[153] See No. 1742, and Plate III. [154] Probably the aqueduct which passes there had a hole made in it; the same aqueduct goes on from this side of the building to the south-east end. This occurred again in 1874, and a steam engine had again to be employed. This passage, before it turns, goes in the direction of the _castellum aquæ_ of the time of Alexander Severus, of which there are considerable remains between this point and the Cœlian. The _specus_ of an aqueduct of the same period passes along between the Cœlian and the amphitheatre, near the surface of the ground; a portion of this was visible in 1874. [155] See Photograph, No. 367. [156] See p. 5. [157] In the summer of 1875 they were again suspended for want of funds to pay for the steam-engine, which costs a pound a-day. [158] Of which an account has been given in pages 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 21, 35, of this chapter. [159] See Plate III. [160] See Plate XV. [161] About the year 1865 a new drain was made by the Municipality under that road, and when it was nearly finished the old drain of the Empire (?), or of the time of Sylla (?), was found under it at a considerably lower level. It is fifteen metres below the surface of the ground, and so much filled up with earth that it is considered (in 1876) quite impracticable to have it cleared out and repaired. [162] Photos., Nos. 3203, 3283. [163] For the _pegmata_, see p. 14, and the authorities quoted in the note. [164] See Plates XVIII., XIX., and Photos., No. 3283, and the graffito of the net, Plate XXIV. [165] See Photos., No. 3201, and Plate XIX. [166] See the evidence of this, p. 13. [167] See Plates XIII. and XVI. [168] Dionis Cass. Hist. Rom., lib. lxxii. c. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. [169] Some scholars say that those scenes could not have taken place on this site, because the Flavian Amphitheatre was not built in the time of Nero. But it has been shewn that an awning in the _amphitheatre of Nero_ is described by Pliny, writing at the time, during the life and reign of Nero, as he uses the expression _principis Neronis_, which he could hardly have used after his death. No other site but this can be found for such a large building as an amphitheatre, and this is close to the Golden House of Nero. In any case athletes or wrestlers, and _naumachia_ or naval fights, are part of the tradition of many Roman amphitheatres, and there are sufficient remains of the substructures in many places to prove that this tradition is well founded. The _corridors_ of the Flavian Emperors, though splendid additions to this great theatre, were not _necessary_ for the performance of those pantomimes. It has also been shewn that the old tufa walls _must be_ earlier than the time of Nero, and are probably of the time of Sylla. [170] See Plates IV. to X.