Chap. 24.] MARTELLOUS BUILDINGS AT EOME. 351 



as a receptacle for the plunder of -whole provinces? — Indeed, 

 Scaurus himself was now no longer able to rival himself; and it 

 was at least one advantage which he derived from this destruction 

 by fire of so many objects brought from all parts of the earth, 

 that no one could ever after be his equal in this species of folly. 

 Curio, consequently, found himself compelled to fall back upon 

 his own resources, and to think of some new device of his 

 own. It is really worth our while to know what this device 

 was, if only to congratulate ourselves upon the manners of the 

 present day, and to reverse the ordinary mode of expression, 

 and term ourselves the men of the olden time." 



He caused to be erected, close together, two theatres of very 

 large dimensions, and built of wood, each of them nicely poised, 

 and turning on a pivot. Before mid-day, a spectacle of games 

 was exhibited in each; the theatres being turned back to back, 

 in order that the noise of neither of them might interfere with 

 what was going on in the other. Then, in the latter part of 

 the day, all on a sudden, the two theatres were swung round, 

 and, the corners uniting, brought face to face ; the outer 

 frames, ^^ too, were removed, and thus an amphitheatre was 

 formed, in which combats of gladiators were presented to the 

 view ; men whose safety was almost less compromised than was 

 that of the Eoman people, in allowing itself to be thus whirled 

 round from side to side. Now, in this case, which have we 

 most reason to admire, the inventor or the invention ? the artist, 

 or the author of the project ? him who first dared to think of 

 such an enterprize, or him who ventured to undertake it ? him 

 who obeyed the order, or him who gave it ? But the thing that 

 surpasses all is, the frenzy that must have possessed the public, 

 to take their seats in a place which must of necessity have been 

 so unsubstantial and so insecure. Lo and behold ! here is a 

 people that has conquered the whole earth, that has subdued 

 the universe, that divides the spoils of kingdoms and of nations, 

 that sends its laws to foreign lands, that shares in some degree 

 the attributes of the immortal gods in common with mankind, 

 suspended aloft in a machine, and showering plaudits even upon 

 its own peril ! 



s'' And, consequently, of more strict manners, and more strict morals. 



^3 " Tabulis." The wooden frames, probably, which formed the 

 margin of one side of each theatre, and which, when they were brought 

 together, would make a diameter running through the circle which they 

 formed. Hardouin thinks that these theatres are alluded to in Virgil, 

 Georg. B. III. 1. 22, &t seq. 



