Part 29

I imagine the terrace at top in our work was designed for the men of arms: for they are by no means to be excluded, seeing one of the primary intents of these diversions was to inure them, as well as the people, to blood and murder. Hence, before they went upon any great expedition, or foreign war, these feasts and butcheries were publicly celebrated: and in my opinion, the two rising plots, that are squarish on each side upon the shortest diameter, were for the officers. These are above the level of the walk, or terrace, and might possibly have a tent set upon them for that purpose. I call them pavilions: they are of a handsome turn, and capable each of holding two dozen of people commodiously: their side-breadth is fifteen foot; their length, i. e. north and south, twenty: they are somewhat nearer the upper end, not standing precisely upon the shortest diameter, and four foot above the level of the terrace. I considered with care that seeming irregularity of the terrace on both sides the lower end; for it is higher within side than without, yet so as to produce no ill effect below, either within or without, but the contrary. I find it is a master-piece of skill, and am surprised that it has not been more defaced in so long time. The matter is this: the work standing on a declining plain, this artifice was necessary to render its appearance regular; for when you stand in the centre within-side, the whole circuit of the terrace seems and is really of one level: but on the out-side the verge of the north-easterly part is sloped off gradually toward the entrance where the declivity is, conformably with it; whence the whole exterior contour appears of an equal height too: and this could not otherwise have been obtained, since within it was necessary to keep a true level, without regard to the outer plain. As to the seats, which I have supposed in plate 50, they were contrived to be twice as broad as high: their height was but a small matter more than a foot, and their breadth not above two feet and a half; half that space being allotted for the seat of the lowermost, and the other half for the feet of the uppermost. The declivity of these _gradus_ is justly made within an angle of thirty degrees, the third part of a quadrant: but this is more exact at the ends; for in the middle, or towards the shortest diameter over the elevated part of the circular walk, the upper _series_ of seats has a somewhat more obtuse angle; the reason of which is obvious, to overlook the breadth of the circular walk. This is most plainly seen in the sections, and is done with judgement, because by that means the upper edge of the amphitheatre is in a right line with the declivity. As to the disposition of these seats, their method is as new as curious: it is so contrived, that the circular walks cut the whole breadth in two equal parts upon the shortest diameter; therefore an equal number of seats is above and under it: hence the middle seat at each extremity is in the same level with the elevated part of the walk. Though these seats in other amphitheatres abroad were made of stone or marble, yet they were generally covered with boards, because more wholesome; and that sometimes covered with cushions for the better sort. Dion Cassius tells us, this piece of nicety was first brought in by Caligula, who gave cushions to the senators seats, that they might not sit upon the bare boards, and _Thessalic_ caps to keep them from the sun. The vulgar had mats made of reeds. I think we may well infer from hence, that the seats in our amphitheatre were covered too with plank, if not made wholly of it. The _præcinctiones_, or, as Vitruvius sometimes calls them in Greek, _diazomata_, which commentators make a difficulty about, to me seem only balustrades, because he orders them to be as high as the breadth of the walk along them: beside that upon the _podium_, here might possibly be one upon the inner edge of the terrace which separated between the soldiers and the women.

The _area_ in the middle was commonly called _arena_, from the sand it was strown over with, for the better footing of the combatants, and to drink up the blood: this again by intervals was fresh strown, or raked over, to prevent slipperiness; for if, instead thereof, the pavement had been brick or stone, it would have proved highly inconvenient. Hence this word became a common appellation of an amphitheatre, and most of those beyond sea are still called _arena_. As for the present name of _Maumbury_, perhaps it comes corrupted from the old British word _mainge_, signifying _scamnum_, _scabellum_, the same as our bench, from the multitude of seats therein; the remains of which in former times might very plausibly give occasion to such an appellation. Or is it not equivalent to the heathen _bury_, from the memory of these pagan sports therein celebrated? as our ancestors used to call heathenism by the general name of _maumetry_, corrupted from _mahometism_: of this my friend Robert Stephens, esq; J. C. first gave me the hint. Thus in Trevisa’s translation of _Polychronicon_, XIV. 18. p. 175. “Julianus had commaunded that crysten knyghtes sholde do sacrefyce to _mawmettes_,” meaning heathen idols. Or is it from the old-fashioned games of _mummings_, so frequent among us, derived from _Mimus_ or _Momus_? The _Mimi_ were frequently introduced into all shows, at theatres, amphitheatres, circs, &c. Or perhaps in the same sense it is to be understood as in Oxfordshire they call land _maum_, consisting of a mixture of white clay and chalk, Plot’s hist. p. 240. The _area_ was originally about 140 feet diameter the shortest way, 220 the longest; wherein it falls not much short of the compass of the most considerable ones. The famous amphitheatre at Verona but 233, and 136; and the vast _Colisæum_ at Rome is but 263, 165; but, I believe, as reckoned by a larger measure, the French foot. That at Perigusium is less than ours, being 180 one way, 120 the other. I find the amphitheatre at Silchester is of the same dimension with ours here, and built of the same materials and form, as far as I could discern, but more ruinous.

These places, though of absolute necessity open at top, where usually sheltered from rain in some measure, and from the sun effectually, by great sail-cloths spread along the top from masts and ropes, which were managed by the soldiers of the marine affairs, who were more skilful in such work: a fashion first invented by Q. Catulus when he was Ædile. The places where these poles were let through the cornices of the upper order, and rested on corbels, are still visible in the great amphitheatres. This probably was done in ours by masts and poles fastened into the ground without-side, and leaning along the outside bank; which would give them a very advantageous turn in hanging over the top of the theatre; for the slope of the _agger_ externally is with an angle of forty five degrees, being half a right angle, the most natural and commodious for beauty and force to oppose against the side weight: or they might erect them in the solid work on the top of the terrace, seeing it has abundantly strength enough. But in the particularity of these modes no certainty is at this time to be expected. However, by the situation of the place, the architect has taken great care, according to Vitruvius his rules about theatres, to obviate the inconvenience of the sun-beams as well as possible; and that in three respects. 1st, As he has set it upon a plain declining northwards, and upon the higher part of the plain; upon the very tip where the declivity begins. 2dly. By taking the bearing of it exactly, I found the opening, or entrance thereto, is to the north-east precise: hence it is very plain and easy to conceive, that from nine o’clock in the morning till sun-set, in the longest day of the year, the sun will be on the backs of the spectators, upon the upper or south-west half of the building; which contrivance is worthy of notice: and that this is not done upon account of the city of Dorchester lying that way, but as a thing essential, is plain from the like in the amphitheatre of Silchester, which opens upon the same point, though directly the farthest from the city. 3dly, The breadth of the opening or entrance, level with the surface, and opposite to the falling beams of the sun, must produce a very great rebatement of the heat thereof, reflected into this vast concave, and prove a convenience the other amphitheatres are wholly destitute of: and this purpose is so much regarded, that, if we consider it with a scrupulous eye, we shall find that the western side of this upper half of the terrace and the pavilion there is somewhat broader, and nearer the upper end of the long diameter, than the eastern. In the midway of the terrace between the pavilions on both sides and the _cavea_, are still to be seen two round holes, which seem to be places where they set poles to oppose against those others leaning on the out-side that bear the sail-cloths. The section or profile of this work is contrived with exquisite judgement in proportioning its parts; for the eye of a man standing at the most retired part of the terrace next the parapet is in the right line of the declivity within side; of a man standing in the middle of it, his eye sees the heads of the spectators sitting under him on the upper _subsellia_, even with the line of the circular walk; the eye of him standing on the edge of the terrace, sees the heads of those on the lowermost _subsellia_, even with the edge of the _podium_, and commands the whole _area_: therefore we may conclude none were permitted to stand on the circular walk, for that would have obstructed the sight, but it was left open for passage. I took notice before, that on both sides, the terrace at the top of the lower half seemed to me narrower than that at the other and principal half: whether so originally, and for sake of any advantage to be had in this respect, and that the meanest of the people stood here, or that it has happened to have been more wasted away since, I cannot be positive; but I judged it not material enough to be regarded in the scheme: for, in the main, I found the breadth of the side of the work, or solid, taken upon the ground-plot, is equal to half the longest diameter of the _area_, or a fourth of the whole longest diameter. Its perpendicular altitude, from the top of the terrace to the bottom of the _area_, is a fourth of the longest diameter of the _area_.

In the middle of each side we may observe a _cuneus_, or parcel of the seats, of near thirty feet broad, just over the most elevated part of the circular work, and reaching up to the terrace, which swells out above the concavity of the whole, and answering to the rising ground in the middle of the terrace, which we call the pavilions, and have assigned for the seats of the officers among the soldiery. This is upon the shortest diameter, and over the _tribunalia_ of the emperor and prætor; and consequently cuts each side of the upper _series_ of seats above the circular walk into two equal parts. I have guessed only at these reasons for it, which I leave to better judgements. One might possibly be, to give a greater beauty to the range of seats over the circular walk by its break, which is a thing not practised at all in other amphitheatres, unless we suppose this effect produced by their _vomitoria_: or is it not more necessary here, because of the circular walk, which causes the _series_ of seats above them to be broader at the extremity than in the middle, and therein different from the aspect of common amphitheatres? Or was not this division useful in distinguishing the great length of that _series_ into separate compartments for two different sort of plebeians? Or is it necessary to distribute the three orders of people; the senators under the circular walk to the _podium_, whose place in general was called _orchestra_; that half of the upper seats on the upper or south side of this protuberant part, to the equestrian order; that on the lower or north side, to the people or vulgar? But there seems to be another likely reason, that every seat here was divided into two (at least some part of it) in the nature of steps, as was practised in particular places of all other amphitheatres: and perhaps there were three of these ranges of steps, one in the middle, and one on each side: that in the middle was for the officers to ascend from the circular walk to their tribunals, or tents, set upon the raised part of the terrace, whilst the common soldiers went up by the ascent over the cave, at the upper end. The steps on each side led to the respective halves of the upper _series_ of seats above the circular walk. All which uses to me appear convenient and necessary for ease, regularity, and decency. In the upper or south-west half of the internal slope have been some deformities, caused by the inner edge of the terrace in some places cut or fallen down, which spoils the curve a little: and, as the lower terraces diminish gradually from the pavilions to the entrance, that on the western end has received great damage over and above; for the inward verge of it has been thrown down intirely: as for that north-easterly half of the terrace, which we said was narrower, more exposed to the sun, and for that reason allotted to the last rabble, we leave them to scramble up with somewhat more labour over the whole _series_ of the seats at that end, which we may reasonably judge were last filled by the spectators.

These noble buildings, which were of a fine invention, and well calculated for their uses, were most frequently called, from their hollow figure, _cavea_; of which there are many quotations to be had out of the old poets, and other writers: and originally it was inherent to theatres; in which sense commonly used by Cicero and others, but at length passed chiefly to amphitheatres, as the greater works. The matter of some was brick, as that near Trajecto in the Campania of Italy; another at Puteoli; others stone, and others solid marble; as that famous one at Capua, another at Athens, and that at Verona. The amphitheatre which is still in part to be seen at Pola in Istria, was of stone and wood too; for the whole frame of the seats was made of timber, the portico’s only, or external part, of stone. The wit of man could not find out a fitter scheme for commodiousness of seeing and hearing: and in some respect, I conceit, they had an eye to the form of their harps, fiddles, and such instruments of music, as modulate sounds in a roundish cavity: the oval turn thereof, and the solidity of the materials, had all the requisites of receiving and returning the vibrations of the air to greater advantage. Vitruvius advises, in this case, that the place, as well as the stuff, wherein these buildings are set, and of which they are composed, must not be what he calls _surd_, such as deaden the sound, but make smart repercussions, and in just space of time; which is of great consequence in the philosophy of echoes: for if the voice strike upon a solid that is not harmonious in its texture, that is, whose parts are not of a proper tone or tenseness, not consentaneous to the vibrations of musical notes; or if this solid be too near, or too far distant, so that it reverberates too quick, or too slow, as a room too little, or too great; all the main business of hearing and sounds is disturbed. Vitruvius is very large upon this head, to whom I refer the reader. Now I suppose the ancients learnt by experience and trial, as well as by reasoning upon the nature of things, that such a capacity and compass, and of such extent, was best for this end: whence we find, that all their amphitheatres are much about the same bulk, and executed upon nearly the same proportions. A thing of this kind deceives the eye without strict consideration; for it is bigger than it seems, and a person in the middle of it, to one upon the terrace, looks lesser than one would imagine. It is true indeed, that ours is not made of so solid materials as brick, stone or marble; but yet it is possible there may be as much an error in one extreme as the other, and nature affects a mediocrity. One shall scarce doubt that a _convallis_, or proper convexity between two mountains, will give as fine an echo as any artificial work that can be contrived. I can say, however, in favour of the subject we are upon, that in effect it has a very fine and agreeable sound, (as I purposely several times tried) and seems to want nothing of the compactness of matter, or closeness of the place, though doubtless much deficient in the original depth, which would improve it. An echo here is not to be expected, the return being too quick; but after the voice you hear a ringing, as of a brass pot, or bell; which shows the proportion well adjusted: and perhaps, if we consider the great numbers of the stair-cases and openings, or what they call _vomitoria_, in the other amphitheatres, for the people to come in and go out at, which are intirely wanting here; we may not be far to seek for the reason of it, or scruple thinking ours to be the better model: the sides being perfectly uniform, and free from those frequent apertures, seem better adapted for the rolling, concentring, and retorting the voice. It is not unlikely that some may think the great gap and discontinuity of our entrance an obstacle in the case; but to such I would propose a _quære_, Whether that single break, which bears so small a proportion to the whole, in account of those best skilled in the doctrine of _acoustics_, be not by far more inconsiderable in that point, than the multiplicity of those other passages which we see in all drawings of this kind? Or whether again it be not a real advantage to the sound? as is the hole in the sounding-board of a fiddle, harp, harpsichord, or the like instrument; or when two holes are made, as frequently; but, if there were twenty instead thereof, probably it would be injurious, though of less bulk when all put together. Perhaps the air intirely pent up in this great hollow, without any collateral aperture, may be obstructed in the varieties of its necessary motions and reflections, so as to delight the ear: and I must profess myself of this opinion, which seems confirmed by Nature’s abhorrence of such figures, in the constant outlets of valleys some way or other. It is certain, whatever effect the entrance has as to the sound, it must be highly useful in cooling the place, in admitting the breezes of the north-easterly air from over the meadows to refresh them; and the side of the opposite hill beyond the town, diversified with hedge-grows, presents a beautiful scene to the better spectators: nor is the present town deficient in contributing to the landscape: for, as you advance from the _arena_ toward the entrance, the two handsome towers of the churches appear very agreeably at each cheek of the entrance.

But we have reason to content ourselves with the plain matter of fact, and need not enter into a dispute, whether necessity or choice determined the Romans here to use the present materials, or whether the entrance was originally of the manner we see it: it is certain, that in all the places where I have seen these amphitheatres, the Roman walls that incompassed the towns are still left, built with ranges of brick, stone, flint, and indissoluble mortar; so that ignorance of building cannot be laid to their charge. Nor is this practice wholly confined to our island, and without parallel; for there is now in France an amphitheatre, not improperly to be reckoned of this sort, whereof Lipsius gives us a large account: it is at a place called Doveon, near Pont du sey, upon the river Loire, as you go from Anjou to Poictou; a place where the Druids are said to have had a seat: this is cut out of a mountain of stone, but of a very soft kind, and, I suppose, not much better than our chalk: it is not near so big as ours, and much inferior in beauty and convenience: here are chambers hewn out of the rock for the caves; and the _area_ is but very small. The seats of the theatre of Bacchus at Athens are still visible, cut out of the natural rock. It is not much to be doubted, that in many places in France, and other provinces of the Roman empire, where the same chalk is the soil, there are such as ours, though as little regarded: and we may reasonably think, in the beginning of the commonwealth, before art, luxury, and magnificence had got to its highest pitch, that the Romans themselves were contented with such of grassy turf. The people of Rome originally stood at the games. Cicero, _de Amicit._ c. 7. says, _stantes plaudebant in re ficta_. So Tac. _Annal._ XIV. 20. “If you look back to customs of antiquity, the people stood at the shows; for if they had been accommodated with seats, they would have idled the whole day away at the theatre.” Valer. Max. XI. 4. says, “it was ordered by the senate, that no one should set benches for shows in the city, nor within a mile of it, or should see the games sitting, that the manly posture of standing, the peculiar note of the Roman nation, should be observed even at diversions.” If any one had rather think, that ours never had any seats, but that the people stood upon the plain grassy declivity, I shall not be averse to it, and the rather because it is your lordship’s opinion: yet it seemed to me, viewing the sides very curiously, when the sun shone upon them with a proper light and shade, that I could see the very marks of the poles that lay upon the slopes, whereon the benches were fastened. Ovid, _de arte amandi_, speaking of theatres, says the seats were turf.

_In gradibus sedet populus de cespite factis, Qualibet hirsutas fronde tegente comas._

On grassy seats of turf the people sate, And leaves of trees Thessalic caps supply.

This of ours seems to be a better method than that in the amphitheatre at Pola; and, if it is readily owned much inferior to those at Rome, yet even those were exceeded by the noble Greek architects, especially by that most admirable theatre near the temple of Æsculapius in Epidaurus, of which Pausanias, an eye-witness of both, speaks _in argolicis_: “for, though it is not so big as some others, yet for the art of it, the nicety of its constituents, and for beauty, who dare contend with Polycletus, who was the architect of it?” says he.

As it is not my intent to write a complete history of amphitheatres, or further than what is necessary to our present purpose, and to give a clear understanding of our work; so I forbear saying any thing of the manners, times, qualities, and circumstances, of the games here practised, but suppose them much the same in all points with those used at Rome, and other places, and with suitable grandeur and magnificence; whether in relation to hunting or fighting of wild beasts, of the same or different kinds, with one another, or with men; of the gladiators, wrestlings, of the pageants called by the ancients _pegmata_, whence our word seems derived; of the showers of saffron water to refresh the spectators; of the gods these places were dedicated to, and their festivals: the whole of these matters, by those that have a mind to make themselves acquainted therewith, is best learnt from authors who have largely and professedly handled the subject; such as the learned Lipsius before quoted, Donatus, and many more Pitiscus will inform us of in his Lexicon. It is not to be questioned, that the Romans, who had so firmly settled themselves here for the space of 400 years, were for elegance and politeness much upon the level with those of the continent. But amongst other shows and diversions of beasts, we may safely imagine that our British bull-dogs bore a part, since the Romans brought them up for the use of the Italian amphitheatres. Claudian speaks of them thus,