PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 45, SERIAL No. 46 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM, ROME] _THE RUINS OF ROME_ _The Colosseum_ FOUR “While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall.” Thus ran the ancient prophecy made by two English pilgrims to Rome in the eighth century. And although only about one-third of the original Colosseum is left, Rome still stands; not in its former power and majesty, however. The Colosseum is the amphitheater where the Romans held gladiatorial fights. Later they added to the program the slaughter of Christians by wild beasts. A lion or tiger was starved for a week or so, and then turned loose on a crowd of naked Christians in the arena. These spectacles were a source of great amusement to the Romans. Fifty thousand people could be seated in the Colosseum. The lowest seats were the most honorable, the upper galleries being occupied by the lower classes, where the seats were often free. An awning was stretched over the seats, and to provide further for the comfort of the audience jets of water cooled the air, and fragrant perfumes scented it. The Colosseum was oval in shape, and had four tiers of seats, surrounding the arena. Arena means sand in Latin, and as the place where the contests took place was covered with sand to keep the gladiators from slipping in the blood, so it received this name. The arena is about 94 yards long by 54 yards wide. The podium--which was long ago removed--was a raised platform 12 feet high at the base of the seats, on which sat the emperor, the senators, and the vestal virgins. Each person on the platform had a thronelike seat. The emperor’s was raised above the others, and had a canopy over it. When the Colosseum was dedicated in 80 A. D. by Emperor Titus there was a celebration that lasted almost one hundred days. Five thousand wild animals were slaughtered in the arena. Before the Colosseum was built the gladiatorial contests were held in the Forum. Vespasian began the construction of the amphitheater in 72 A. D. The Flavian Amphitheater was the name first given to the building, from the family name, Flavium, of the emperors who built it. Earthquakes destroyed the arena and podium in 442 and 580; but it was not until the reign of Justinian in the sixth century that the shedding of human blood ended. A bull fight was held in the building as late as 1332. The Roman popes and princes used the Colosseum as a place from which to get building material. These barbarous nobles of the Middle Ages treated this historic building shamefully. Passion Plays were given in the Colosseum in the seventeenth century. It was used as a manufacturing place for saltpeter in 1700. Half a century later Pope Benedict XIV consecrated the building to the memory of the Christian martyrs who had died there.