﻿90 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



Trimalchio a satii-e on Nero, have not failed to discover in this allusion to the " factio 

 prasina" a confirmation of their theory. Even a brief consideration of the point will 

 suffice to show how little foundation there is, m this passage at least, for such a belief 



It is undoubtedly true that the splendor of the "ludi Circenses" reached in the 

 imperial times a higher pitch than at any previous period, and as the interest in politi- 

 cal afiaus declined, the interest in amusements, and especially the amusements of the 

 Circus, increased; so that Juvenal justly said (10. 78): 



" Nam qui dabat olim 

 Imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se 

 Continef, atque duas tantum res anxius optat, 

 Panem et Circenses." 



Yet the "ludi Cii'censes" and their peculiar organization can be traced to the earliest 

 period of Roman history, and, on the other hand, extended to the latest of the Roman 

 empire. Cf Liv. 1. 35 : "Turn primum circo, qui nunc maxim us dicitur, designatus 

 locus est, loca dinsa patribus equitibusque, ubi spectacula sibi quisque facerent ; fori 

 appellati. Spectavere furcis duodenos ab terra spectacula alta sustinentibus pedes. 

 Ludicrum fiut equi pugilesquc, ex Etriuria maxime adciti ; solemnes delude annul man- 

 sere ludi, Romani Magnique varie appellati." Livy places this act in the xevy begin- 

 ning of the reign of Tarquiaius Priscus, who ascended the throne 616 (or 61-1:) B. C, 

 138 (or 140) U. C. The same games are afterwards frequently mentioned by Livy. 

 Nearly two hundred years after the above-mentioned act of Tarquinius Priscus, apart- 

 ments for the chariots were erected in the cu-cus. Cf Liv. 8. 20 : " Carceres eo anno 

 (-LQS or 426 B. C, 326 or 328 U. C.) m circo primum statuti." Tlie statement of 

 Dionysius Halicarn. 3. 68, agrees in the mam with that of Livy, 1. 35 : KuTeaKevacre Be 

 Kai rov fieyi<TTov twv iirTroBpoftav TapKvvio'i tov fiera^v tov re AvevTivov Kat, tov UdXavrtov Kei- 

 fi€vov, TrpuTov uiro<rTeyov<! irept avrov iroirja-ai Ka6eSpa<;. 



The charioteers, di^ided into several parties ("factiones"), were distinguished by dif- 

 ferent-colored tunics. Tertullian, in De Spectat. 9, makes a statement which seems 

 to show that the number, originally two, was later increased to foiu* : " Aurigas colori- 

 bus idololatriae vestierunt. Nam equi initio duo soli fuerimt, albus et russeus. Albus 

 hiemi ob nives Candidas, russeus aestati ob solis ruborem voti erant. Sed postea tam 

 "\oluptate quam superstitione provecta russeum alii Marti, alii album Zephyris conse- 

 craverunt ; prasiniun vero Terrae matri vel vemo ; venetimi coelo et mari vel autunuio." 

 Even if the infonnation contained in this passage can be relied upon, I have no means 

 of ascertaining when the change from two to four "factiones" was made. Domitian 

 made an attempt to increase the number by the addition of two, the golden and purple 



