Dxxxlxi. Tertias, 
 
 DLxxvi. Quartas ad LTS . X . 1 frustra exit. 
 
 § Neque dissimulabat velle se palmarum numerum ampliare ( Suet . 
 in Neron., cap. xxii., see also cap. v.) ; observe also in the above 
 
90 
 
 OK THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 majora ,” were only obtained in a match, when the 
 challenge was given to one or more distinguished 
 charioteers. The conqueror obtained in a con- 
 test like this from thirty to thirty-two thousand 
 “ nummi making about £%50 of our money, 
 and hence we find on sepulchral inscriptions inti- 
 mations of charioteers dying very rich f . Diodes, 
 whose successes are detailed in the tablet alluded 
 to, when he was twenty-four years of age, gained 
 the prizes under the disadvantage of driving the 
 topmost chariot, or “ summa quadriga This 
 means he started from the door next to the Porta 
 PompcB : for thus issuing, he had to elude the efforts 
 of his antagonists crossing the Arena to get near 
 
 tracts, that Diodes has not written how often he won the fourth 
 prizes ; sometimes the most feeble merit was rewarded. 
 
 Hie mox prsecipit eequus Imperator, 
 
 Palmis serica, torquibus coronas 
 Conjungi, et meritum remunerari, 
 
 Victis ire jubens, satis pudendis, 
 
 Villis versicoloribus tapetas, &c. — Sidonius de Narlunc. 
 
 * See Note J, p. 89 ; and Panvinio’s Annotations to the inscrip- 
 tion there cited. 
 
 + See Bulencjer de Circo Rom., 8fc.,p. G87, who also compares 
 Juvenal, Satyr, mi., v. 112, &c . ; and Martial, Epig. Ixxiv., lib. jr. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 91 
 
 the first Meta. On another occasion he even 
 started from the Porta Pompse *. 
 
 There were originally but two Factions in the 
 Circus, distinguished by the colours white and red, 
 emblematical of summer and winter but the 
 number was subsequently augmented to four, em- 
 blematical of the four seasons J ; the “ Prasinus” 
 or green, represented the spring; the “Rosens,” 
 
 * For confirmation of these things, see the Extracts in Note J, 
 page 89. 
 
 t Haec ab initio duo soli fuerunt colores, Albus et Itusseus. — Ter- 
 iultian de Spectaculis, cap. ix. 
 
 $ Colores in vicem temporum quadrifaria divisione funduntur. 
 Prasinus virenti verno, Roseus aestati flammeae, Albus pruinoso 
 Autumno, Venetus nubiloe Hyemi dicatur, ( Cassiodorus, lib. Hi ., 
 but I have rather followed Tertullian in the two latter emblems, and 
 1 have the sanction of Panvinio. Sidonius Apollinaris thus briefly 
 enumerates the factions. 
 
 Micant colores albus vel venetus virens 
 Rubensque. — De Narbone. 
 
 In the border of the Mosaic of Italica, the seasons are represented 
 by children. Spring, in a green tunic, (see Corrippus, lib. i.,art. xvii.) 
 holding a bird in his hand, (see Lucretius, lib. i., v. 10.) ; summer is 
 clothed in red and yellow, holding a basket. Winter is nearly de- 
 stroyed ; but there is left a hand holding a hare. Autumn is wanting. 
 — See the IVork of La Borde. 
 
92 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 or red, the summer; the “ Venetus ,” or azure 
 blue, was figurative of autumn, and the “ Albus ,” 
 or white, of hoary winter. These colours, which it 
 might be difficult to ascertain by the mere names, 
 are faithfully represented on the Lyons Mosaic, 
 one of the principal things for which that monu- 
 ment of antiquity is valuable*. Panvinio has pub- 
 lished several inscriptions relative to the charioteers 
 of the different factions: it does not, however, 
 appear that the same charioteer always kept his 
 colour : for (in addition to the authority of the 
 inscription of Diodes alluded to in note J, p. 89,) 
 we learn from another inscription, produced by 
 Argoli, that a certain Polinices won 737 palms in 
 the four different factions f. Suetonius informs us 
 
 * A vermilion red, a perfect white, a grass green, and a lightish 
 blue. If Mr. Gibbon had seen this monument, it would have solved 
 his doubts as to the “ vague word” Venetus . — See History of Decline 
 and Fall, fyc., vol. v., Edition London, 1808, chap, xl., pages 239 
 and 240. 
 
 f M. AVRELIVS POLINICES NAT. VERNA QVI VIXIT 
 ANNOS XXIX. MENSES IX. DIEBVS V. QVI VICIT PALMAS 
 DCCXXXVII SIC. IN RVSSEO DCXXXV. IN PRASfNO IV. 
 IN VENETO XII. IN ALBO XVII. DECEMJVGE VIII. SEI- 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 93 
 
 that Domitian added two factions to the four 
 already enumerated, — the “ aurata ” and the 
 ec 'purpurea ,” i. e. the yellow and purple * : but 
 this innovation, like his other of curtailing the 
 seven rounds to five, was in all probability not 
 durable. The emulation of the combatants was 
 inflamed, and the favour of the spectators was 
 divided by these factions. The clamours and 
 furious zeal of the respective partisans in urging 
 on their favourites, are related with seeming wonder 
 
 JVGE III. There seems a defect in the enumeration. ( See Argo/i’s 
 Notes in Grtevius, tom. ix ., page 95.) There are other inscriptions 
 extant to the same effect ; but the following is a specimen of a most 
 curious one, of considerable length, containing the names of the 
 horses, the colours and names of the charioteers, with the number of 
 premiums won by each. 
 
 Names of the 
 Horses. 
 
 Colours of the 
 Horses. 
 
 Names of the 
 Charioteers. 
 
 Prasmia. 
 
 NITIDO 
 
 ALBO 
 
 LVPI 
 
 II 
 
 TVSCO 
 
 CINEREO 
 
 EESTI 
 
 11 
 
 DECORATO 
 
 BADIO 
 
 PINN 
 
 II 
 
 RAPTORE 
 
 RVFO 
 
 IVNI . 
 
 I 
 
 &c. &c., continuing to 117 names of horses, colours, &c. — See Pan- 
 vinio de Ludis, fyc., cap. xiii., lib. i. 
 
 * Duas Circensibus gregum factiones aurati purpureique panni 
 
 ad quatuor pristinas addidit (Suet, invit. Domitian., cap.vii.; see 
 
 also Dion Cassius, lib. xii., cap. iv., page 1 104.) 
 
by the historians, and dwelt upon with rapture by 
 the poets *. Scenes of contention frequently arose 
 from hence, which ended in wild disorder and mis- 
 chief: until at length the factions of the Circus 
 contributed at Constantinople to the terrible con- 
 vulsions which loosened the power of the Eastern 
 Empiref. 
 
 The Skill of the Charioteers was not only shown 
 in turning the Metae, but experiments were made 
 upon their dexterity for the additional amusement 
 of the spectators. It seems to have been customary 
 for boys to run in the way of the chariots, and to 
 lie down in the course j, and it was expected the 
 charioteers would drive dexterously enough to avoid 
 
 * Ecce Circensium, says Seneca, obstrepit clamor, subita aliqua 
 et immensa voce feriuntur aures meaj. 
 
 Turn plausu fremituque virum studiisque faventum 
 Consonat omne nemus, vocemque inclusa volutant 
 Littora, pulsati colles clamore residunt. — Virg. JEn.v., v. 150. 
 The passages in ancient authors, bearing on this subject, are often 
 very beautiful. — -See Bulengerin Grcevius, tom. he., p. 690. 
 
 f See Gibbon's History, fyc., chap. xl. 
 
 + The authority of bas-reliefs. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 95 
 
 them, though at full speed and in the heat of the 
 contest. The same experiments were made with 
 small vases like “amphora” which are often to be 
 seen in bas-reliefs, thrown in the way of the chariots. 
 These vases, in all probability, had been previously 
 filled with water for the purpose of sprinkling the 
 horses and chariot wheels * Festus calls the vase 
 used for that purpose a “JVasiterna,” and describes 
 it as having handles, and approaching the form of 
 a platter f. This description answers very well to 
 the vessel represented in the Lyons Mosaic, which 
 a person is in the act of using. The representation 
 on Vescovali’s bas-relief is also similar; but it does 
 not answer to the vessels made like modern pitchers, 
 so frequently seen in bas-reliefs lying in the Arena. 
 Whether, therefore, these were used as the Nasi- 
 
 * See Bulenger, “ de Aspersione E quorum," — and see note *, 
 page 42 ; also a bas-relief published by Bianconi, in his work on 
 Circuses. 
 
 + Nasiterna genus vasis aquarii ansati et patentis quale est quo 
 equi perfundi solent. {Pomp. Festus, lib. xii., page 263, Delph. 
 edit.) ,• see also Stephanas Thesaur. Ling. Lat. Ulpian, lib. iv., 
 speaking of some who were branded witli disgrace, says they were 
 neither xustici, nor agitatores; nor “ qui aquam equis spargunt.” 
 
96 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 tern a?, may be doubtful, but in all probability they 
 served also for that purpose. For such uses as 
 these water was kept in the Circus ; and as we have 
 already remarked, in this instance it was contained 
 upon the Spina. 
 
 The inhabitants of Latium originally celebrated 
 their Games near the Rivers, and set up their 
 swords for Metse ; hence, the best etymology of 
 c ‘ Ludi Circenses ” seems to be “ circum enses 
 Ludi Romulus first dedicated the Circensic 
 Games to the Equestrian Neptune, under the title 
 of Consualia on the occasion of the rape of the 
 
 * Metae, inquit, olim gladii ponebantur quos quadrigae circuibant 
 in littore circa ripas fluminum currus agitantes ; gladios ordine in 
 ripae littore ponebant, et erat artis equum circa pericula torquere. 
 Isidorus, EtymoL, lib. xvii. See also Servius in Virg. Georg., hb. m., 
 v. 18 . 
 
 t Romulus ludos ex industria parat Neptuno Equestri solemnes : 
 Consualia vocant. — Tit. Liv., lib. i., cap. ix. 
 
 Lactantius tells us how the several games were originally dedicated, 
 * * * venationes et quae vocantur munera Saturno attributa 
 
 sunt ; ludi scenici Libero, Circenses Neptuno . — De Institut., lib. vi,, 
 cap. xx. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 97 
 
 Sabines *. This title was derived from Consus, the 
 God of Council, because it was through his sugges- 
 tions that the Romans devised that method of pro- 
 curing posterity -}■ . The name of Consus was syno- 
 nymous with that of Equestrian Neptune but it is 
 not easy to trace the analogy In the infancy of 
 
 Vide Valer. Max., lib. u. , cap. i., de Instil. Antiq. 
 
 t Conso, consiliorum deo, in raptu Sabinarum factumest, cui ara in 
 Circo defossa est ad primas metas sub terra, cum inscriptione ejusmodi: 
 CONSVS CONSILIO MARS DVELLO LARES COMITIO 
 ‘ OTENTES. Tertullian, de Spectac ., cap. v. 
 
 Consus, quern Deum fraudis veluti consiliorum Deum coli Romulus 
 voluit, postquam in raptum Sabinarum perfidia provenit: [alii 
 legunt, “ praesidia procuret.”] —S. Cyprian, deldolor. Vanit , page 9. 
 edit. Amstelod. 1700. See also Arnobius, lib. Hi., adversus Gentes ; 
 and Varro , lib. iv. and Tertullian , idem, cap. v. 
 
 + mop^ov IL rh 6tov KZvffov, tin SaXaTov i', rx , tin <W«v UofftiU, 
 yk° W ** rZpti&vi rm l^otypm \ r ), ro '„ 
 
 W ,m > tv Se THIS iwortxcis uyaffi avxxuXuorJoptvos' oi Ss xai. x. r. A. 
 
 Plutarch in vit Romuli. 
 
 $ The analogy I have attempted to show is countenanced by the 
 following passage, which contains many other useful hints on the 
 altar of Consus, &c. “ rbv U rare <rZ ’Pupixoo xAU^hiaa.v tyrvjv in 
 KcA tl, \p\ Ilyins 'P upAoi ZuriXsv, xvvasoiXiu xetXbvns’ iv J (icop.it n 
 bxoyuo; itypivos xct ( h rS pty^y T Zv Ixmtypmv, ■n^x^tUr,; rUs 
 ym lutriuf n xcu ixt^xtyis yyatyrut, xA typos txorovv 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 these institutions there was a scarcity of horses*, 
 and it was believed that Neptune had produced 
 that noble animal from the earth by the stroke of 
 his trident f . The same fanciful mythology might 
 induce them to suppose that the author of such a 
 creation was also capable of devising means for 
 peopling their infant city ; but as the means weie 
 put in execution by themselves, they should at 
 least attribute the advice to some deity. Neptune, 
 with his epithet of Equestris, was therefore chosen 
 as their god of council ; but Consus, thus created, 
 
 <rs ko.) WfcXuW K«v«v I iMuUut V™" 
 
 sjyaf Lviyuos fhup'os sr/v, or, rriv yfo o 6th obros Dionysius 
 
 Halicar., lib. ii, cap. 31. 
 
 * Quantum ad pristinam paupertatem pertinet ; nam Iegimus 
 propter equorum inopiam diversis eos tunc usos esse ammalibus. 
 ( Servius in Firg. Mneid. viii .) at the words “ Magnis Circensibus 
 actis.” Mules were used as a substitute, and the necessity was 
 glozed by an allegory. (See Festus, lib. xi., p. 248., Delph. edit.) 
 On the great Feast of the Consualia, both the mules and horses were 
 paraded about the city bedecked with garlands. ( Dionys ., hb. 
 cap. xxxiii .) On the 17th of January the same ceremony is still 
 observed at Rome ; but Saint Anthony has extended the honour to 
 all descriptions of cattle. 
 
 t See Virg. Georg., lib. i., v. 13. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 99 
 
 seemed to contend for an independent exist- 
 ence # . 
 
 The sacrifices in honour of Consus were per- 
 formed during the exhibition of the Games. The 
 altar used on the occasion was subterraneous f, 
 indicating that the secret council of the divinity 
 was not always to be exposed to vulgar notice. 
 Dionysius, Tertullian, and other writers agree that 
 the altar of Consus was near the first “ Meta l 
 The small rude vault to which we have alluded 
 can scarcely be called subterraneous ; nor is it near, 
 but under the first Meta, for it forms the base of it. 
 There are other reasons for not believing this to be 
 
 * Aut duplicem cultum quem Neptunalia dicunt, 
 
 Et quem de Conso consiliisque vocant. 
 
 Ausonius in Eclog. 
 
 t See the authorities already given. Both Victor and Rufus (de 
 Regionibus Roma, 8fc .) call this altar Abides. Pomponius I. actus 
 (i de Antiquitat. Urb. Rom.') remarks, that the Temples of the Gods 
 were all ascended to, except that (the ara) of Consus, to which they 
 descended. 
 
 $ Consus, ut diximus, apud metas sub terra delitescit. — Tertul- 
 lian de Spectac., cap. viii.; and compare notes +, §, page 97. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 the “Ara Conai In several bas-reliefs repre- 
 senting the “ Ludi Circenses ,” may be remarked 
 some instruments shaped like hoes : they seem to 
 have been thrown into the course, like the Nasi- 
 ternce, to try the skill of the charioteers ; but in 
 one bas-relief in the Vatican is a person actually 
 employed with one of those instruments, excavating 
 behind the first Meta This seems to illustrate 
 the account of Dionysius and Plutarch, that on 
 every occasion of celebrating the Consualia, the 
 altar was re-excavated; and this circumstance bears 
 some analogy to the refitting of the altar in the 
 Greek Stadium at every Olympiad f . The “ Ara 
 Consi” was, therefore, near the first Meta, and 
 within the Alba Linea. 
 
 The wild and fantastic Allegory of the Ludi 
 
 * The bas-relief here cited is in the Sala della Biga, No. 1303 j 
 and it is very probable that the hoes so frequently seen on other 
 bas-reliefs, were used for excavating the altar of Consus. I am 
 indebted for this and several other observations to my worthy and 
 learned friend, J. B. Scott, Esq., of Emanuel College, Cambridge. 
 
 t See page 54. 
 
AND OF THE CIRCENSIAN GAMES. 
 
 101 
 
 Circenses might interest the poet and the astrologer 
 amidst the clamours of the multitude. The Spa- 
 tium and the Euripus were the earth and seas dis- 
 posed in the order of nature. The Meta nearest 
 the Carceres represented the East, and the more 
 distant one the West. The twelve doors were the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiac, from whence the four 
 factions, emblematical of the four seasons, issued. 
 The two-yoked chariots were to imitate the Moon, 
 and those of four horses the Sun. The riders 
 going forward to announce the race were as the 
 Morning Star, the harbinger of day. The twenty- 
 four emissions represented the hours of the day; 
 and the seven times round the Spina, the days of 
 the week, and sometimes the seven planets by 
 which they said the universe was governed. The 
 Spina designated the lot of unfortunate captives, 
 as if the Roman generals, walking on the backs of 
 their enemies, felt the enjoyment of their military 
 achievements. The setting up of the eggs upon 
 the Spina, where was the Obelisk and the statue of 
 the Sun, was the type of prolific nature in pro- 
 
102 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 ducing the bird by the genial heat *. But for the 
 more grave philosopher, and the mourner who 
 made a sarcophagus for his friend, the Spatium 
 was an emblem of human life j ; the Meta.-, the 
 critical periods thereof ; and the accidents of the 
 falling chariots the evils incident to human nature : 
 nor could there be wanting instances in real life to 
 compare with the envious contention of the candi- 
 dates for a palm-branch; but the Alba Linea put 
 an end to the exertions of the charioteer, as death 
 finishes all human toil : and, perhaps, the crown 
 might be thought by some to have represented the 
 reward of virtue^;. In most of this allegory we 
 shall discover little else but the contortions of a 
 wild imagination ; nevertheless, some of the meta- 
 
 * Most of this allegory is taken from Cassiodorus, lib. Hi., Variar. 
 hidorus de Origin., lib. xviii., and Cedrenus, as quoted by Bulenger 
 de Circo Rom., 8fc., cap. iii. ; see also Photius in Biblioth., page 
 872, v. 10. 
 
 + See notes J, pp. 84 and 85. 
 
 $ But what philosopher could ever have reached the sublime idea 
 of Saint Paul, 1 Cor., cap. ix., v. 25 ? 
 
and of the circensian games. 
 
 103 
 
 phors are still preserved in the most cultivated 
 diction of modern authors. 
 
 If it be allowed that these public sports at Rome 
 had a material influence over the manners and 
 institutions of a powerful people, it may not seem 
 altogether a useless labour to have investigated 
 their nature and origin. From their first institution 
 by Romulus to their final cessation under Theo- 
 doric, comprising an ample period of more than 
 twelve centuries, they will often be found con- 
 nected with the most remarkable events in Roman 
 history. Many obscure passages, as well in eccle- 
 siastical as in classical authors, may receive some 
 light by a reference to the peculiarities of the 
 i( Ludi Circenses and it is curious to see by 
 what empty pageantry the applause of the people 
 was secured, and the ambitious citizen raised to the 
 first honours of the state. Whilst the Roman 
 generals plundered the world, and the fertile lands 
 of Sicily poured their produce into the store-houses 
 of Rome, the inhabitants were occupied whole days 
 
104 
 
 OF THE CIRCUS ON THE VIA APPIA, 
 
 together in the amusements of the Circus, equally 
 regardless of the miseries and rights of mankind ; 
 and such was the rage for these and other sports of 
 a still more cruel nature, that the Circus Maximus, 
 although capable of containing, perhaps, a fourth 
 part of the population, was soon found insufficient 
 to gratify the wishes of the people. The Circus 
 Flaminius was added at one of the most virtuous 
 periods of the republic ; but the Circus on the Via 
 Appia was built when seven others, at least, already 
 existed within the city; and this may with good 
 reason be supposed to have been the last Circus 
 erected within the precincts of Rome. 
 
 The ruins of the “ Eternal City,” from an easy 
 access, have now become a fruitful source of in- 
 struction and amusement ; and there are few sub- 
 jects, if rationally pursued, more capable than this 
 of improving the mind and exciting reflection : the 
 substance of the preceding pages was written 
 amongst the ruins they profess to illustrate, under 
 the influence of this opinion; and perhaps it 
 would be desirable if such a sentiment could be 
 
POSTSCRIPT ; 
 
 BY A FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Among the Roman Antiquities in the British 
 Museum, in Case 48 of Room XII., is a small 
 terra-cotta Lamp, on the upper surface of which is 
 a relief representing a Circus, a chariot-race, and a 
 combat between two pedestrians. On the under 
 surface is inscribed SAECVL. This lamp was 
 unfortunately not known to the author of the pre- 
 ceding dissertation, or he would doubtless have 
 availed himself of it to illustrate and confirm 
 several of his positions. It accidentally attracted 
 the observation of the friend, to whom, in conse- 
 quence of Mr. Burgess s absence from England, 
 the revision of the work had been intrusted, just 
 as the concluding sheet was in the hands of the 
 printer. 
 
 The relief gives four gates of the Carceres with 
 cancellated doors, and lunettes , and intervening 
 
POSTSCRIPT, 
 
 107 
 
 Hermes , almost exactly as described at p. 24—27, 
 and as imagined and drawn by Mr. Pardini in his 
 accompanying restored elevation of the Carceres. 
 The limits of the lamp do not permit of more than 
 four of the gates being seen ; nor of a greater height 
 than the top of the archivolt of those gates being 
 introduced into the drawing. — The Spina bears, 
 first, a little circular temple of two orders of 
 columns, crowned with a dome ; then, the seven 
 eggs on an entablature supported by columns, 
 against one of which, on the inside, is placed a 
 ladder ; next, the obelisk ; after which, a column 
 surmounted by a statue of Fortune or Victory ; 
 and finally, a figure of Cybele riding upon a huge 
 lion. — The two Metce are separated by a small in- 
 terval from the Spina, as they are generally drawn 
 on the reliefs of the ancient Roman sarcophagi, 
 and as they actually exist in the Circus on the Via 
 Appia. — The lamp also represents one side of the 
 Cavea filled with spectators. In the plain face of 
 the wall which separates the Arena from the 
 Podium , are three low square doorways. The 
 
108 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 production at the back of the Podium is sur- 
 mounted by columns, in conformity with the Vi- 
 truvian rule, <c Supra Podium column® cum capi- 
 tulis, &c.” ( Vitruv . 1. v. c. 8.) — Four Auriga are 
 driving their four-yoked chariots up the Spatia, on 
 the right side of the Spina ; and two men on foot, 
 girded by four bands round the waist, and armed 
 with short sticks or lances, but without shields, are 
 combating in the Arena between the Spina and the 
 Carceres ; that is, in the very place which has been 
 indicated in p. 57, as probably appropriated to this 
 portion of the Games. 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES, 
 
 WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PLATE I., OR GENERAL 
 PLAN OF THE CIRCUS. 
 
 DETAIL OF THE CARCERES. 
 
 No. 1. Gate through which the Procession or Pompa 
 entered the Circus. 
 
 2. Carceres. 
 
 3. Basements, on which Men were stationed for open- 
 
 ing the Doors at a given Signal. 
 
 4. Hermes. 
 
 5. Tower. 
 
 6. Another Tower, with a Staircase adjoining, leading 
 
 to the Parapet over the Carceres. 
 
 7. Side Entrances. 
 
 PARTICULARS OF THE SURROUNDING WALLS. 
 
 8. Vaulted Corridor beneath the Seats of the Spec- 
 
 tators. 
 
 9. Flights of Steps leading to the Seats, witl) Door- 
 
 ways corresponding. 
 
110 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 No. 10. Gallery of Communication with the neighbouring 
 Buildings. 
 
 11. Archway under the said Gallery. 
 
 12. Room, or Ante-Chamber belonging to 
 
 13. The Pulvinar, or Imperial Lodge. 
 
 14. Small Staircase for descending immediately into 
 
 the Arena. 
 
 15. Principal Entrance on the East, over which was 
 
 an Inscription. 
 
 16. Flight of Steps, underneath which is a small Canal 
 
 for letting off Water. 
 
 17. Vomitoria. 
 
 18. Podium. 
 
 1 9. Ambulacrum and Praecinctio. 
 
 20. Steps which lead to 
 
 21. The Rows of Seats for Spectators. 
 
 22. Cisterns, with a Canal adjoining, probably to fur- 
 
 nish Water for a Fountain placed below. 
 
 23. Second Pulvinar, or Praetor's Tribunal. 
 
 24. Steps belonging to the said Pulvinar, and commu- 
 
 nicating with the Arena. 
 
 25. Gate, called the Porta Libitinensis. 
 
 DETAILS OF THE SPINA, $c. 
 
 26. Metae. 
 
 27. Spaces left between the Metae and the Spina. 
 
 28. Locus Braviorum, or Place where the Conqueror 
 
 received his Palm. 
 
 29. Altar, on which the Conqueror made his Sacrifice. 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 No. 30. Receptacle for the Water proceeding from the 
 seven Dolphins. 
 
 31. Basement of the Statue of Venus Marina. 
 
 32. Basement of the Statue of Hercules. 
 
 33. Space allotted (according to the opinion of Profes- 
 
 sor Nibby) for a small Flower Garden. 
 
 34. Basement of the Statue of Apollo. 
 
 35. Site of the Obelisk. 
 
 36. Basement of the Column sustaining the Statue of 
 
 Victory. 
 
 37. Small Temple, on which were placed the seven 
 
 Eggs dedicated to Castor and Pollux. 
 
 38. Basement of the Statue of an Amazon. 
 
 39. Ditto of the sitting Statue of Proserpine. 
 
 40. Passages across the Spina. 
 
 41. Round Basement, formed for receiving a Hermes 
 
 which supported the Alba Linea, or Cord. 
 
 42. Point equidistant from all the Carceres, showing 
 
 the first Direction of the Chariots. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by W. CLOWES, 
 Stamford Streert. 
 
MPA 
 
 ■I 
 
 r 
 
 nyhsh 
 
 Joseph PardirvL, Architect. Rome, 1026 . 
 
 Elevation of the' Carcere s restoi'ed/. 
 
 Jiibushed Jan. 1820; by John Murray, London 
 
 Elans of thes farceres . 
 
Back of 
 Foldout 
 Not Imaged 
 
Back of 
 Foldout 
 Not Imaged 
 
Back of 
 Foldout 
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