A Cultivated Roman Abhors the Games By chance I attended a mid-day exhibition, expecting some fun, wit, and relaxation, an exhibition at which men's eyes have respite from the slaughter of their fellowmen. But it was quite the reverse. The previous combats were the essence of compassion; but now all the trifling is put aside and it is pure murder. The men have no defensive armour. They are exposed to blows at all points, and no one ever strikes in vain. In the morning they throw men to the lions and bears; at noon, they throw them to the spectators. The spectators demand that the slayer shall face the man who is to slay him in his turn; and they always reserve the latest conqueror for another butchering. The outcome of every fight is death, and the means are fire and sword. This sort of thing goes on while the arena is empty. You may retort: "But he was a highway robber; he killed a man!" And what of it? Granted that, as a murderer, he deserved this punishment, what crime have you committed, poor fellow, that you should deserve to sit and see this show? R. H. GUMMERE Why the Forum was Built 1 He built many public works, in particular the following: his forum with the temple of Mars the Avenger, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, and the fane of Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitol. His reason for building the forum was the increase in the number of the people and of cases at law, which seemed to call for a third forum, since two were no longer adequate. Therefore it was opened to the public with some haste, before the temple of Mars was finished, and it was provided that the public prosecutions be held there apart from the rest, as well as the selection of jurors by lot. He had made a vows to build the temple of Mars in the war of Philippi, which he undertook to avenge his father; accordingly he decreed that in it the senate should consider wars and claims for triumphs, from it those who were on their way to the tur, quique victores redissent, huc insignia triumphorum conferrent. Suet. Aug. 29. Ultor ad ipse suos coelo descendit honores FORUM JULIUM Τὰς μὲν δὴ οὖν ἄλλας τῶν νικητηρίων ἡμέρας ὥς που ἱνενόμιστο διήγαγε τῇ δὲ τελευταίᾳ ἐπειδὴ ἐκ τοῦ δείπνου ἐγένοντο, ἔς τε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγορὰν ἐσῆλθε βλαύτας ὑποδεδεμένος καὶ ἄνθεσι παντοδαποῖς ἐστεφανωμένος, καὶ ἐκεῖθεν οἴκαδε παντὸς μὲν ὡς εἰπεῖν τοῦ δήμου παραπέμποντος αὐτόν, πολλῶν δέ ἐλεφάντων λαμπάδας φερόντων ἐκομίσθη. τὴν γὰρ ἀγορὰν τὴν ἀπ ̓ αὐτοῦ κεκλημένην κατεσκεύαστο καὶ ἔστι μὲν περικαλλεστέρα τῆς Ρωμαίας. Dio Cass. xliii. 22, 1-2. ̓Ανέστησε καὶ τῇ Γενετείρᾳ τὸν νεών, ὥσπερ εὔξατο μέλλων ἐν Φαρσάλῳ μαχεῖσθαι· καὶ τέμενος τῷ νεῷ περιέθηκεν, ὃ Ρωμαίοις ἔταξεν ἀγορὰν εἶναι, οὐ τῶν ὠνίων, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ πράξεσι συνιόντων ἐς ἀλλήλους, καθὰ καὶ Πέρσαις ἦν τις ἀγορὰ ζητοῦσιν ἢ μανθάνουσι τὰ δίκαια. 1 An appellation of Mars. App. B. C. ii. 102. 2 This forum, built by Julius Caesar to relieve the pressure in the Roman Forum and to form a convenient means of access to the Campus Martius, was dedicated in 46 B. C. 3 Called the temple of Venus Genetrix. 4 In 48 B. C. Caesar defeated Pompey at this place. provinces with military commands should be escorted, and to it victors on their return should bear the tokens of their triumphs. The Temple of Mars J. C. ROLFE The Avenger himself comes down from heaven to his own honours, and to the temple conspicuous in the Forum of Augustus. Mighty is the god, and so is the work; and in no other fashion ought Mars to have his habitation in the city of his offspring. These shrines are worthy of the trophies won from the Giants; it becomes Gradivus,1 from this spot to give an impulse to the cruel warfare; whether it be that anyone shall assail us from the eastern world, or whether under the western sun, the enemy will have to be subdued. H. T. RILEY Julius Caesar Enjoys His Triumph The first days of the triumph he passed as was customary, but, on the last day, after they had finished dinner, he entered his own forum wearing slippers and garlanded with all kinds of flowers; thence he proceeded homeward with practically the entire populace escorting him, while many elephants carried torches. For he had himself constructed the forum2 named after him, and it is distinctly more beautiful than the Roman Forum. 4 EARNEST CARY Why the Julian Forum was Built He erected the temple to Venus,3 his ancestress, as he had vowed to do when he was about to begin the battle of Pharsalus, and he laid out the ground around the temple which he intended to be a forum for the Roman people, not for buying and selling, but a meeting place for the transaction of public business, like the public squares of the Persians where the people assemble to seek justice or to learn the laws. HORACE WHITE |