Instantly the doors of the carceres fly open; the six chariots[208] dash forth at full bound. The aurigæ, in tight-fitting tunics of the colors of their factions, stand erect in the light cars, the reins looped around their waists, snapping the loose ends over the flying horses. Instantly they have dashed to the three tall pillars of the nearer goal (_meta_), and only by miraculous chance is a disastrous collision avoided at the outset. Then the whole circus rises and shouts together. The familiar figure of Scorpus the Moor, a brown giant in the tunic of the Greens, shoots ahead. His magnificent _quadriga_ of bays have taken the wall at one leap. The flying dust cloud, as the other five cars dash after him, almost dims the sight of the race. The noise from the benches is deafening. The backers of the trailing cars are in an agony. =329. Perils of the Races; Proclaiming the Victors.=--Scorpus’s chariot whirls around the lower goal like lightning and comes tearing back on the opposite track, while each one of the balls and dolphins is removed to indicate the progress of the race. The other cars press hard; and as the teams gather speed it is a marvel how the drivers keep their stand with the cars leaping hither and thither under them, their wheels barely touching the flying track.[209] Five times around they go, with Scorpus gallantly maintaining his lead. Then at the sixth turn the “Gold” driver reins too sharply. His chariot crashes over in a complete somersault, but, by a desperate maneuver just as he is thrown, he whips out the knife held ready in his belt and cuts the reins about his waist. By a miracle he is flung out sprawling upon the yielding sands, yet escapes death under the car racing just behind. The spectators, therefore, escape the brutal and familiar sight of an auriga trampled or crushed to death by the rushing chariots and horses. Meantime Scorpus losing not an instant has hurried again past the upper goal; a frantic attempt by Cresconius, the “Red” driver just behind, fails to head his steeds, and amid a deafening tumult he sweeps past the president of the games to victory. The official _jubilatores_ immediately stride out into the track crying with loud voice the name of the winner, and the news is soon flying all over the city. Nay, some of the outlying towns are speedily informed of the general results, for a certain sports-loving senator has come with a cage of homing pigeons, each colored to match one of the factions. The instant Scorpus is acclaimed, green pigeons are released to tell all the gamblers in Ostia and Præneste that the “Green” cars have won the first round. [Illustration: RACE IN THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS.]