[219] THE FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE, now the Coliseum. This edifice, commenced by the emperor Vespasian at the close of the Jewish war, finished under Titus, and dedicated A.D. 80, contained seats for 87,000 spectators, and room for 20,000 more in the open gallery. Even at the present time, no similar structure in the world has equalled, far less surpassed it in extent and magnificence. [220] CAELIMONTANA GATE.. (_Porta Caelimontana_) near the Lateran. The street here entered by Claudia and Lucilia still exists; it now bears the name of Via di San Giovanni in Laterano. [221] THE BIRTHDAY (_dies natalis, sacra natalicia_) was celebrated in ancient times. [222] IN THE MIDDLE STOOD A HEARTH. The real hearth, originally in the atrium, had long since vanished from the atria of the wealthy and aristocratic. Here a festal hearth erected for the occasion is meant. [223] LUCRETIUS. Titus Lucretius Carus, who was born in the year 98, and died in 55 B.C., composed a philosophical didactic poem “on the nature of things.” (_De Rerum Natura._) The view of the world taken in it is a thoroughly material one. The poet constructs the universe out of an infinite multitude of atoms, which exist singly and imperishably in infinite space. [224] PLINY THE ELDER. Caius Plinius Secundus, called to distinguish him from his nephew, so often quoted here, the elder (major) a warrior, statesman, and famous naturalist, was born at Novum Comum, A.D. 23. He met his death, a victim to his thirst for scientific knowledge, at the great eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79. (See the famous description in his nephew’s letter to Tacitus, Plin. _Ep._ VI, 16.) Of his numerous works, nothing has come down to us except the _Historia Naturalis_, a vast encyclopedia, the material for which was obtained from more than 2,000 volumes. He was an absolute denier of the gods, nay, of transcendentalism altogether. The opinions attributed to Cinna are in part literally copied from the _Historia Naturalis_. [225] ANTIUM. The modern Porto d’Anzio, an ancient city south of Rome. Many Roman aristocrats owned country-seats there. [226] TISSUES MIXED WITH SILK. Fabrics made entirely of silk were rare in Rome. [227] MENTOR was a famous sculptor, especially celebrated for his cups and goblets in metal (_repoussé_). Pliny. _Hist. Nat._ VII, 38, and XIII, 11, 12, also Martial, Ep. III, 41: The lizard wrought by Mentor’s hand so rare, Was fear’d i’ the cup, as though it living were. WRIGHT. that is, the silver lizard, wrought on the cup, is so true to life, that people might fear it. See Mart. _Ep._ IV, 39, IX, 59 (cups that Mentor’s hand ennobled), etc.