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37 6Spectacles 329

Seneca the Younger, An Essay about Peace of Mind 2.13S:'me people undertake aimless journeys and wander up and down the coast. An unhealthy restless-:'..,,35always afflicts them whereverthey are, traveling by sea or by land. "Let's go to Campania. "141:: : . 1 t luxury proves to be a bore. "Let's hurry to Bruttium and the woodlands of Lucania." 142 Yet:.:::-idstthese wild regions, they look for something refined so that they can relieve their delicate eyes.: the unbroken desolation of these uncultivated areas. "Let's go to Tarentum.v" it has a famous.-.:..:-borand mild winters and is certainly opulent enough and charming." "No, let's go back to-,.me." It's been much too long since their ears have heard thunderous applause. 144 And human: .cod would be an enjoyable sight.

SPECTACLES

-~ome's early history, the only occasions for holidays were rel igious festivals. Since; : Ilan society was in origin agricultural, the purpose of the festivals was to win the_:::::Jortof gods or spirits who controlled the weather, crop growth, animal breeding,,-::: so on.14SThese festivals were days of sacrifice and ritual, but also of holiday- -:"iment, as Easteror Christmas are for ustoday. In addition to holidays devoted to: =:ating the divine spirits, there were holidays established to thank the gods for- -: cing the Romans win a specific mili tary victory. For example, before a battle, the:.c-:,~al would pray on behalf of the Romans to certain gods and vow that if the; : - ans won they would honor those gods with a day (or days) of holiday entertain-- -= . -: . ;46 Although each thanksgiving holiday originally marked the victory of a:.-::iic campaign, it became an annual event, and its original significance may have''':--::-forgotten. On these days, the state presented various types of entertainment,- = " were financed with public funds. These entertainments were called ludi,

- = , '" can be translated as "games" or "plays" or "sports." 147Although the ludi- : ' - = ' originally presented as part of the religious celebration that brought peopleZ-::ler to honor the gods publicly, gradual changes began to occur in the celebra-: - :::;Roman religious holidays. In urban areas, holidays without ludi148 became

'nportant to most people than holidays with them, particularly as the city--: ng Romans forgot their agricultural associations. And holidays with ludi were

C - .ied to occupy more days. The Ludi Cereales, for example, which honored-'-:; the goddess of grain, were extended from one to seven days, from April 12 to

_c The Ludi Romani, which were dedicated to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva, lasted_=: znia: a region south of Rome where the cities of Naples and Pompeii were situated .

. -.-::;m, Lucania: regions in the southernmost part of the Italian peninsula.-.', -::1/11: city in the southeast coast of Italy. It was founded by the Greeks.

- '_. ',~,'ous applause: probably at the spectacles in the arena such as gladiatorial combats.'~ : '-ilia, for example, on April 21, honored Pales, the goddess of shepherds and flocks.

'. vs might also be made when asking the gods for relief from a plague or famine.singular of ludi) can also mean "training," and the word ludus is used both for children's play andschool, as well as for training schools for gladiators.

: C:::.ia, for example .. ", Ceres: tbe origin of the English word cereal.

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330 LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENTfourteen days, from September 5 to 19. Of course, people did not take all those d a v 0off work, but the spectacles were usually presented in the afternoon when man'.people were free.150About 100 B.C., there were fifty-eight days of festivals withou:ludi each year and fifty-seven days of ludi, although the fifty-seven days representedonly six separate celebrations.!

The association of holidays and public entertainment with religion was weak-ened when Sulla dedicated ludi to Victoria Sullae-"Sulla's (military) Victory."152 Itthen became fairly common practice to celebrate personal military victories withludi, and, in the imperial period, to celebrate thus the emperor's birthday or his deathand deification. By the fourth century A.D., there were 177 regular days of ludi in theyear.

The ludi were "popular" and "public" spectacles in several senses.They broughttogether the Roman people (Latin populus) for an enjoyable communal event, whichwas organized by public officials and paid for with public funds. The main specta-cles153 or shows enjoyed by people during the ludi were chariot racing, theaterevents, and wild animal "hunts." Gladiatorial combats, although common in therepublican period as privately sponsored events, did not become part of the publiclysponsored entertainments until the imperial period.t=' Admission to the ludi was free.At the beginning of each year, the Senate would decide how much money it wishedto allocate for the ludi of each holiday. The production of the ludi, however, wasentrusted to the aediles (or, in the imperial period, to the praetors). It was their job tohire the performers.O? buy wild animals, purchase necessary equipment, and soon.The senatorial allotment was intended to cover all these expenses, but most aedilesadded to this allotment large amounts of their own money because they hoped to winpopularity with the voters by arranging "the greatest show on earth." The aedileswere, of course, ambitious politicians with their eyes on the praetorship and consul-ship, and were therefore willing to buy voter support by subsidizing the publicentertainments from their own private funds.156When Julius Caesarwas aedile in 65B.C., he almost ruined himself f inancially in order to stage lavish entertainments. Buthis near bankruptcy was a wise gamble; he went on to be elected consul and then tobe appointed governor of Gaul. In the republican period, private individuals occa-sionally financed ludi, which were a one-time event (as opposed to the regular

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ISO Spectacles were not held at night because of the absence of good artificial lighting; see note 42 of this chapter.151These six celebrations were: Ludi Megalenses (Apri14-IO), Ludi Cereales, Ludi Florales (April 28-May 3),Ludi Apollinares (July 6-13), Ludi Romani, and Ludi Plebeii (November 4-17). These were the celebrationsheld in the city of Rome. Other Italian cities had similar holidays with publicly financed ludi. As the RomanEmpire expanded, the popularity of ludi spread to all the provinces. In the imperial period, ludi in the provinceswere of ten dedicated to the cult (or worship) of the emperor; on this cult, see selection 429.152Sulla: see note 114 of Chapter VIr.153 spectacle: Latin spectare = "to look at," "to observe."1540ur earliest date for state-funded gladatorial combats is 42 B.C.155Usually the aedile would negotiate a rental contract with a man who owned a company of actors or a team ofchariot drivers. And since many actors and drivers were slaves, the team owner quite literally owned them.156Politicians thought this money was well invested. If the aedile went on to be praetor or consul, he was alsoassured of a post as a provincial governor. And in the provinces he would try to fill up his empty purse byextorting money from the people he had been assigned to protect. Consider Verres's activities in Sicily, describedby Cicero in selection 321.

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Spectacles 331annually scheduled ludi financed by the Senate). In the imperial period, the ludiproduced with senatorial allotments were often eclipsed in size and lavishness bylud i produced with funds from the imperial family.

Caesar's GamesRoman politicians of the republican period, always from the upper-class, promoted asystem in which the presentation of entertainment became one method of curryingfavor and winning votes. For their part, the lower-class expected to be entertainedand used the games, moreover, asan opportunity to express approval or disapprovalof politicians or policy. In fact, the late republican poli tician Cicero wrote that theRoman people made their will known in three locations-public meetings (c on-r/ones), popular voting assemblies (comit ia) , and spectacles (/udi and gladiatorialshows)-and that they expressed themselves most honestly at the spectacles (S peechin Defense of Sest ius , 50.106). The upper-class therefore strove for abalance betweentheir need to support the spectacles so essential to their political survival, and their;ear of massgatherings where discontent might fester. For the most part, the politicaladvantages of providing entertainment outweighed the threat of civil disturbanceerupting in the emotionally charged atmosphere of the games.

The following passagedescribes Julius Caesar's presentation of public entertain-Tlent in 65 B.C., the year of his aedileship. As a publicly elected magistrate, he was-esponsible for the production of ludi for state holidays. Forthese, he used the public:~nds allotted by the Senate, with perhaps an addition of some personal funds, andarranged for the requisite theater events, "hunts," and chariot races. As a privatecitizen, he also, in the same year, arranged a gladiatorial show at his own expense.-1e occasion for this display of 320 pairs of gladiators was a memorial event honor-~g Caesar's dead father. Although this particular event was privately financed, Cae-:::; undoubtedly hoped to gain political popularity for staging it, even as he gained= opularitv for the successful production of the state-financed /udi. The large number~: gladiators at his show worried his political enemies, who feared either that the~adiators he had hired to fight in Rome might be emboldened by their numbers to'-: .olt, 157 or that Caesar might be gathering a private army to stage a coup d'etat.

:-; Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars: Julius Caesar 10~_~ing his aedileship, Caesar ... arranged wild animal "hunts" and theatrical performances,

o ::_etimes with the help of his colleague, Marcus Bibulus, sometimes on his own.158 . . . He also.r: .nged a gladiatorial exhibition, but with somewhat fewer pairs of gladiators than he had originally: o:_::ed. For since the group he had hired was so large, and their sheer number had terrified his

0 : :::al enemies, these enemies passed legislation restricting the number of gladiators which anyone. .; allowed to keep in Rome.

- .: -3 B.C., gladiators in Italy, led by Spartacus, revolted and stirred up an ill-fated war in which thousands of_ ~, participated. See the introduction to selection 219.: .esar and Marcus Calpumius Bibulus were the two curule aediles in 65 B.C. The two plebeian aediles were

_ _ 0 vergilius Balbus and Quintus Tullius Cicero; on Quintus Cicero, see selections 25,69,70,227, and 3 1 8 0

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332 LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENTNero's Games

Once the emperor Tiberius had transferred the election of magistrates from the p': = _ -lar assemblies to the Senate.i>? aspiring and ambitious politicians no longer :"c::: ~reason to court the favor of the masses by arranging lavish public spectac e:Although aediles and praetors continued to execute their duties in this area, the ~::"became a burdensome and largely ungratifying one. Moreover the emperor" -:::-stricted the opportunities that private individuals had to produce spectacles. The. c :::not want any potential rival to win the affections of the people and build support T D - : .coup d'etat.16o Instead they themselves exploited the polit ical advantages of er:=--taining the massesand sponsored extravagant new games. Nero, who was ernpec -from A.D. 54 to 68 and who had a personal interest in performances and comp~:-tions, was particularly generous with the time and money he devoted to pub :::spectacles.

378 Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars: Nero 11. ~:Nero presented a large number of different types of entertainments: youth athletic meets, chari; :races, theatrical performances, and gladiatorial shows. At the youth meets he allowed even old rne;of consular rank and elderly matrons to take part. 161At the chariot races he assigned to the equestria;class' gifts were distributed among the people:every single day a thousand birds, all different kinds, were given away, as well as numerous foo;baskets and vouchers for grain, clothing, gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, paintings, slaves.horses, mules, even for tamed wild animals, and, finally, for ships, apartment buildings, and farms.Nero himself watched these plays from the edge of the stage.

At the gladiatorial show, which he had staged in the wooden amphitheater near the CampusMartius (the amphitheater had been built in just twelve months), 166he allowed no one to be killed.not even convicted criminals .167 . . . He staged a sea battle on an artificial saltwater lake with seamonsters swimming in it. He also staged some Greek ballets with young Greek dancers to each of159See selection 271.160Similarly, the emperors did not allow military leaders to celebrate triumphs; see the introduction to selectior;293.1610n Nero's encouragement of citizens to perform, see selection 380.162Perhaps because the equestrian class had originally had "horsey" associations; see note 12 of Chapter 1.163Lucius Afranius: a playwright who had lived about 200 years earlier.164Apparently a building had actually been set on fire during the performance. The Roman audience dernande ;realism.165Nero had inaugurated these games and given them the name "Greatest."1660n the location of the Campus Martius, see map 1. In Rome's earliest period, gladiatorial events were held i c - .the open area of the Forum, with standing room only for the spectators. An amphitheater was a circular seatingstructure buil t around an arena where the events took place. (For the definition of arena, see note 46 of th..chapter.) Rome's most famous amphitheater is the Colosseum, which was completed in A.D. 80, twelve year,after Nero's death. It was called by the Romans not Colosseum but Flavian Amphitheater since the emperors wh;bui lt it were of the Flavius family.1670n the use of convicted criminals in these events, see selections 6, 224, and 398.

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Spectacles 333

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whom he granted a certificate of Roman citizenship when their performance was over. Among theseGreek ballets was one in which a bull actually mounted Pasiphae who was concealed in a woodencow--or that's what many of the spectators believed. 168 In another ballet, Icarus fell when he fi rsttried his wings, crashed near the emperor's couch, and spattered Nero with blood. 169

: . . . . Political WisdomAlthough games, or /udi, had originally been closely associated with the observanceof a religious celebration, they gradually assumed an importance of their own. Citydwellers, who did not feel the respect for Ceres, the grain goddess, which a farmermight, began to think of the Ludi Cereales not asan opportunity to honor Ceres, but asa chance to see chariot races. And politicians were quick to seethe polit ical advan-tages in the people's love of games. Lavish entertainments won voter support andmight even erase public memory of political blunders, since the voters could forgive aman's sins if he provided impressive spectacles. In the republican period, the ludiwere often used by the upper class as a political tool to maintain the support of thelower class. In the imperial period, the emperor did not, of course, have to worryabout winning votes. But he did need to keep the people happy and contented, sincean unhappy populace might riot and demand a new emperor. The theater and therace-track (ci rcus ) continued, as in the time of Cicero, to serve as locations fordisplays of popular opinion. Indeed, with the suspension of assemblies and voting inthe first century A.D., the theater and the race-track became the main locations forpermissible expression of opinion by the lower-classes.V? Selection 169 records anoccasion in A.D. 32 when people in the theater addressed complaints about grainshortages to the emperor Tiberius. Although Tiberius was angry at the magistrates fornot keeping the crowd under better control, he nonetheless responded to the com-plaints with an explanation of how he was trying to alleviate the shortage. It wasimportant to the emperor's public image not only that he finance games, but also thathe appear regularly at the games, listen to the opinions and demands of the crowd,and respond to these expressions. The emperor thus projected an image of kindness,accessibility, and tolerance, and the people had the satisfaction of knowing that theyhad been heard. This tolerance of controlled dissent-soldiers were stationed in thetheater and circus171-eased tension and helped to avert the threat of a violentpopular uprising, but without actually conceding power to the people. We shouldnot, however, assumethat the crowd expressed only discontent. Many times, perhapsmost times, the emperor's appearance in the theater or circus prompted applause and

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:68The subject of the ballet was the myth of Pasiphae and the bull. Pasiphae, wife of King Minos of Crete, wasconsumed by an unnatural lust for a handsome white bull. She asked Daedalus, a master craftsman, to build forner a beautiful, but hollow, wooden cow. She hi d i n t he cow and waited for the bull. The bull mated with what he.nought was a cow. Pasiphae became pregnant and gave birth to a monster known as the Minotaur, half-bull, half-.nan.C ;'> Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. Daedalus bui lt two sets of wings from feathers and wax,,-ld he and Icarus set out on a f light from Crete to Athens, the first men in history to fly. Icarus flew too close to: : c e sun. The wax melted, the wings collapsed, and Icarus plunged to his death. Perhaps the actor playing the role: " Icarus in t his ballet also died. The Romans appreciated realism! The role may have been played by a convicted.r.minal, sentenced to die in a ballet.,- 'On the lack of opportunities for free speech, see selections 272 and 273.-: On the responsibility of the prefect of the city to maintain order at the games, see selection 268.

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334 LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENTapprobation. The masses wanted entertainment and they cheered the mar.provided it. The emperors therefore increased the number of annual holidavsludi, perhaps hoping that these diversions would keep people's minds off prob :,-:like unemployment or food shortages. Some emperors arranged special one-: -::shows. When the Colosseum was opened, for example, in A.D. 80, Titus+? arra~~:, =shows for the occasion that lasted 100 days. And in A.D. 108, Trajan 173 celebratec - .;military victories in Dacia with 117 days of spectacles.

In the passage below, Fronto174 discusses the political importance of pubentertainments. His comments are, however, a bit misleading. Very few peopleany, would have attended all 117 days of Trajan's spectacles. Today, for exarnp.e _person could attend a movie every day of the year, but no one does (although m2.- .people do watch TV every day). And in a large modern city, there are spectator SPO-5events just about every d ay .l " Will future historians say our century was interes:e :only in hot dogs and baseball, or in sex and violence (asmodern moralists claim I ? : -ancient Rome, most people worked hard for a living and attended spectacles or ..occasionally.

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IBecause of his shrewd understanding of political science, the emperor-?" gave his attention even t .:actors and other performers on stage or on the race track or in the arena, since he knew that t!'.~Roman people are held in control principally by two things-free grain and shows177-that politic':':support depends as much on the entertainments as on matters of serious import, that neglect c:serious problems does the greater harm, but neglect of the entertainments brings damaging un-popularity, that gifts178 are less eagerly and ardently longed for then shows, and, f inally, that giftsplacate only the common people on the grain dole, 179 singly and individually, but the shows placateeveryone.

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In the passagetranslated here, Tacitus, who lived from about A.D. 55 to 118, inveighsagainst a public entertainment that the emperor Nero instituted in A.D. 61. Tacitus'smain complaint was that Nero encouraged the participation of Roman citizens in

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172Titus: the second of the Flavian emperors; ruled A.D. 79-81.173Trajan: emperor A.D. 98-117.174Fronto: see Appendix I, and also note 23 of Chapter II.175And we enjoy 104 weekend "holidays," as well as holidays on Christmas, Labor Day, Fourth of July, and S0on.176the emperor: Trajan.177free grain: the grain dole; see selection 169. Juvenal remarked that the city mob was interested only inpanemet circenses, "bread and chariot races." He exaggerated the situation, but it is nonetheless true that the people ofRome were in a unique position. Because Rome headed a vast empire, the state treasury was filled with tributeand tax money which could be used to provide inhabitants of the city with free grain and free entertainment.Residents in cities and towns in the rest of Italy and in the Empire enjoyed far fewer gifts.l780n gifts from the emperor, see selection 378.179Evidemly gifts were sometimes distributed only to people whose names were on the grain dole list.

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Spectacles 335these shows.w? Tacitus believed that the appearance of citizens in public spectacleswas yet another symptom of the moral decline of Roman society. His commentsprovide insight into Roman attitudes toward public spectacles or entertainments.

Competitive athletics for citizens had a long tradition in the Greek world, theOlympic Games being but one example.tv' Although very few people could hope toreach the level of Olympic competition, excellence in athleticsts- was considered anennobling pursuit, and therefore the training areas, the palaestr ae and gymna sia ,were crowded with citizens aspiring to achieve a reputation for athletic skill . In theRoman world, however, athletic skill in and of itself brought no glory to a citizen;only asan applied skill, within a functional or practical context such asbattle, was theathletic excellence of a citizen praised. Physical training was a matter of personalfitness and preparation for war, not of public display, and the Romans thereforedeveloped no athletic competitions for citizens. The proper arenas for competitionand excellence were the law courts, the Senate house, and the battlefield; nonfunc-tional displays of talent were considered mere performances.tv> Since the Romansviewed athletic, musical, dramatic, and sporting events as forms of entertainment,rather than as true pursuits of excellence, they thought that to devote oneself totraining for such an event would be a frivolous and improper use of time. A Romancitizen who appeared on a theater stage would not only be making an undignifiedspectacle of himself; he would also be wasting his time. In fact, the serious-mindedRomans disapproved of citizen participation in all public entertainments, includ-ing musical or theatrical shows, as inconsistent with the digni tas and gravitas of aRoman.

Yet the Romans were avid spectators! Because they frowned on a citizen makinga public spectacle of himself, most performers were slaves, freedmen, or foreigners.The Romans were thus curiously ambivalent about their spectacles. They lovedwatching theatrical shows, for example, and they appreciated the skill of the actors,but they looked down on them as shameless, disreputable, and socially unaccept-able.184

There is another curious feature to the Roman attitude toward public entertain-ments. Although the Romans enjoyed these entertainments from their earliest history,nonetheless for many centuries the state assumed a puritanical posture toward them,asserting that idle activities led to sloth. In the early republican period, no spectatorseating was provided at theatrical or gladiatorial events. At a later period, temporary180Seeselection 378: "At the youth meets he allowed even old men of consular rank and elderly matrons to takepart."181There were many athletic competitions in Greece, of both major and minor dimensions. Most offeredhandsome prizes or money to the winner, and athletes therefore traveled on a circuit, from competition tocompetition, as do pro golf or pro tennis players today. These athletes were not amateurs, since they earnedsubstantial sums of money for successful performances; see note 15 of this chapter. The Greeks also had musical,dramatic, poetic, and rhetorical competitions for citizens.1820r music, poetry, or drama.183See Cicero's comments in selection 159 about the difference between an actor and an orator.184Ummidia Quadratilla was criticized for owning a company of pantomime dancers; see selection 338. TheJulian Laws stated "a husband ... is permitted to kill a pimp, actor, gladiator, criminal, freedman, or slavewho iscaught in the act of adultery with his wife;" see selection 77. The same ambivalent att itude existed also inmodern Europe and America until quite recently. Since actors traveled from place to place, they remained outsidesociety and were looked upon as strange.

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336 LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENTbleachers were allowed, but they were quickly dismantled at the end of the perfor-mance. A temporary theater building suited the Roman self-image well; its veryimpermanence reminded the citizens of Rome that duty and gravity, not leisure andfrivolity, were the enduring values. The first permanent stone theater in Rome, thetheater of Pompey, was not built until the end of the republican period, in 55 B.c.l85Yet it was probably the upper classes which promoted the puritanical idea thatfrequent attendance at spectacles could produce moral decay, and which prevented,by senatorial decrees, the construction of permanent theaters. Nor were the senatorsnecessarily concerned aboutthe moral well-being of the lower classes. It is more likelythat they resisted permanent theaters because they feared civil disturbances (and theloss of their own power) if masses of common folk assembled in one area.l86

For their part, the lower classes, which had few other forms of entertainment,attended the spectacles in large and enthusiastic numbers and did not seem to worrytoo much about their moral decline. The fact that politicians could curry favor withthe voters by sponsoring lavish games indicates the true feelings of the masses ofpeople.

As late as the first century A.D., however, Tacitus is still arguing the traditionalaristocratic opinion that spectacles had caused the disintegration of the true Romancharacter. However, Tacitus places the primary blame for Rome's decline187 on theGreeks and on the introduction to Rome of the Greek custom of allowing citizens toappear as performers and competitors.t'"

185By contrast, towns in southern Italy, which had been settled or influenced by the Greeks, had permanenttheaters much earlier. The town of Pompeii, for example, had a permanent theater by the early second cen-tury B.C.

In 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was assassinated in the theater of Pompey. (For more information about Pompey,see note 32 of Chapter IV.) Today's visitor to Rome can dine in Pompey's theater; the Ristorante da Pancrazio, at92 Piazza del Biscione, occupies its ruins.J86See Cicero's comments in selection 254 where he compares the disorderly conduct at the contiones to theGreek practices of sitting at assembly meetings and of holding assembly meetings in theaters.

The upper class had various methods of keeping the lower classes under control. It could, through senatorialdecrees, prohibit or closely regulate gatherings of lower-class people. See, for example, the regulations imposedon funeral clubs (selection 129) or the worship of Bacchus (selections 435 and 436). And consider Trajan'sprohibition of a fire-fighting collegium in selection 322. A more subtle method of manipulating the lower classeswas to promote a concept of the ideal Roman as someone who was dutiful (Pius), hardworking, and serious-minded. The upper class claimed that it was preserving ancestral customs, and it concealed its resistance topolitical power for the masses by appealing to traditional procedures and virtues. Of course, to an aristocrat whohad been brought up to assume a paternalistic attitude toward the lower classes and to think that the masses wereincapable of governing themselves, public gatherings and moral decline may well have seemed the same thing.Compare the upper-class promotion of the traditional Roman as a rugged farmer, willing to fight to defend theland he owned (see selection 194); at a time when few families owned land, this image continued to be fosteredby wealthy property owners as a kind of proof that they were the conservators of ancestral custom and were thusthe proper authorities in the state.187It was Tacitus's personal opinion that Rome had declined. In many respects, Rome had progressed substan-tially in the direction of social reform; see selections 52 and 222 to 226. Tacitus, however, is a moralizing authorwho laments the passing of the "good old days." See note nof this chapter.188The Romans viewed Greece as a once great sta te which had collapsed irretrievably. The Greeks whom theRomans met were often the moral and intellecrual inferiors of the fifth century Athenians. The Romans earnestlysought the causes of Greece's decline, since they feared that Rome, too, might decline, and tended to blame onthe Greeks any potential! y harmful changes in the structure of the Roman state.

On anti-Greek sentiment in Rome, see selections 235 and 254.

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380Spectacles 337

Tacitus, Annals 14.20In his fourth consulship, with Cornelius Cossus as his colleague.P? Nero insti tuted at Rome anentertainment which was to be held every five years and which was patterned after Greek competitiveevents. 190 Like all new things, this entertainment received mixed reviews. Some people said thateven Gnaeus Pompeiusl'" had been censured by the older men of his day for building a permanenttheater. For before the building of Pompey's theater, theatrical performances used to be given on atemporary stage to an audience on makeshift bleachers. And, if you go back farther, the audiencestood while watching plays, so that the people would not, by sitting in a theater, become accustomedto spending their time in idleness and sloth. The character of the ancient shows should have beenpreserved, . . . and no citizen should have felt obligated to compete. But, little by little, ourtraditional moral values weakened and then were completely subverted by an imported licentious-ness, so that we began to see here in our city everything that could corrupt or be corrupted: our youngmen were ruined by their eagerness for foreign ways, their enthusiasm for gymnasia, for idleness, forperverted sex, and all with the approval of the emperor and the Senate, who not only grantedpermission for such offensive behavior but even applied pressure on Roman noblemen to disgracethemselves with stage performances of speeches and poetry. What else was left but for them to stripnaked and put on boxing gloves and train for sports matches instead of for warP92

C IR CU S E VE NT S

Chariot racing193 was the oldest and most enduring of the public entertainments.According to Roman legend, the first public entertainment was a day of chariot racingplanned by Romulus shortly after he founded Rome in 753 B.C. He and his men hadno women for their city, so he invited his neighbors, the Sabines, to come and watchhorse races in the valley where the Circus Maximus was later built.194 While theSabine men were intently watching the races, Romulus' men seized and carried offthe Sabine women.195 By the third century A.D., there were eight race tracks in thevicinity of Rome, and the largest, the Circus Maximus, held 250,000 spectators. Therewere race tracks throughout the Empire aswell and, even after the fall of Rome in thefifth century A.D., chariot racing remained immensely popular in the eastern Empireduring the Byzantine period.l?" Chariot racing was a spectator sport, employingprofessionals and designed to make a profit for its organizers. As such, Roman chariotracing was more similar to modern pro football than to the chariot racing of the189The year was A.D. 61. The emperor would occasionally assume the office of consul; see selection 267.190Nero loved Greek competitive events and was eager to participate in them himself. He performed in public asa lyre player, an actor, and a singer. He even traveled to Greece to compete. At the Olympic Games he entered arace for ten-horse chariot teams. Although he fell out of the chariot, had to be helped back in, and still failed tocomplete the course, he was awarded first prize!191Gnaeus Pompeius: Pompey.192for sports matches instead of for war: nonfunctional versus functional applications of athletic skills.193Chariot racing: Latin ludi circenses (from the Latin circus = "race track"). Before the construction ofpermanent arenas, wild animal "hunts" were also held in the circus.194Circlls Maximus: literally "the largest race track"; for its location in Rome, see map I.195This famous legendary event is commonly known as "the Rape of the Sabine Women."1960n the division and fall of the Roman Empire, see note 227 of Chapter X.

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338 LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENTancient Olympics. There were four chariot-racing companies in ancient Rome and atrace tracks throughout the Empire: Red, White, Blue, and Green. Each was called a(actio or "faction." Factions were owned by businessmen, as are football teamstoday. The faction owners owned the horses, the chariots, the stables, other equip-ment, and even the drivers, most of whom were slaves.t v? The aedi Ie or praetorwhose responsibility it was to organize the public entertainment would negotiatewith the owners of each faction a contract to rent the chariots, horses, and drivers forthe duration of the ludi.198 The owners probably received a basic rental fee plus prizemoney for races won. Chariot racing was the most exciting of the public entertain-ments. Spectators appreciated not only the skills of the drivers, but also the spil ls andthe thrills. The chariots were small and fl irn sv.t?? the turns tight, and the driversruthless. Accidents were frequent and serious.2oOUndoubtedly the very deadly na-ture of the races was one of their attractions for some Roman spectators, who came tothe circus expecting and perhaps hoping to see crashes and the broken, mangledbodies of drivers and horses.

Like modern horse racing, Roman racing attracted members of all levels ofsociety. Since admission to the ludi was free, the "sport of kings" could be enjoyed byeveryone. Many emperors were personally interested in racing,201 but even thosewho were not prudently concealed their disinterest and made appearances at theCircus Maximus, asBritish royalty today appears at Ascot. The common people likedto think that the emperors shared their own interests and amusements. Emperors whoattended races usually received enthusiastic applause from the spectators and awarmdisplay of public affection.

A Driver's Winning TechniquesA poet of the fifth century A.D., Sidonius Apollinaris, has left us a vivid account of achariot race in which one of the drivers was his friend Consentius. In this race, onlyfour teams competed, but at the Circus Maximus there was room for twelve teams in arace, three from each faction. Four-horse chariots were the most common, but therewere also races for chariots with two horses, and all the way up to chariots with tenhorses. Sidonius's account provides valuable information about racing techniques.Frequently two drivers worked as partners, as they do in this race. The circus, or racetrack, had a divider or low wall stretching lengthwise to separate the "up" stretchfrom the "down" stretch and prevent head-on collisions. At each end of the dividerwas a turning post. There were seven laps in each race and therefore thirteen sharp

I97Compare the status of actors and gladiators. Many drivers continued to race even after they had beenmanumitted.198The Ludi Romani, for example, lasted fourteen days, although chariot races did not take pi ace on each ofthose days. The owners of acting and gladiatorial companies probably negotiated similar contracts.199Do not be misled by Hollywood portrayals, such as the race scenes in Ben Hur. Racing chariots werelightweight, to minimize the burden on the horses. They were made of wood or wickerwork and were thus easilybroken. The drivers stood, or rather balanced, on narrow floorboards, close to the hindquarters of the horses.2000n remedies for chariot-racing accidents, see selection 1l3.20lBoth Caligula and Nero drove chariots, Caligula on private tracks, Nero in public. For Nero's "victory" at theOlympics, see note 190 of this chapter. Caligula owned a race horse named Incitatus ("Fast Runner") which hewanted to make consul of Rome, so much did he admire the horse's tal=nts.