the circuits made in each race. As each round was run, one of the _ova_ was either put up or taken down. An egg was adopted for this purpose, in honour of Castor and Pollux. At the other extremity of the spina were two similar columns (G), sustaining dolphins, termed _delphinae_, or _delphinarum columnae_, which do not appear to have been intended to be removed, but only placed there as corresponding ornaments to the _ova_; and the figure of the dolphin was selected in honour of Neptune. These figures are also seen in the cut on p. 89. At the extremity of the circus in which the two horns of the _cavea_ terminate, were placed the stalls for the horses and chariots (H, H), commonly called _carceres_, but more anciently the whole line of building at this end of the circus was termed _oppidum_: hence in the circus, of which the plan is given above, we find two towers (I, I) at each end of the _carceres_. The number of _carceres_ is supposed to have been usually twelve, as in this plan. [Illustration: Carceres opening of the Gates. (From a marble at Velletri.)] [Illustration: Carceres, with Gates open. (Marble in British Museum.)] They were vaults, closed in front by gates of open wood-work (_cancelli_), which were opened simultaneously upon the signal being given, by removing a rope attached to pilasters of the kind called _Hermae_, placed for that purpose between each stall, upon which the gates were immediately thrown open by a number of men, as represented in the preceding woodcut. The cut below represents a set of four _carceres_, with their _Hermae_, and _cancelli_ open, as left after the chariots had started; in which the gates are made to open inwards. The preceding account and woodcuts will be sufficient to explain the meaning of the various words by which the _carceres_ were designated in poetical language, namely, _claustra_, _crypta_, _fauces_, _ostia_, _fores carceris_, _repagula_, _limina equorum_. There were five entrances to the circus; one (L) in the centre of the carceres, called _porta pompae_, because it was the one through which the Circensian procession entered, and the others at M, M, N, and O. At the entrance of the course, exactly in the direction of the line (J, K), were two small pedestals (_hermuli_) on each side of the _podium_, to which was attached a chalked rope (_alba linea_), for the purpose of making the start fair, precisely as is practised at Rome for the horse-races during Carnival. Thus, when the doors of the _carceres_ were thrown open, if any of the horses rushed out before the others, they were brought up by this rope until the whole were fairly abreast, when it was loosened from one side, and all poured into the course at once. This line was also called _calx_, and _creta_. The _metae_ served only to regulate the turnings of the course, the _alba linea_ answered to the starting and winning post of modern days.--From this description the Circus Maximus