Exterior of the Amphitheater, Puteoli
A crossroad called the Via Campana leads from Puteoli to Capua, where it joins the famous Appian Way. Along this road, Paul is supposed to have walked. It is still paved with blocks of lava, sacred from the very thought that the feet of the apostle may have trodden it. On this road, about a mile from the sea is the famous amphitheater where Nero is said to have rehearsed the part he was to act on the public stage of Rome. The building is in a remarkable state of preservation. It rests upon three series of arches surrounded by an external court. The view above gives the outside of the amphitheater. Next to the sea delicate fronds of the maidenhair fern cover it, as if nature would conceal the place where crimes were committed which dishonored the spot and the nation in other years. No other people were ever so madly fascinated by the exciting scenes of the arena as were the Romans. Their motto was: “Bread and the circus.” The spell of the “stage” held the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the emperor and the peasant. In the time of Marcus Aurelius, one hundred and thirty-five days in the year were set apart for public exhibitions in the arena. Here were contests of wild beasts; then contest between man and beast; then man against man—to the death. Noblemen became gladiators. Nero, Commodus, and Caracalla thought themselves more honored by the victories in the arena than in the field. Commodus boasted that he had slain twelve hundred men for the delectation of Some. During the reign of Augustus, it is said that ten thousand gladiators were killed. Well, may McMillan say: “This is the Holy Land of paganism.”
Comments