The gladiatorial fights would seem to have been the most prevalent kind of sport that was witnessed in the Arena, for it has been suggested over and over again that the low wall of the podium would render fights between wild or ferocious animals unsafe to the most important of the spectators. On one of the stones in the podium there is, amongst others, one inscription which has an interest in showing that the important guilds of Nîmes had places perpetually reserved for them in the distinguished foremost position of the podium. This inscription reads N. RHOD. ET. ARAR, XL. DDN. which has been deciphered “Nautæ of the Rhone and of the Saone, 40 places by decree of the Decuriones of Nemausus.” The watermen were evidently a guild of considerable social importance to have such honourable positions assigned to them, unless they were a similar body to the guilds of our own capital, whose names have little connection with the occupations of their members. [Illustration: The VENUS of NIMES.] The general arrangements of the Arena are similar to those at Arles, but the whole building is in a much better state of preservation. During the last few years bullfighting, both in the Portuguese and Spanish fashions, has taken place regularly in the Arena. In fact, even in the smaller villages or towns of Provence, the sport is so very popular that temporary makeshift buildings are often erected, but at Nîmes and Arles the splendid arenas enable the displays to be witnessed by more than the present populations of these towns. No use is, however, made of the great stone corbels that project in two rows round the top of the exterior walls, and which in Roman times supported great poles from which enormous sheets of sailcloth were stretched to protect the spectators from the burning sun. The gladiators were a large fraternity at Nîmes, and many of the inscriptions preserved in the Musée Lapidaire refer directly or indirectly to them. The skill of the different classes of fighters is recorded along with their domestic virtues--testimony which adds pathos to their tragic fate. Many of them were good fathers and faithful husbands, who left anxious hearts behind them when they entered the arena, and aching voids when they returned no more. The Roman courage of the professional gladiators was not less terrible than the Roman cruelty of their employers, and loving hearts were lacerated every time a human body was butchered to make a Roman holiday. In the same little museum at Nîmes where these [Illustration: THE RUINED TEMPLE OF DIANA. NIMES.] inscriptions now repose there are many fragments of the most exquisite carvings, enriched mouldings, and delicate capitals, all of them speaking eloquently of vanished buildings that adorned the ancient Nemausus.