CIRCUS. When Tarquinius Priscus had taken the town of Apiolae from the Latins, he commemorated his success by an exhibition of races and pugilistic contests in the Murcian valley, between the Palatine and Aventine hills, around which a number of temporary platforms were erected by the patres and equites, called _spectacula_, _fori_, or _foruli_, from their resemblance to the deck of a ship; each one raising a stage for himself, upon which he stood to view the games. This course, with its surrounding scaffoldings, was termed circus; either because the spectators stood round to see the shows, or because the procession and races went round in a circuit. Previously, however, to the death of Tarquin, a permanent building was constructed for the purpose, with regular tiers of seats in the form of a theatre. To this the name of Circus Maximus was subsequently given, as a distinction from the Flaminian and other similar buildings, which it surpassed in extent and splendour; and hence it is often spoken of as _the_ Circus, without any distinguishing epithet. Of the Circus Maximus scarcely a vestige now remains; but this loss is fortunately supplied by the remains of a small circus on the Via Appia, the ground-plan of which is in a state of considerable preservation: it is represented in the annexed cut, and may be taken as a model of all others. Around the double lines (A, A) were arranged the seats (_gradus_, _sedilia_, _subsellia_), as in a theatre, termed collectively the _cavea_; the lowest of which were separated from the ground by a _podium_, and the whole divided longitudinally by _praecinctiones_, and diagonally into _cunei_, with their _vomitoria_ attached to each. [AMPHITHEATRUM.] Towards the extremity of the upper branch of the _cavea_, the general outline is broken by an outwork (B), which was probably the _pulvinar_, or station for the emperor, as it is placed in the best situation for seeing both the commencement and end of the course, and in the most prominent part of the circus. In the opposite branch is observed another interruption to the uniform line of seats (C), betokening also, from its construction, a place of distinction; which might have been assigned to the person at whose expense the games were given (_editor spectaculorum_). In the centre of the area was a low wall (D) running lengthways down the course, which, from its resemblance to the position of the dorsal bone in the human frame, was termed _spina_. At each extremity of the spina were placed, upon a base (E, E), three wooden cylinders, of a conical shape, like cypress trees, which were called _metae_--the goals. Their situation is distinctly seen in the cut on p. 89. The most remarkable objects upon the _spina_ were two columns (F) supporting seven conical balls, which, from their resemblance to eggs, were called _ova_. Their use was to enable the spectators to count the number of rounds which had been run; and they were seven in number, because seven was the number of