NICE, March 10, 1765.
DEAR SIR,--The Colossaeum or amphitheatre built by Flavius Vespasian,
is the most stupendous work of the kind which antiquity can produce.
Near one half of the external circuit still remains, consisting of four
tire of arcades, adorned with columns of four orders, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian, and Composite. The height and extent of it may be guessed
from the number of spectators it contained, amounting to one hundred
thousand; and yet, according to Fontana's mensuration, it could not
contain above thirty-four thousand persons sitting, allowing a foot and
an half for each person: for the circuit of the whole building did not
exceed one thousand five hundred and sixty feet. The amphitheatre at
Verona is one thousand two hundred and ninety feet in circumference;
and that of Nismes, one thousand and eighty. The Colossaeum was built
by Vespasian, who employed thirty thousand Jewish slaves in the work;
but finished and dedicated by his son Titus, who, on the first day of
its being opened, produced fifty thousand wild beasts, which were all
killed in the arena. The Romans were undoubtedly a barbarous people,
who delighted in horrible spectacles. They viewed with pleasure the
dead bodies of criminals dragged through the streets, or thrown down
the Scalae Gemoniae and Tarpeian rock, for their contemplation. Their
rostra were generally adorned with the heads of some remarkable
citizens, like Temple-Bar, at London. They even bore the sight of
Tully's head fixed upon that very rostrum where he had so often
ravished their ears with all the charms of eloquence, in pleading the
cause of innocence and public virtue. They took delight in seeing their
fellow-creatures torn in pieces by wild beasts, in the amphitheatre.
They shouted with applause when they saw a poor dwarf or slave killed
by his adversary; but their transports were altogether extravagant,
when the devoted captives were obliged to fight in troops, till one
side was entirely butchered by the other. Nero produced four hundred
senators, and six hundred of the equestrian order, as gladiators in the
public arena: even the women fought with wild beasts, as well as with
each other, and drenched the amphitheatres with their blood. Tacitus
says, "Sed faeminarum illustrium, senatorumque filiorum plures per
arenam faedati sunt," "But many sons of Senators, and even Matrons of
the first Rank, exposed themselves in this vile exercise." The
execrable custom of sacrificing captives or slaves at the tombs of
their masters and great men, which is still preserved among the negroes
of Africa, obtained also among the antients, Greeks as well as Romans.
I could never, without horror and indignation, read that passage in the
twenty-third book of the Iliad, which describes twelve valiant Trojan
captives sacrificed by the inhuman Achilles at the tomb of his friend
Patroclus.
Dodeka men Troon megathumon uias eathlous
Tous ama pantas pur eathiei.
Twelve generous Trojans slaughtered in their Bloom,
With thy lov'd Corse the Fire shall now consume.
Even Virgil makes his pious Hero sacrifice eight Italian youths to the
manes of Pallas. It is not at all clear to me, that a people is the
more brave, the more they are accustomed to bloodshed in their public
entertainments. True bravery is not savage but humane. Some of this
sanguinary spirit is inherited by the inhabitants of a certain island
that shall be nameless--but, mum for that. You will naturally suppose
that the Coliseo was ruined by the barbarians who sacked the city of
Rome: in effect, they robbed it of its ornaments and valuable
materials; but it was reserved for the Goths and Vandals of modern
Rome, to dismantle the edifice, and reduce it to its present ruinous
condition. One part of it was demolished by pope Paul II. that he might
employ the stones of it in building the palace of St. Mark. It was
afterwards dilapidated for the same purposes, by the cardinals Riarius
and Farnese, which last assumed the tiara under the name of Paul III.
Notwithstanding these injuries, there is enough standing to convey a
very sublime idea of ancient magnificence.
The Circi and Naumachia, if considered as buildings and artificial
basins, are admirable; but if examined as areae intended for horse and
chariot races, and artificial seas for exhibiting naval engagements,
they seem to prove that the antient Romans were but indifferently
skilled and exercised either in horsemanship or naval armaments. The
inclosure of the emperor Caracalla's circus is still standing, and
scarce affords breathing room for an English hunter. The Circus
Maximus, by far the largest in Rome, was not so long as the Mall; and I
will venture to affirm, that St. James's Park would make a much more
ample and convenient scene for those diversions. I imagine an old Roman
would be very much surprised to see an English race on the course at
New-Market. The Circus Maximus was but three hundred yards in breadth.
A good part of this was taken up by the spina, or middle space, adorned
with temples, statues, and two great obelisks; as well as by the
euripus, or canal, made by order of Julius Caesar, to contain
crocodiles, and other aquatic animals, which were killed occasionally.
This was so large, that Heliogabalus, having filled it with excellent
wine, exhibited naval engagements in it, for the amusement of the
people. It surrounded three sides of the square, so that the whole
extent of the race did not much exceed an English mile; and when Probus
was at the expence of filling the plain of it with fir-trees to form a
wood for the chace of wild beasts, I question much if this forest was
more extensive than the plantation in St. James's Park, on the south
side of the canal: now I leave you to judge what ridicule a king of
England would incur by converting this part of the park into a chace
for any species of animals which are counted game in our country.
The Roman emperors seemed more disposed to elevate and surprize, than
to conduct the public diversions according to the rules of reason and
propriety. One would imagine, it was with this view they instituted
their naumachia, or naval engagements, performed by half a dozen small
gallies of a side in an artificial basin of fresh water. These gallies
I suppose were not so large as common fishing-smacks, for they were
moved by two, three, and four oars of a side according to their
different rates, biremes, triremes, and quadriremes. I know this is a
knotty point not yet determined; and that some antiquarians believe the
Roman gallies had different tires or decks of oars; but this is a
notion very ill supported, and quite contrary to all the figures of
them that are preserved on antient coins and medals. Suetonius in the
reign of Domitian, speaking of these naumachia, says, "Edidit navales
pugnas, pene justarum classium, effosso, et circumducto juxta Tyberim
lacu, atque inter maximas imbres prospectavit," "He exhibited naval
engagements of almost intire fleets, in an artificial Lake formed for
the purpose hard by the Tyber, and viewed them in the midst of
excessive Rains." This artificial lake was not larger than the piece of
water in Hyde-Park; and yet the historian says, it was almost large
enough for real or intire fleets. How would a British sailor relish an
advertisement that a mock engagement between two squadrons of men of
war would be exhibited on such a day in the Serpentine river? or that
the ships of the line taken from the enemy would be carried in
procession from Hyde-Park-Corner to Tower-wharf? Certain it is,
Lucullus, in one of his triumphs, had one hundred and ten ships of war
(naves longas) carried through the streets of Rome. Nothing can give a
more contemptible idea of their naval power, than this testimony of
their historians, who declare that their seamen or mariners were formed
by exercising small row-boats in an inclosed pool of fresh water. Had
they not the sea within a few miles of them, and the river Tyber
running through their capital! even this would have been much more
proper for exercising their watermen, than a pond of still-water, not
much larger than a cold-bath. I do believe in my conscience that half a
dozen English frigates would have been able to defeat both the
contending fleets at the famous battle of Actium, which has been so
much celebrated in the annals of antiquity, as an event that decided
the fate of empire.
It would employ me a whole month to describe the thermae or baths, the
vast ruins of which are still to be seen within the walls of Rome, like
the remains of so many separate citadels. The thermae Dioclesianae
might be termed an august academy for the use and instruction of the
Roman people. The pinacotheca of this building was a complete musaeum
of all the curiosities of art and nature; and there were public schools
for all the sciences. If I may judge by my eye, however, the thermae
Antonianae built by Caracalla, were still more extensive and
magnificent; they contained cells sufficient for two thousand three
hundred persons to bathe at one time, without being seen by one
another. They were adorned with all the charms of painting,
architecture, and sculpture. The pipes for convoying the water were of
silver. Many of the lavacra were of precious marble, illuminated by
lamps of chrystal. Among the statues, were found the famous Toro, and
Hercole Farnese.
Bathing was certainly necessary to health and cleanliness in a hot
country like Italy, especially before the use of linen was known: but
these purposes would have been much better answered by plunging into
the Tyber, than by using the warm bath in the thermae, which became
altogether a point of luxury borrowed from the effeminate Asiatics, and
tended to debilitate the fibres already too much relaxed by the heat of
the climate. True it is, they had baths of cool water for the summer:
but in general they used it milk-warm, and often perfumed: they
likewise indulged in vapour-baths, in order to enjoy a pleasing
relaxation, which they likewise improved with odoriferous ointments.
The thermae consisted of a great variety of parts and conveniences; the
natationes, or swimming places; the portici, where people amused
themselves in walking, conversing, and disputing together, as Cicero
says, In porticibus deambulantes disputabant; the basilicae, where the
bathers assembled, before they entered, and after they came out of the
bath; the atria, or ample courts, adorned with noble colonnades of
Numidian marble and oriental granite; the ephibia, where the young men
inured themselves to wrestling and other exercises; the frigidaria, or
places kept cool by a constant draught of air, promoted by the
disposition and number of the windows; the calidaria, where the water
was warmed for the baths; the platanones, or delightful groves of
sycamore; the stadia, for the performances of the athletae; the
exedrae, or resting-places, provided with seats for those that were
weary; the palestrae, where every one chose that exercise which pleased
him best; the gymnasia, where poets, orators, and philosophers recited
their works, and harangued for diversion; the eleotesia, where the
fragrant oils and ointments were kept for the use of the bathers; and
the conisteria, where the wrestlers were smeared with sand before they
engaged. Of the thermae in Rome, some were mercenary, and some opened
gratis. Marcus Agrippa, when he was edile, opened one hundred and
seventy private baths, for the use of the people. In the public baths,
where money was taken, each person paid a quadrans, about the value of
our halfpenny, as Juvenal observes,
Caedere Sylvano porcum, quadrante lavari.
The victim Pig to God Sylvanus slay,
And for the public Bath a farthing pay.
But after the hour of bathing was past, it sometimes cost a great deal
more, according to Martial,
Balnea post decimam, lasso centumque petuntur
Quadrantes--
The bathing hour is past, the waiter tir'd;
An hundred Farthings now will be requir'd.
Though there was no distinction in the places between the first
patrician and the lowest plebeian, yet the nobility used their own
silver and gold plate, for washing, eating, and drinking in the bath,
together with towels of the finest linen. They likewise made use of the
instrument called strigil, which was a kind of flesh-brush; a custom to
which Persius alludes in this line,