rii_ and _praetextati_--the honorary and the active officials.
The former might be associated with the Pompeian Senate in recompense
for services rendered by their fathers. An inscription found at Misenum
confirms this fact. (See the _Memorie del l'Academia Ercolanese, anno_
1833)--The minutes of the Herculaneum Academy, for the year 1833.]

VIII.

THE THEATRES.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.--ENTRANCE TICKETS.--THE
VELARIUM, THE ORCHESTRA, THE STAGE.--THE ODEON.--THE HOLCONII.--THE
SIDE SCENES, THE MASKS.--THE ATELLAN FARCES.--THE MIMES.--JUGGLERS,
ETC.--A REMARK OF CICERO ON THE MELODRAMAS.--THE BARRACK OF THE
GLADIATORS.--SCRATCHED INSCRIPTIONS, INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE.--THE
POMPEIAN GLADIATORS.--THE AMPHITHEATRE: HUNTS, COMBATS, BUTCHERIES,
ETC.

We are now going to rest ourselves at the theatre. Pompeii had two such
places of amusement, one tragic and the other comic, or, rather, one
large and one smaller, for that is the only positive difference existing
between them; all else on that point is pure hypothesis. Let us, then,
say the large and small theatre, and we shall be sure to make no
mistakes.

The grand saloon or body of the large theatre formed a semicircle, built
against an embankment so that the tiers of seats ascended from the pit
to the topmost gallery, without resting, on massive substructures. In
this respect it was of Greek construction. The four upper tiers resting
upon an arched corridor, in the Roman style, alone reached the height on
which stood the triangular Forum and the Greek temple. Thus, you can
step directly from the level of the street to the highest galleries,
from which your gaze, ranging above the stage, can sweep the country and
the sea, and at the same moment plunge far below you into that sort of
regularly-shaped ravine in which once sat five thousand Pompeians eager
for the show.

At first glance, you discover three main divisions; these are the
different ranks of tiers, the _caveae_. There are three caveae--the
lowermost, the middle, and the upper ones. The lowermost was considered
the most select. It comprised only the four first rows of benches, or
seats, which were broader and not so high as the others. These were the
places reserved for magistrates and other eminent persons. Thither they
had their seats carried and also the _bisellia_, or benches for two
persons, on which they alone had the right to sit. A low wall,