DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0439
POSTSCRIPT.
4^
also been disincumbered of the earth in which
they were half buried, and now exhibit a most
majestic appearance. The same may, in part, be
said of the Arco di Giano, and of the arches of
Titus and Severus. The temple of Antoninus
and Faustina had been restored in part by the
Pope, who indeed had projected and commenced
many of the excavations and improvements since
One circumstance more I think it necessary to mention :
perfumes were not only sprinkled in showers, which was
common, but on certain great occasions poured in torrents
down the steps or rather the seats of the amphitheatre,
honorem Trajani balsama et crocum per gradus theatri fluere
jussit, says Spartianus, speaking of Hadrian: and Seneca
informs us, that for this purpose pipes were conducted from
the centre of the arena to the summit of the amphitheatre.
Numquid dubitatur, says he, quin sparsio ilia quse ex fun-
damentis media? arena crescens in summam altidudiuam
amphitheatri pervenit cum intentione aquae fiat?—Lib, II.
Quast. Nat.
From these observations, and from the various passages
of ancient writers on which they are founded, we may with
certainty infer in the first place, that under the arena there
were dens of wild beasts, reservoirs of w'ater, and sewers to
carry it off; spaces to contain sand, machinery, &c. and
cellars for perfumes and the wine with which they w'ere
mixed ; and secondly, that the substratum of the arena
must have been moveable, and consequently boarded.—See
Lipsius De Amphitheatris.
4^
also been disincumbered of the earth in which
they were half buried, and now exhibit a most
majestic appearance. The same may, in part, be
said of the Arco di Giano, and of the arches of
Titus and Severus. The temple of Antoninus
and Faustina had been restored in part by the
Pope, who indeed had projected and commenced
many of the excavations and improvements since
One circumstance more I think it necessary to mention :
perfumes were not only sprinkled in showers, which was
common, but on certain great occasions poured in torrents
down the steps or rather the seats of the amphitheatre,
honorem Trajani balsama et crocum per gradus theatri fluere
jussit, says Spartianus, speaking of Hadrian: and Seneca
informs us, that for this purpose pipes were conducted from
the centre of the arena to the summit of the amphitheatre.
Numquid dubitatur, says he, quin sparsio ilia quse ex fun-
damentis media? arena crescens in summam altidudiuam
amphitheatri pervenit cum intentione aquae fiat?—Lib, II.
Quast. Nat.
From these observations, and from the various passages
of ancient writers on which they are founded, we may with
certainty infer in the first place, that under the arena there
were dens of wild beasts, reservoirs of w'ater, and sewers to
carry it off; spaces to contain sand, machinery, &c. and
cellars for perfumes and the wine with which they w'ere
mixed ; and secondly, that the substratum of the arena
must have been moveable, and consequently boarded.—See
Lipsius De Amphitheatris.