Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

Africa under the later Emperors 293

by him in Rome before the Societe des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres in November 1878. It commemorates the victories in
the hippodrome at Rome, A D. 115-124, of one Crescens, a Moor
aged twenty-two, and how during a period of ten years he
succeeded, with four horses named Circus, Acceptus, Delicatus,
and Cotynus, in gaining prizes of the value of 1,556,346 sesterces,
equal to 12,500/. Crescens, the charioteer, was evidently the
favourite of the day, occupying a position in the racing world
similar to that acquired by so many successful jockeys of our
own time, and running the horses of some great proprietor like
Pompeianus of Oued-Atmenia. Were it not for the date of the
inscription, one might be tempted to suggest that the charioteer
referred to on the inscribed stone was identical with the personage
represented in the pictorial mosaic. We have in the latter one
Cresconius as the chief charioteer, and we have also the horse
Delicatus tethered by himself as a favourite animal. The mosaic
in the Calidarium is divided into four parts representing the
horses and stables. In the first there is a pavilion within an
enclosure ; there are the stables and apartments for grooms
and charioteers, the name of the proprietor being written above
the central edifice ; and below, in two divisions, are six horses
covered with horsecloths and attached to four separate mangers.
Alius, unequalled for strength, who can leap as high as the
mountains, is tethered to the same manger as Pullentianus, the
stallion ; then comes Delicatus, the elegant one ; and below are
Polydoxus, the glorious one, who, whether he wins or loses, is
still beloved, tethered with Titas, the giant ; and in the corner
stands Scholasticus, the learned one, apart and by himself as a
philosopher should be. In the doorway leading to the Suda-
torium is an inscription which is difficult to translate : Incredula
Venila Benefica. In this latter chamber is a mosaic in two
compartments. In the upper one three pavilions are repre-
sented, and in the foreground a lady is seated in a high-backed
chair under a palm-tree, a fan in her right hand and a pet dog
beside her, in charge of a servant who protects his mistress from
the rays of the sun by an umbrella in his left hand. Above is
written Filoso Filolocus, probably from filum, a thread, this part
of the garden being reserved for ladies as a place for sewing.
In the lower compartment is a representation of a park enclosed
with a hedge and a fence supported by strong stakes. This is