itheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand.
Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but
there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the
hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to
purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a
statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer
than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of
Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the
city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were
exempted by the edict.

The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the
ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the
theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth
century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be
sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble
Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in
which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the
common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies.
Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the
episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They
contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the
wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist
or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire
into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained
on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies
were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their
religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the
people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the
splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize
should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest
and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that
he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his
dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his
chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the
imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments
provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops."

The practice of taking advanta