The name of _cochlea_ is given to one of the doors of the amphitheatre, which led from the _cavea_ to the arena. This name is used by Varro[230], and has puzzled all the commentators; it need hardly be said that _cochlea_ is literally “a snail,” and the name has been supposed to apply to some narrow doorway; but the name is well known in mediæval Latin as applied to a winding or newel staircase, popularly called a corkscrew-staircase, and there are two such staircases leading from the substructures or _cavea_ to the level of the arena, one on either side, at the south-east end of the great central passage in the Flavian amphitheatre, to which there can be no doubt that this name was applied. Trajan’s column is frequently called _columna cochlea_, because there is such a staircase inside of it. THE GAMES IN THE ARENA. The importance attached to the public amusements, both by the people and by the emperors, appears extraordinary to modern ideas. Caligula[231] was present from morning to evening, and had a series of the various kinds of hunting in different countries exhibited, such as the hunts of the Africans and of the Trojans; on these occasions, the arena was strewed with red and green foliage. At this period Suetonius also mentions that the people assembled at midnight for the shows of the following day, when they were gratuitous[232]. The Emperor Claudius himself would go at daybreak to the amphitheatre, and see the wild beasts fed, and again at mid-day[233]. The same practice is mentioned by Pliny as used in the time of Nero[234]. Petronius also mentions the custom for two old negroes to sprinkle the arena with scents from small bottles, which they brought for the purpose[235]. Tacitus gives an account of the games performed under his own direction in the time of Claudius[236]. “During the same consulship, in the year of Rome eight hundred, the secular games were celebrated, after an interval of sixty-four years since they were last solemnized in the reign of Augustus. “Being at that time one of the college of fifteen, and invested with the office of prætor, it fell to my province to regulate the ceremonies. Let it not be imagined that this is said from motives of vanity. The fact is, that in ancient times the business was conducted under the special directions of the quindecemviral order, while the chief magistrates officiated in the several ceremonies. Claudius thought proper to revive this public spectacle. He attended in the circus, and, in his presence, the Trojan game was performed by the youth of noble birth. Britannicus, the emperor’s son, and Lucius Domitius, who by adoption took the name of Nero, and afterwards succeeded to the empire, appeared, with the rest of the band, mounted on superb horses. Nero was received with acclamations, and that mark of popular favour was considered as an omen of his future grandeur.” APPENDIX. SCAURUS.