On approaching the majestic ruins of this vast amphitheater, the most
stupendous work of the kind antiquity can boast, a sweet and gently
moving astonishment is the first sensation which seizes the beholder;
and soon afterward the grand spectacle swims before him like a cloud. To
give an adequate idea of this sublime building, is a task to which the
pen is unequal: it must be seen to be duly appreciated. It is upward of
sixteen hundred feet in circumference, and of such an elevation that it
has been justly observed by a writer, (Ammiamus,) “the human eye
scarcely measures its hight.” Nearly the one-half of the external
circuit still remains, consisting of four tiers of arcades, adorned with
columns of four orders, the Doric, Ionian, Corinthian, and composite.
Its extent, as well as its elevation, may be estimated by the number of
spectators it contained, amounting, according to some accounts, to
eighty thousand, and agreeably to others, to one hundred thousand.
Thirty thousand captive Jews are said to have been engaged by Vespasian,
whose name it occasionally bears, in the construction of this vast
edifice; and they have not discredited their forefathers, the builders
of Solomon’s temple, by the performance. It was not finished, however,
until the reign of his son Titus, who, on the first day of its being
opened, introduced into the arena not less than five thousand, or,
according to Dio Cassius, nine thousand wild beasts, between whom, and
the primitive Christians held captive by the Romans, combats were
fought. At the conclusion of this cruel spectacle the whole place was
put under water, and two fleets, named the Corcyrian and the Corinthian,
represented a naval engagement. To render the vapor from such a
multitude of persons less noxious, sweet-scented water, and frequently
wine mixed with saffron, was showered down from a grated work above, on
the heads of the spectators.
The Roman emperors who succeeded Titus were careful of the preservation
of this superb edifice: even the voluptuous Heliogabalus caused it to be
repaired after a great fire. The rude Goths, who sacked the city of
Rome, were contented with despoiling it of its internal ornaments, but
respected the structure itself. The Christians, however, through an
excess of zeal, have not been satisfied with allowing it gradually to
decay. Pope Paul II. had as much of it leveled as was necessary to
furnish materials for building the palace of St. Mark, and his
pernicious example was imitated by Cardinal Riario, in the construction
of what is now called the Chancery. Lastly, a portion of it was employed
by Pope Paul III. in the erection of the palace Farnese. Notwithstanding
all these dilapidations, there still exists enough of it to inspire the
spectator with awe. Immense masses appear fastened to and upon one
another without any mortar or cement; and these alone, from their
structure, are calculated for a duration of many thousands of years.
Occasionally, where the destroyers have not effectually attained their
object, the half-loosened masses appear to be holden in the air, as if
by some invisible power; for the wide interstices among them leave no
other support than their joints, which seem every moment as if about to
yield unavoidably to the superior force of gravitation. “They will
fall;” “they must fall;” “they are falling;” is, and has been the
language of all beholders during the vast periods through which this
stupendous edifice has thus hung together in the air.
[Illustration: THE COLISEUM AT ROME.]
Silliman, speaking of the Coliseum, says, “It is the most magnificent
and imposing monument of ancient Rome. After all the spoliation it has
suffered for many centuries, by which two-thirds of its materials have
been plundered, to build palaces and other structures, it still stands a
stupendous ruin, solemn, awful, and even in desolation beautiful. Its
position is very near to the forum, and we pass to it through the arch
of Titus. We felicitate ourselves that we saw the almost perfect
amphitheater at Nismes, as from that, and even from the less perfect one
at Arles, we obtained those strong and correct impressions, which have
enabled us more justly to appreciate the gigantic ruin, which still
towers in venerable majesty, above both the Rome of the Cæsars, and the
Rome of the popes. The Coliseum was begun A. D. 73, by Vespasian, and
finished by Titus, A. D. 80, ten years after the conquest of Jerusalem.
Church tradition states that its architect was Gaudentius, a Christian
martyr, and that some twelve thousand captive Jews and Christians were
employed in its construction. It is built chiefly of travertine,
although there are large quantities of bricks and tufa in the structure.
Its form is elliptical: there are four stories adorned by columns: the
lower is Doric, thirty feet high: the second is Ionic, thirty-three feet
high; the third, Corinthian, fifty-four feet, and above this, was the
frieze and cornice. The hight of the outer wall was one hundred and
fifty-seven English feet. The longer axis, walls included, was six
hundred and twenty feet; the shorter, five hundred and thirteen;
circumference, seventeen hundred and seventy feet; the arena, two
hundred and eighty-seven feet long and a hundred and eighty feet broad.
The superficial area was nearly six acres. The arches were numbered,
externally, from one to eighty. One arch is not numbered, and this is
believed to have been the private entrance of the emperor. There were,
within the amphitheater, four groups of seats, corresponding, as at
Nismes, to the different orders of people. The seats could receive
eighty-seven thousand persons, or one hundred and ten thousand,
including those who stood. The interior has been very much despoiled,
and the seats are almost ruined; but a staircase has been constructed,
by which we ascended securely to the top of the building, and enjoyed a
grand view, not only by day, but by a full moon. Byron’s splendid
description in Manfred, does it no more than justice.”
The building, as may be seen in the cut on the preceding page, is much
decayed; and it is, also, “deformed by innumerable holes on the outside,
believed to have been produced by the extraction of the dowels of
bronze, which were originally placed in the joints to keep the stones in
place. At the dedication of the amphitheater by Titus, five thousand, or
according to some, nine thousand wild beasts were slaughtered, and the
savage exhibition went on during one hundred days. On the occasion of
the triumph of Trajan over the Dacians, the shows were continued one
hundred and twenty-three days; eleven thousand animals were slain, and
one thousand gladiators matched against each other. Besides malefactors,
captives and slaves, freeborn citizens, even those of noble birth, hired
themselves as gladiators; and women volunteered on the arena, to exhibit
their skill in murder. The barbarous gladiatorial games were continued
during four hundred years; the last show of the wild beasts was under
Theodoric, and these brutal entertainments were abolished by Honorius.”