or lecture-hall of Mæcenas, the entrance being formed through the
agger. It is 24 metres 40 centimetres long, by 10 metres 60
centimetres broad. The wall supporting the roof, in which was the
window, is nearly eight metres high. On each side of the hall the
walls contain six niches decorated in the Pompeian style. At the
farther end of the hall is a sort of tribune composed of seven
circular steps in tiers, once faced with marble. From here the author
recited. In the circular wall behind these, which forms the end of the
hall, are five more niches. The floor is below the surrounding level,
probably to keep the building cool during the summer months. Its
height was about forty feet.
It may be that in this auditorium Virgil read his "Georgics" to
Mæcenas, as he says,--
"I sing, Mæcenas, and I sing to thee....
O thou! the better part of my renown,
Inspire thy poet, and thy poem crown;
Without thee, nothing lofty can I sing."