town. Although, perhaps, of
Etruscan origin, the exhibitions of the amphitheatre are so peculiarly
Roman, and Pompeii contains so many mementos of them, that a detailed
account of them will not perhaps be misplaced. At an early period,
B.C. 263, the practice of compelling human beings to fight for the
amusement of spectators was introduced; and twelve years later the
capture of several elephants in the first Punic war proved the means
of introducing the chase, or rather the slaughter, of wild beasts into
the Roman circus. The taste for these spectacles increased of course
with its indulgence, and their magnificence with the wealth of the
city and the increasing facility and inducement to practice bribery
which was offered by the increased extent of provinces subject to
Rome. It was not, however, until the last period of the republic, or
rather until the domination of the emperors had collected into one
channel the tributary wealth which previously was divided among a
numerous aristocracy, that buildings were erected solely for the
accommodation of gladiatorial shows; buildings entirely beyond the
compass of a subject's wealth, and in which perhaps the magnificence
of imperial Rome is most amply displayed. Numerous examples scattered
throughout her empire, in a more or less advanced state of decay,
still attest the luxury and solidity of their construction; while at
Rome the Coliseum (see frontispiece) asserts the pre-eminent splendor
of the metropolis--a monument surpassed in magnitude by the Pyramids
alone, and as superior to them in skill and varied contrivance of
design as to other buildings in its gigantic magnitude.

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE AMPHITHEATRE AT POMPEII.]

The Greek word, which by a slight alteration of its termination we
render amphitheatre, signifies a theatre, or place of spectacles,
forming a continuous inclosure, in opposition to the simple theatre,
which, as we have said, was semicircular, but with the seats usually
continued somewhat in advance of the diameter of the semicircle. The
first amphitheatre seems to have been that of Curio, consisting of two
movable theatres, which could be placed face to face or back to back,
according to the species of amusement for which they were required.

Usually, gladiatorial shows were given in the Forum, and the chase
and combats of wild beasts exhibited in the Circus, where once, when
Pompey was celebrating games, some enraged elephants broke through