Pompeii, Its Life and Art

These baths were built shortly after 80 B.C., about the time that Ulius and Aninius repaired the Stabian Baths; the characteristic masonry, with quasi-reticulate facing, is similar to that of the Small Theatre and the Amphitheatre. The names of the builders are known from an inscription found in duplicate: L. Caesius C. f. d[uum] v[ir] i[uri] d[icundo], C. Occius M. f., L. Niraemius A. f. II v[iri] d[e] d[ecurionum] s[ententia] ex peq[unia] publ[ica] fac[iundum] curar[unt] prob[arunt] q[ue]. Thus we see that the contract for the building was let and the work approved by Lucius Caesius, duumvir with judiciary authority,—his colleague had probably died since election and the vacancy had not yet been filled,—and the two aediles, Occius and Niraemius, who are here styled 'duumvirs,' for reasons already explained (p. 12); the cost was defrayed by an appropriation from the public treasury. Though these Baths are of later construction than the Stabian Baths, they seem more ancient because fewer changes were made in them.

The court here was not a palaestra; it was small for gymnastic exercises, and was not provided with a swimming tank and dressing rooms. The open space was occupied by a garden.

The colonnade on the north and west sides of the court had slender columns standing far apart, with a low and simple entablature; on the east side the columns were replaced by pillars carrying low arches, which served as a support for a gallery affording a pleasant view of the garden. This gallery was accessible from the upper rooms of several inns along the street leading north from the Forum, whose guests no doubt found diversion in watching what was going on below—an advantage that may have been taken into account by the city officials in fixing the rent. There are benches on the north side of the court, and at the middle a deep recess, or exedra (b), making a pleasant retreat for quiet conversation. The entrance from the frequented street at the left (A) is so arranged that passers-by could not look in; near the entrance from the street on the opposite side (A') is a closet (c). The decoration of the court was extremely simple. Columns and walls were unpainted; on the lower parts, stucco with bits of brick in it; above, white plaster.

From the court a corridor (a) led into the men's apodyterium, which could be entered also on the north side from the Strada delle Terme. This room contained benches, as shown on the plan; but there were no niches, as in the dressing rooms of the Stabian Baths, and wooden shelves or lockers may have been used instead. The small dark chamber at the north end (f) may have been used as a storeroom for unguents, such as the Greeks called elaeothesium. It seems to have been thought necessary here to connect the dressing room with the furnace room (V) by a separate passage.

Light was admitted to the dressing room through a window in the lunette at the south end, closed by a pane of glass half an inch thick, set in a bronze frame that turned on two pivots. On either side of the window are huge Tritons in stucco relief, with vases on their shoulders, surrounded by dolphins; underneath is a mask of Oceanus, and in the same wall is a niche for a lamp, similar to that seen in Fig. 92, blackened by the soot.

The frigidarium is well preserved. In all its arrangements it is almost an exact counterpart of the one in the Stabian Baths, but the scheme of decoration, suggestive of a garden, is less realistically carried out, the ground being yellow; and the round window at the apex of the domed ceiling has a rectangular extension toward the south in order to admit as much sunlight as possible.

The tepidarium, as will be seen from our illustration (Fig. 92), is in the condition of the tepidariums of the Stabian Baths before the improved arrangements for heating were introduced. There were no warm air chambers in the walls or the floor. At one end we see the remains of the large bronze brazier and benches (the iron grating is modern) presented by Vaccula, to which reference has already been made (p. 197). The feet of the benches are modelled to represent hoofs, each with a cow's head above.

The caldarium is well preserved; only a part of the vaulted ceiling has been destroyed. The hollow space for hot air in the floor and walls is indicated in our section (Fig. 93). Here we see at the right, the bath basin, lined with white marble, with its sloping back affording a comfortable support for the bathers; at the other end is the apsidal niche (schola) with the labrum. The direction of Vitruvius, that the labrum should be placed under a window in such a way that the shadows of those standing around should not fall on it, is here literally observed. There were three other small windows at the same end of the room, and a niche for a lamp.

We learn from an inscription on the labrum, in bronze letters, that it was made under the direction of Gnaeus Melissaeus Aper and Marcus Staius Rufus, who were duumvirs in 3-4 A.D., at a cost of 5250 sesterces, not far from $270. This room seems to have received its final form before the new method of heating the water in the alveus came into vogue; there is no trace of a bronze heater, such as that found in connection with the bath basin of the women's caldarium at the Stabian Baths. The simple decoration is in marked contrast with the usual ornamentation of the later styles. Above a low marble base are yellow walls divided by dark red pilasters, shown in Fig. 93. These support a projecting flat cornice of dark red, whose surface is richly ornamented with stucco reliefs. The ceiling is moulded in flutings running up to the crown of the vault; only in the ceiling of the schola do we find raised figures.

The rooms of the women's baths are small, their arrangement being determined in part by the irregular shape of the corner of the building in which they are placed; but the system of heating is more complete than in the men's baths, for both the tepidarium (3) and the caldarium (4) were provided with hollow floors and hot air spaces in the walls extending to the lunettes and the ceiling. The vaulted ceilings of both of these rooms, as well as of the apodyterium, are preserved; but the caldarium has lost its hollow floor and walls, together with the bath basin, which was placed in a large niche at the right as one entered; only the base of the labrum remains. The condition of this room may be due to the earthquake of the year 63, the necessary repairs not having been made before the eruption. There was no connection between the women's baths and the court at the rear (D), which had a separate entrance from the street. At the women's entrance there was a narrow waiting room for attendants, separated from the street by a thin wall and protected by a roof.

The furnace room could be entered at one end from the street. The three cylindrical tanks for hot, lukewarm, and cold water were arranged as in the Stabian Baths. Beyond the tanks is a cistern (g), which was supplied in part by rain water from the roof, in part by a feed pipe connected with the water system of the city. The raised walk (h) on the right side of the furnace room is continued to the small court (D) in the corner of which is a stairway leading to the flat roof of the men's caldarium. From this point of vantage, the view over the landscape and the sea must have been beautiful in antiquity, as it is to-day.

A sundial doubtless stood on the larger of the two pillars in the court (d), which is about seventeen feet high and nearly five feet thick at the base; on the smaller pillar was perhaps a statue or other ornamental object of the sort frequently seen in wall paintings.

CHAPTER XXIX
THE CENTRAL BATHS

Seneca in an entertaining letter (Ep. 86) gives an account of a visit about 60 A.D. to the villa at Liternum in which the Elder Scipio had lived in the years immediately preceding his death, in 183 B.C. The philosopher was particularly struck with the bath, the simplicity of which he contrasts forcibly with the luxurious appointments of his own time. We cannot follow him through the extended disquisition—he speaks of various refinements of luxury of which we find no traces at Pompeii; but he mentions as the most striking difference the lack of light in the old bath, with its small apertures more like chinks than windows, while in his day the baths were provided with large windows protected by glass, and people 'wanted to be parboiled in full daylight,' besides having the enjoyment meanwhile of a beautiful view. Some such feeling as this we have in turning from the two older baths at Pompeii—one of pre-Roman origin, the other dating from the time of Sulla—to the Central Baths, which were in process of construction at the time of the eruption, and had been designed in accordance with the prevailing mode of life.

This extensive establishment, at the corner of Stabian and Nola streets, occupied the whole of a block; but a large part of the frontage on the two streets mentioned was utilized for shops. Notwithstanding the size of the building, it had only a single series of apartments, which were laid out on a correspondingly large scale. It was doubtless built for men, although the use of it at certain hours by women may possibly have been contemplated, in case the women's baths at the two other establishments should be overcrowded.

Entrances from three streets lead to the ample palaestra, from which the remains of the houses demolished to make room for it had not yet been entirely removed. On the northeast side is the excavation for a large swimming tank (h), and for a water channel leading to the closet (e). In order to have water at hand for building purposes, the masons had built a low wall around an old impluvium on the south side (shown on the plan, Fig. 94) into which a feed pipe ran. For a short distance on the north side the stylobate had been made ready for the building of the colonnade; elsewhere only the preliminary work had been done. The rooms at the southeast corner (f, g) were no doubt intended for dressing rooms for the palaestra and the plunge bath.

Two small rooms (b, c) open upon the north entrance of the palaestra; one of them, perhaps, was to be a ticket office, for the adjustment of matters relating to admission, the other a cloak room, in which the capsarius would guard the valuables of the bathers.

Two doors admit the visitor from the palaestra to the series of bath rooms, one of them opening from the north end of the colonnade. The first room (i, l) was designed to answer the purpose of a store, with four booths (k, m, n, o) opening into it for the sale of edibles and bathers' conveniences.

The apodyterium (p), tepidarium (q), and caldarium (s) had each three large windows opening on the palaestra; two of those belonging to the tepidarium are seen in Fig. 95. None of the rooms were finished, though a hollow floor and hollow walls had been built in the tepidarium, caldarium, and Laconicum. The bath basins yet lacked their marble linings, and the two furnaces (at x and y) had not been built.

Five smaller windows on the southeast side of the caldarium looked out on a narrow garden, about which the workmen had commenced to build a wall to cut off the sight of the firemen passing to and fro between the two furnaces. The caldarium was so placed as to receive the greatest possible amount of sunlight, particularly in the afternoon hours, when it would be used; this was in accordance with a recommendation of Vitruvius, who says that the windows of baths ought, whenever possible, to face the southwest, otherwise the south.

In the Central Baths there was no frigidarium; but a large basin for cold baths, nearly five feet deep, was placed in the dressing room opposite the windows. Supply pipes were so laid that jets would spring into the basin from three small niches, one in each wall; the overflow was conducted by pipes under the floor to a catch basin (w), and thence to the street.

The tepidarium (q)—here, as usual, relatively small—is connected with the apodyterium by two doors, and similarly with the caldarium. The latter room has a bath basin at each end, thus affording accommodations for twenty-six or twenty-eight bathers at once; at the middle of the southeast side was a smaller basin that took the place of the labrum. The hot air flues leading from the furnaces under the bath basins were already built, and above them openings were left for semi-cylindrical heaters like that in the women's caldarium of the Stabian Baths.

The round sweating room, Laconicum, was made more ample by means of four semicircular niches, and lighted by three small round windows just above the cornice of the domed ceiling. There was probably another round opening at the apex, designed for a bronze shutter, which could be opened or closed from below by means of a chain, so as to regulate the temperature. Doors led into the Laconicum from both the tepidarium and the caldarium.

The oblong court between the bath rooms and the street on the northeast side was apparently to be laid out as a garden. At the north end the workmen had begun to build pillars for a short colonnade. A large square foundation for a sundial stands near the opposite corner.

CHAPTER XXX
THE AMPHITHEATRE

In the southeast corner of the city, at a distance from the other excavations, lies the Amphitheatre, the scene of gladiatorial combats. The Pompeians called it 'the show,' spectacula, as in the inscription, preserved in two copies, that gives us the names of the builders: C. Quinctius C. f. Valgus, M. Porcius M. f[ilius] duo vir[i] quinq[uennales] coloniai honoris caussa spectacula de sua peq[unia] fac[iunda] coer[arunt] et coloneis locum in perpetuom deder[unt]. According to this, the Amphitheatre was built by the same men, Valgus and Porcius, who are already known to us as the builders of the Small Theatre (p. 153); and they presented it to the city in recognition of the honor conferred upon them by their reëlection as duumvirs. The Amphitheatre may thus have been finished half a decade later than the Theatre, but in any case it belongs to the earliest years of the Roman colony,—as might be inferred, in default of other evidence, from the archaic spelling of the inscription, and the character of the masonry, which is like that of the Small Theatre and the baths north of the Forum (p. 41).

The colonists, however, did not receive from Rome their impulse to erect such a building. The passion for gladiatorial combats was developed in Campania earlier, and manifested itself more strongly, than in Latium. Strabo's statement that gladiators were brought forward at Campanian banquets, in larger or smaller numbers according to the rank of the guests, has reference to the period before the Second Punic War; but it was considered a noteworthy event in Rome when, in 264 B.C., gladiators engaged in combat in the Forum Boarium in celebration of funeral rites, as also when, on a similar occasion in 216 B.C., twenty-two pairs fought in the Forum. Buildings were erected for gladiatorial shows in Campanian towns earlier than at the Capital. As late as the year 46 B.C. the spectators who witnessed the games given by Julius Caesar sat on wooden seats supported by temporary staging; and the first stone amphitheatre in Rome was built by Statilius Taurus in 29 B.C., almost half a century after the quinquennial duumvirate of Valgus and Porcius. The Amphitheatre at Pompeii is the oldest known to us from either literary or monumental sources.

In comparison with later and more imposing structures, our Amphitheatre seems indeed unpretentious. Its exterior elevation is relatively low (Fig. 96); as our section shows (Fig. 99), the arena and the lower ranges of seats are in a great hollow excavated for the purpose below the level of the ground. The dimensions (length 460 feet, breadth 345) are small when compared with those of the Coliseum (615 and 510 feet, respectively) or even the amphitheatres at Capua or Pozzuoli; and the lack of artistic form is noteworthy.

The arena, a view of which is given in Plate VI, is surrounded by a wall about 6½ feet high. This wall was covered with frescoes which, still fresh at the time of excavation, are now known to us only from copies in the Naples Museum. They consisted of alternate broad and narrow panels, the latter containing each a herm between two columns, while the larger spaces presented alternately a conventional pattern and a scene connected with the games. One of the scenes gives an interesting glimpse of the preparations for the combat (Fig. 97). In the middle we see the overseer marking out with a long staff the ring within which the combatants must fight. At the right a gladiator stands, partly armed; two attendants are bringing him a helmet and a sword. A hornblower, also partly armed, stands at the left; and behind him two companions, squatting on the ground, make ready his helmet and shield. At either end of the scene, in the background, is an image of a Winged Victory with a wreath and palm.

Two broad corridors (3, 3A) connect the ends of the arena with the outside of the building. The one at the north end, toward Vesuvius, follows a straight line; the other bends sharply to the right in order to avoid the city wall, which bounds the structure on the south and east sides. By these corridors the gladiators entered the arena, first in festal array, passing in stately procession across the sand from one entrance to the other, then coming forth in pairs as they were summoned to mortal combat.

At the middle of the west side there is a third passage, narrow and low (e); this is the grewsome corridor through which the bodies of the dead were dragged by means of hooks, its entrance being the Porta Libitinensis, 'Death Gate.' Near the inner end of each of the three corridors is a small, dark chamber (f) the purpose of which is unknown. It has been suggested that wild animals may have been confined here, but larger and more easily accessible rooms would have been required for this purpose. They may have been storerooms for appliances of various kinds required for the exhibitions.

The seats, of which there are thirty-five rows, have the same form as those in the Small Theatre, and are of the same material, gray tufa. They are arranged in three divisions,—the lowest, ima cavea, having five rows; the middle division, media cavea, twelve; and the highest, summa cavea, eighteen (Figs. 98, 99). In the middle section of the ima cavea on each side the place of the seats is taken by four low, broad ledges, set aside for members of the city council, who could place upon them the seats of honor, bisellia, to the use of which they were entitled. At the middle of the east side the second ledge is interrupted for a distance of ten feet (the break is shown in Plate VI), a double width being thus given to the lowest. This place was designed for seats of special honor, and was, no doubt, reserved for the official who provided the games, and his associates. On the same side the ledges are extended into the next section on the south, the continuity of the seats being interrupted by a low barrier. This supplementary section was, perhaps, intended for certain freedmen, as the Augustales (p. 100), who had the right to use bisellia, but who nevertheless could not become members of the city council, and were not ranked on a social equality with the occupants of the middle section.

The seats of the ima cavea and media cavea were reached through a vaulted passage (4), which, in accordance with ancient usage, we may call a crypt. It ran under the first seats of the second range, and stairs led from it to both divisions. It might be entered either from the two broad corridors leading to the arena, or directly from the west side by means of two separate passages (c, d, on the plan). It is, however, interrupted at the middle on each side of the Amphitheatre. On the west side the prolongation of the crypt would have interfered with the use of the corridor leading to the Death Gate; but as no such reason existed for blocking the east branch, it is probable that the designers of the Amphitheatre interrupted both branches of the crypt in order to force the spectators who had seats in the lower and middle divisions of the south half of the structure to enter and leave by the somewhat inconvenient south entrances, which are situated in an angle of the city wall. Had the crypt been carried completely around, the crowd would always have pressed into the building through the north entrances, which opened toward the city, thus causing confusion, if not danger, on occasions of special interest.

The middle division was separated from the summa cavea (8) by a low parapet with a narrow passage (praecinctio, b) on the upper side. The seats of the summa cavea could be reached in two ways, by passing through the crypt and up the long flights of stairs that led through the middle division to the top (best seen in Fig. 99), or by mounting the stairs on the outside of the building to the terrace (10), which has the same level as the highest rows of seats; it is also of the same height as the city wall, with which it is merged on the south and east sides. The terrace was no doubt the principal means of access; ample provision was made for the crowd by building two large double stairways (11), with smaller single flights at the corners where the terrace joined the city wall (12).

Between the terrace and the seats of the summa cavea was an elevated gallery, divided up into small boxes, about four feet square; under the row of boxes were vaulted vomitoria, making the seats of the summa cavea accessible from the terrace. A passage ran along the outside of the boxes, with steps leading from the terrace; only every third box was connected with this passage, however, the other two of the group being entered from a narrow ramp along the front (Fig. 100).

The Amphitheatre had a seating capacity of about twenty thousand persons. We have no information in regard to the distribution of seats, but it may safely be assumed, from the arrangements known to have existed elsewhere, that the lowest division was reserved for the city officials with their friends and other prominent people; that an admission fee was charged for the seats of the middle division; and that the seats of the upper division were free. The gallery was doubtless set aside for women, who were permitted by a regulation promulgated in the reign of Augustus to have a place only in the upper portion of the Amphitheatre.

Besides the inscription giving the names of the builders (p. 212) there are several others of interest in connection with the building. Four of them, cut in large letters in the travertine coping of the wall about the arena, commemorate the construction of seats. One reads: L. Saginius II vir i. d. pr[o] lu[dis] lu[minibus] ex d[ecurionum] d[ecreto] cun[eum],—'Lucius Saginius, duumvir with judiciary authority, in accordance with a resolution of the city council (constructed) a section of seats in the place of the games and illumination,' that otherwise he would have been required to provide. Another of the series is even more abbreviated, but the meaning is clear: MAG · PAG · AUG · F · S · PRO · LUD · EX · D · D, that is, Magistri Pagi Augusti Felicis Suburbani pro ludis ex decurionum decreto,—'The officials of the suburb Pagus Augustus Felix by authority of a resolution of the city council (constructed a section of seats) in the place of providing games.'

From an inscription in the Stabian Baths, to which reference has already been made (p. 195), it is clear that some freedom of choice was permitted to the city officials regarding the disposition of the sum which they were required to contribute for public purposes in recognition of the honor conferred upon them by their election. The Amphitheatre was not provided with seats at the beginning, and one wedge-shaped section (cuneus) after another was added until the divisions were complete; meanwhile the spectators made themselves as comfortable as they could on the sloping ground. As the organization of the Pagus Augustus Felix did not take place till 7 B.C., the construction of the seats could not at that time have been completed; but they were all finished before the overwhelming of the city.

The north entrance to the arena was adorned with two portrait statues of Gaius Cuspius Pansa, father and son, placed in niches in the walls facing each other. The statues have disappeared, but the inscriptions underneath are still in place. What services the Pansas had rendered in connection with the Amphitheatre to merit this distinction, we do not know; but the father, as the inscription indicates, was 'prefect in accordance with the law of Petronius' (p. 14); that is, he was appointed by the city council to exercise the functions of the two duumvirs when no valid election occurred. Bulwer Lytton, by a natural error, makes Pansa a commissioner to secure the execution of an altogether different Lex Petronia, which forbade the giving of slaves to wild beasts unless judicial sentence had been previously passed upon them.

The attraction of the gladiatorial exhibitions, together with the ample seating capacity of the building, stimulated attendance from neighboring cities, and on one occasion unfortunate results followed. In the year 59 A.D. a Roman senator, Livineius Regulus, who had been expelled from the Senate, and had apparently taken up his residence at Pompeii, gave an exhibition that attracted a great concourse. Among those who came to witness the combats were many inhabitants of Nuceria. The people of the two towns may not have been on the best of terms previously; whatever the cause, the Pompeians and Nucerians commenced with mutual bantering and recriminations, then resorted to stone-throwing, and finally engaged in a free fight with weapons.

The Nucerians, as can easily be understood, fared the worse, having many killed and wounded. They carried the matter to Rome, lodging a complaint with Nero; the emperor referred the case to the Senate, which decreed that Regulus and the leaders of the disturbance should be sent into exile, that the Pompeians should not be permitted to hold any gladiatorial exhibitions for the space of ten years, and that the illegal societies at Pompeii—in regard to which, unfortunately, we have no further information—should be dissolved. From the receipts of Caecilius Jucundus we learn, further, that the duumvirs of the year 59 were removed from office, and that with the new duumvirs, elected in their places, a magistrate with extraordinary powers, praefectus iuri dicundo, was associated—measures that indicate how serious the disturbance of public order must have been.

Reminiscences of this bloody fray are found in several inscriptions scratched on walls; and a lively idea of it is given by a wall painting found in 1869 in a house near the theatres, now in the Naples Museum (Fig. 101). The picture is of special interest as throwing light on the surroundings of the Amphitheatre and some of its arrangements. The open space with the trees in the foreground, among which are various booths, remind one of a park; at the right is a single house. It is clear from the painting that the women's boxes, in the gallery, were arched in front; and we see how the great awning, velum, was stretched over the south end to protect the audience from the sun. It was carried by the two towers of the city wall (one of them is indicated on the plan, 13) and by masts that stood in the passage behind the women's boxes, where several of the perforated stones in which they were set may still be seen.

That the sports of the Amphitheatre had at all times the keenest interest for the Pompeians is evident, not only from the number of notices having to do with the games, which we see painted in red on walls along the streets or on tombs by the roadside, but also from the countless graffiti in both houses and public places having reference to combats and favorite gladiators. The limits of space do not permit us to describe the gladiatorial exhibitions as they took place at Pompeii and other Roman cities; but the inscriptions bring so near to us the scenes and excitement of those days that it seems worth while to quote and interpret a few typical examples.

On a tomb near the Nuceria Gate, excavated in 1886, is the following notice, painted in red letters: Glad[iatorum] par[ia] XX Q. Monni Rufi pug[nabunt] Nola K[alendis] Mais, VI. V. Nonas Maias, et venatio erit,—'Twenty pairs of gladiators, furnished by Quintus Monnius Rufus, will fight at Nola May 1, 2, and 3, and there will be a hunt.' The forms of the letters and the numerous ligatures point to a comparatively early period, perhaps antedating the reign of Augustus. The 'hunt,' venatio, was an exhibition of wild beasts, which sometimes were pitted against one another, sometimes fought with men. Another tomb close by bears a notice of a gladiatorial combat to take place at Nuceria.

A still larger number of gladiators is announced in this notice: Cn. Allei Nigidi Mai quinq[uennalis] gl[adiatorum] par[ia] XXX et eor[um] supp[ositicii] pugn[abunt] Pompeis VIII VII VI K[alendas] Dec[embres]. Ven[atio] erit. Maio quin[quennali] feliciter. Paris va[le],—'Thirty pairs of gladiators furnished by Cn. Alleius Nigidius Maius, quinquennial duumvir, together with their substitutes, will fight at Pompeii November 24, 25, 26. There will be a hunt. Hurrah for Maius the quinquennial! Bravo, Paris!' The substitutes were to take the place of the killed or wounded, that the sport might not suffer interruption. Nigidius Maius appears to have been a rich Pompeian of the time of Claudius. In another painted inscription, he advertises a considerable property for rent (p. 489). His daughter, as we know from an inscription belonging to a statue erected in her honor, was a priestess of Venus and Ceres. Paris was probably a popular gladiator.

Other officials besides duumvirs provided exhibitions. Thus an aedile: A. Suetti Certi aedilis familia gladiatoria pugnab[it] Pompeis pr[idie] K[alendas] Iunias; venatio et vela erunt,—'The gladiatorial troop of the aedile Aulus Suettius Certus will fight at Pompeii May 31; there will be a hunt, and awnings will be provided.'

The following notice can be dated, approximately: D. Lucreti Satri Valentis flaminis Neronis Caesaris Aug[usti] fili perpetui gladiatorum paria XX, et D. Lucreti Valentis fili glad[iatorum] paria X pug[nabunt] Pompeis VI V IV III pr[idie] Idus Apr[iles]. Venatio legitima et vela erunt. Scr[ipsit] Aemilius Celer sing[ulus] ad luna[m],—'Twenty pairs of gladiators furnished by Decimus Lucretius Satrius Valens, permanent priest of Nero, son of the emperor, and ten pairs of gladiators furnished by Decimus Lucretius Valens his son, will fight at Pompeii April 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. There will be a big hunt, and awnings. Aemilius Celer wrote this, all alone by the light of the moon.' The reference to Nero as the son of the emperor, shows that the inscription was written after he was adopted by Claudius, in 50 A.D., and before Claudius's death, in 54. Celer was an enterprising painter of notices, whose name appears elsewhere in a similar connection.

Besides the general announcement of a gladiatorial exhibition, a detailed programme, libellus, was prepared in advance, of which copies were sold. No such copy has come down to us, but the character of the contents of a programme may be inferred from the order of events which a Pompeian with waste time on his hands scratched on a wall; the memorandum covers two exhibitions, which came near together in the early part of May, the result of each combat being carefully noted. Unfortunately the letters have now become almost illegible; but we give the superscription and three of the nine pairs of combatants mentioned in the second programme, which is the better preserved of the two, adding in a separate column the full forms of the abbreviated words; the figures indicate the number of combats in which the different gladiators had taken part:—

The name of the official who gave the exhibition (munus) is obliterated. The contests extended over four days, May 12-15.

In the first pair of gladiators Pugnax, equipped with Thracian weapons—a small, round shield and short, curved sword or dagger—was matched with the Myrmillo Murranus, who bore arms of the Gallic fashion, with the image of a fish on his helmet. Both were Neroniani; that is, from the training school for gladiators founded by Nero, apparently at Capua. Pugnax and Murranus had both been through three contests previously. The name of a gladiator entering a combat for the first time was not followed by a number, but by the letter T, standing for tiro, 'novice.' At the left we see the record added to the programme by the writer in order to give the result of the combat. Pugnax was the victor, Murranus was killed.

In the second pair Cycnus, in heavy armor, was pitted against Atticus, who had the Thracian arms. Both were from the training school founded by Julius Caesar, probably at Capua, and hence are called Iuliani. Cycnus won, but the audience had compassion on Atticus, and his life was spared. The same term was applied to a defeated gladiator permitted to leave the arena as to a soldier having an honorable discharge—missus, 'let go.'

The third pair fought in chariots, being dressed in British costume. Scylax was from the Julian school. Such establishments let out gladiators to those who gave exhibitions, and obtained in this way a considerable income. But Publius Ostorius, as his name implies, was a freeman; presumably he was a gladiator, who, having served a full term, had secured his freedom, and was now fighting on his own account. Though beaten, he was permitted to live, perhaps on account of his creditable record; he had engaged in fifty-one combats.

The combatants from the schools of Caesar and Nero were especially popular, and were generally victorious; but gladiators belonging to other proprietors are mentioned, as in the inscriptions of a house on Nola Street, which will be mentioned again presently. Here we find gladiators who were evidently freemen named with others who were slaves of different masters. In only one of these inscriptions, however, do we find the name of an owner that is known to us: Essed[arius] Auriolus Sisen[nae]. The chariot fighter Auriolus belonged to a Sisenna, seemingly either the Sisenna Statilius Taurus, who was consul in 16 A.D., or his son of the same name. As we have seen, it was a Statilius Taurus who built the first permanent amphitheatre in Rome, in 29 B.C. The control of this building remained in the hands of the family. In the columbarium in which the ashes of their slaves and freedmen were placed, we find inscriptions of a 'guard of the amphitheatre,' and of a 'doorkeeper'—custos de amphitheatro, ostiarius ab amphitheatro. It is highly probable that the family—the first in Rome after the imperial house—possessed a training school, and derived an income from furnishing gladiators to those who gave exhibitions.

In view of these facts, we must suppose that the 'troop' (familia gladiatoria) of Suettius Certus, for example, was simply a band of gladiators brought together for a particular engagement, not a permanent organization. The giver of an exhibition would make a contract for the gladiators that he might need. At the close of the combats the dead would be counted, the surviving freemen paid off and dismissed, and the surviving slaves returned to their masters, 'the troop' thus going out of existence.

Occasionally the individual who provided the combats would erect a monument to the fallen, by way of perpetuating the memory of his munificence. A familiar example is the memorial set up by Gaius Salvius Capito at Venosa, of which the inscription is extant. The names are given of the gladiators who were killed, together with the number of their previous combats and victories. They were slaves of different masters, only one of them, Optatus, being owned by Capito himself. Optatus was a tiro, who fell thus in his first contest. Possibly his master had obliged him, on account of some misdemeanor, to enter the arena with little previous training.

Besides the classes of inscriptions of which examples have been presented, all sorts of scratches upon the plastered walls bear witness to the general enthusiasm for gladiatorial sports. Sometimes there is simply the name of a gladiator, with his school and the number of combats, as Auctus, Iul[ianus], XXXXX; sometimes we find a rough outline of a figure with a boastful legend, as Hermaïscus invictus hac, 'Here's the unconquered Hermaïscus.'

There are also memoranda in regard to particular combats, illustrated by rude sketches. Thus on a wall in the house of the Centenary we find a drawing of a gladiator in flight, pursued by another, with the note: Officiosus fugit VIII Idus Nov[embres] Druso Caesare M. Iunio Silano cos.,—'Officiosus fled on November 6, in the year 15 A.D.' A similar sketch has been found in another house, with these words written beside the fleeing gladiator, Q. P[e]tronius O[c]ta[v]us XXXIII, m[issus]; beside the pursuer, Severus lib[ertus], XXXXXV, v[icit]. Severus was thus a gladiator who had been a slave, and had gained his freedom: he had fought fifty-five combats. Petronius Octavus may have been a freeman, who had fought on his own account from the beginning. In taverns a painting of a gladiator with an inscription like the record of a programme was a favorite subject of decoration.

Athletes in all ages have won the admiration of the gentler sex; and it would be surprising if among so many gladiatorial graffiti there were not some containing references to female admirers. In the peristyle of a house on Nola Street (V. v. 3) the names of about thirty gladiators are found; the kinds of weapons and the owners are designated, and the number of previous combats given, as in the programmes, while records of the results of the combats are entirely lacking. Terms of endearment are lavished upon two, Celadus, Threx, and Crescens, net fighter; Celadus is suspirium puellarum, 'maidens' sigh,' and puellarum decus, 'glory of girls'; while Crescens is puparum dominus, 'lord o' lassies,' and puparum medicus, 'the darlings' doctor.'

Another graffito informs us that at one time—before the year 63—a gladiator lived in this house: Samus / Ↄ / m[urmillo], idem eq[ues], hic hab[itat],—'Samus, who has fought once, and once conquered (Ↄ is for corona, 'crown'), Myrmillo, and at the same time fighter on horseback, lives here.' Other gladiators, no doubt, shared the dwelling with him; and the amatory graffiti may have been written by one and another miles gloriosus, referring to conquests outside the arena, or by companions in bitter scorn.

CHAPTER XXXI
STREETS, WATER SYSTEM, AND WAYSIDE SHRINES