DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0436
426
POSTSCRIPT.
canals and caverns which were prepared under it
to supply it with water, and to carry off that
water when no longer necessary*.
* Some Roman antiquaries imagine, as I am informed,
that the arena was boarded, and that the boards were covered
with sand or earth : this conjecture is more than probable,
because we know that the surface of the arena was re-
movable, and capable of admitting of sudden and surprizing
alterations. If I bad not already passed the bounds which
the nature of the work prescribes, I might amaze the reader
with an account of the wonders, not occasionally, but fre-
quently exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre. Titus himself
who erected it, not content with the usual exhibition of
wild beasts, produced the scenery of the countries whence
they were imported, and astonished the Romans with a
sudden display of rocks and forests.
Quidquid in Orpheo Rhodope spectasse Theatro
Dicitur, exhibuit, Caesar, arena tibi:
Repserunt scopuli, mirandaque sylva cucurrit,
Quale fuisse nemus creditur Hesperidum.
Adfuit immixtum pecudum genus omne feraruni . . .
Mart. De Spec.
Domitian covered the arena with water, and entertained the
Romans with various marine exhibitions and naval fights.
Ne te decipiat ratibus navalis Enyo,
Et par unda fretis: hie modo terra fuit
Non credis ; spectes dum Jaxent ajquora Martem,
Parva mora est; dices, hie modo pontus erat.
De Sped. xxiv.
POSTSCRIPT.
canals and caverns which were prepared under it
to supply it with water, and to carry off that
water when no longer necessary*.
* Some Roman antiquaries imagine, as I am informed,
that the arena was boarded, and that the boards were covered
with sand or earth : this conjecture is more than probable,
because we know that the surface of the arena was re-
movable, and capable of admitting of sudden and surprizing
alterations. If I bad not already passed the bounds which
the nature of the work prescribes, I might amaze the reader
with an account of the wonders, not occasionally, but fre-
quently exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre. Titus himself
who erected it, not content with the usual exhibition of
wild beasts, produced the scenery of the countries whence
they were imported, and astonished the Romans with a
sudden display of rocks and forests.
Quidquid in Orpheo Rhodope spectasse Theatro
Dicitur, exhibuit, Caesar, arena tibi:
Repserunt scopuli, mirandaque sylva cucurrit,
Quale fuisse nemus creditur Hesperidum.
Adfuit immixtum pecudum genus omne feraruni . . .
Mart. De Spec.
Domitian covered the arena with water, and entertained the
Romans with various marine exhibitions and naval fights.
Ne te decipiat ratibus navalis Enyo,
Et par unda fretis: hie modo terra fuit
Non credis ; spectes dum Jaxent ajquora Martem,
Parva mora est; dices, hie modo pontus erat.
De Sped. xxiv.