“he made two large theatres of wood, morticed together in a singular manner, and suspended so as to turn freely, in which on both sides were exhibited the afternoon shows of plays, then turning them round—nor were the scenes interrupted by the turning—quickly turning to face each other, and (intermediate) boards falling down; and the two parts held together by horns. He made an amphitheatre and exhibited the gladiatorial shows, carrying with him the consent of the greater part of the Roman people. For which was most to be admired, the inventor or the thing invented? The work or its author? To have thought of such a thing, or to have carried it out? To exhibit it, or permit it? Upon all these points there was a _furor_ of the people, to dare to sit on such an unsafe and unstable seat.” This gave the form of an amphitheatre, or a theatre round at both ends, and not with one side flat, as in the other theatres, but the two names are often used indifferently; this set the fashion, and Julius Cæsar followed it a few years afterwards in his great wooden amphitheatre; but the turning round had been abandoned, and the advantage of substructures under the stage would become apparent for making the shows still more popular. It is mentioned as being very large, to admit of naval fights with large vessels, but this was in the Campus Martius, and was a temporary structure only, as stated by Dio Cassius[25]. The Theatre of M. Scaurus, the ædilis, is mentioned by Pliny[26] as being on an enormous scale,—the _scena_ of triple height, with 360 columns, and he enumerates it among the _insane_ works that were made at his private cost. The upper part was of wood. “He made, during the time that he was _edile_, the greatest work that ever was made by human hands, not for temporary use only, but destined for eternity also[27]. This was _a theatre_; the _scena_ of it was _triple_ in height. There were three hundred and sixty columns in that building, of which six were brought from Hymettus, not without reproach at the sumptuousness of a citizen. The lowest part of the _scena_ was of marble, the middle part of glass, an unheard-of luxury in that kind of work; the highest part of gilt wood. The columns were at least thirty-eight feet high; the images between the columns were three thousand in number; the _cavea_ itself held eighty thousand people.” _Scena_ usually means the stage for the actors to perform upon, but how could this be triple, and three storeys high? To what other site in Rome, excepting this great amphitheatre, which held 80,000 people, could all this possibly apply?