These are only some of the features of the Campus Martius which foreign visitors such as Strabo acclaim as the most remarkable section of Rome, if not the one most charged with her past history. Time fails to visit the other great public pleasure-grounds upon the slopes of the Pincian--the “Gardens of Lucullus” and the “Gardens of Sallust,” or that other wide park northeast of the Esquiline, the “Gardens of Mæcenas,” presenting yet other vistas of shrubbery, groves, promenades, and green lawns, interspersed with pleasure pavilions. It behooves us now to return to Rome and to visit some of the most important centers of its life--the theater, the amphitheater, and the circus. CHAPTER XIX THE PUBLIC GAMES: THE THEATER, THE CIRCUS, AND THE AMPHITHEATER =317. Roman Festivals: Their Great Number.=--One thing only, besides a long session of the Senate, ordinarily will keep men of the class of Publius Calvus away from the great thermæ--the celebration of one of the greater Public Games. The _Ludi Publici_, around which so large a part of Roman life revolves, like the Pan-Hellenic games and similar Greek festivals, always have religious origin; they are in honor of some god or group of deities. But the secular has long intruded into their routine. Nobody worries greatly about the fact that the _Ludi Apollinares_ are for the glory of Apollo, save perhaps as one adds an extra fervent invocation of the Delphian god during the placing of wagers. The time consumed by the Public Games represents a period of recreation and festival, which other ages will find in Sundays and Saints’ Days. Altogether there are some 76 days per year normally set aside for these great _Ludi Sollemnes_, including such prolonged periods as those of the _Ludi Romani_ or _Magni_ which extend from September 4th to 18th, on a stretch, with several others for six days and more. When to these periods are added various extra or very special holidays, during which the ordinary life of the city is broken up, the courts are closed, and only the most necessary labors of commerce and industry are conducted, it is plain that the plebeians and even the slaves get pretty ample respite in their year of toil. Without attempting a close study of the official lists of holidays it is safe to say that the average Roman gains many more periods of lawful vacation than the laboring classes can enjoy in other ages,--another factor which tends to make the metropolis abound with idlers and parasites. =318. Passion for Public Spectacles: Mania for Gambling.=--Besides the great public theaters, amphitheaters, and race courses (circuses) there are many smaller private establishments. Good money can be made from gladiator fights and chariot races, and they are often given by speculators, although more frequently in a provincial town than in Rome.