“But of the rest of the people many did not go into the amphitheatre, and some after they had seen a little went away, some from being ashamed of what they saw done there, others from fear, because it was reported that the Emperor wished to kill some of them with arrows as Hercules formerly killed the Stymphalidæ.... This fear was common to all, belonging not more to others than to us; for even to us Senators he did things in such a manner, that for any cause we expected to be killed. He even killed an ostrich and cut off its head, when he came to the place where we were seated, holding in his left hand the head and in his right his bloody sword, and saying nothing, he moved it grinning, to shew he would serve us in the same manner; and which many people laughed at seeing our fear, &c.... These things being done he comforted us, and ordered us, when he was fighting in the manner of a gladiator, to go into the theatre in our habits and cloaks as knights: in which costume we were not accustomed to go into the theatre except on the death of the Emperor. It happened also to him that on the last day of the games his helmet was carried through the door by which the dead were usually carried, which things, in the opinion of many, were done to indicate to every body his approaching death. It is certain that soon after he died, or rather was killed[116].” The spectators were protected from the heat of the sun by a great awning, which was suspended from masts or poles at the top by cords. Pliny mentions an awning painted in imitation of the sky, with stars in it, in the amphitheatre of the Prince Nero[117]. There were similar poles at the bottom also, to support the lower end of the cords over the heads of the spectators in the galleries[118]. These are likely to have had the great beams of the screen in the front of the _podium_ fixed to them. The contrivances for supporting them at the top were very ingenious, and can still be seen. On the exterior there is a row of corbels, ten feet below the summit, for the ends of the poles to rest upon, and holes are left in the cornice for them to pass through. These masts stood full twenty feet above the walls; and on the inner side of the upper wall are also corbels for the cords to be fastened to, to keep them upright. At the bottom of the galleries, in front of the _podium_, there are similar contrivances to support the poles for the awning, a recess in the wall of tufa, with a piece of travertine let in for the lower ends to stand upon, and long corbels on each side to support and stiffen the lower part[119]. The central space was not covered over, and the athletes were exposed to the weather. There is an excellent representation of an amphitheatre, with the awning partly closed and partly open, in a fresco-painting of the first century at Pompeii, which has been engraved in the valuable