Besides the classes of inscriptions of which examples have been presented, all sorts of scratches upon the plastered walls bear witness to the general enthusiasm for gladiatorial sports. Sometimes there is simply the name of a gladiator, with his school and the number of combats, as _Auctus, Iul[ianus], XXXXX_; sometimes we find a rough outline of a figure with a boastful legend, as _Hermaïscus invictus hac_, 'Here's the unconquered Hermaïscus.' There are also memoranda in regard to particular combats, illustrated by rude sketches. Thus on a wall in the house of the Centenary we find a drawing of a gladiator in flight, pursued by another, with the note: _Officiosus fugit VIII Idus Nov[embres] Druso Caesare M. Iunio Silano cos._,--'Officiosus fled on November 6, in the year 15 A.D.' A similar sketch has been found in another house, with these words written beside the fleeing gladiator, _Q. P[e]tronius O[c]ta[v]us XXXIII, m[issus]_; beside the pursuer, _Severus lib[ertus], XXXXXV, v[icit]_. Severus was thus a gladiator who had been a slave, and had gained his freedom: he had fought fifty-five combats. Petronius Octavus may have been a freeman, who had fought on his own account from the beginning. In taverns a painting of a gladiator with an inscription like the record of a programme was a favorite subject of decoration. Athletes in all ages have won the admiration of the gentler sex; and it would be surprising if among so many gladiatorial graffiti there were not some containing references to female admirers. In the peristyle of a house on Nola Street (V. v. 3) the names of about thirty gladiators are found; the kinds of weapons and the owners are designated, and the number of previous combats given, as in the programmes, while records of the results of the combats are entirely lacking. Terms of endearment are lavished upon two, Celadus, Threx, and Crescens, net fighter; Celadus is _suspirium puellarum_, 'maidens' sigh,' and _puellarum decus_, 'glory of girls'; while Crescens is _puparum dominus_, 'lord o' lassies,' and _puparum medicus_, 'the darlings' doctor.' Another graffito informs us that at one time--before the year 63--a gladiator lived in this house: _Samus / Ↄ / m[urmillo], idem eq[ues], hic hab[itat]_,--'Samus, who has fought once, and once conquered (_Ↄ_ is for _corona_, 'crown'), Myrmillo, and at the same time fighter on horseback, lives here.' Other gladiators, no doubt, shared the dwelling with him; and the amatory graffiti may have been written by one and another _miles gloriosus_, referring to conquests outside the arena, or by companions in bitter scorn. CHAPTER XXXI _STREETS, WATER SYSTEM, AND WAYSIDE SHRINES_ [Illustration: Fig. 102.--View of Abbondanza Street, looking east. At the left, fountain of Concordia Augusta, and side entrance of the Eumachia building. In the pavement, three stepping stones.]