The weekly Butte record., 1863-02-07
The Colosseum.


three years in its erection. Cassiodorus afiru1s
that this magnificent monument of folly cost as
much as would have been required for the
building of capital city. We have the means
of distinctly ascertainins its dimensions and its
accommodations, from the great mass of wall
that still remains entire. And, although the
very clamps of iron and brass that held toge-
ther the ponderous stones Of that wonderful
edi6ce, were removed by Gothic plunderers,
and succeeding generations have resorted to it
as quarry for their temples and palaces, yet
the enormous skeleton still stands, to mark
its original gigantic character.
The Colosseum, which is of an oval form,
occupies the space of nearly six acres. II may
justly be said to be the most imposing building
from its apparent magnitude, in the world ;
the pyramids of Egypt can only be compared
with it in extent of their plan, as they cover
nearly the same surface. The greatest length
is six hundred aud twenty feet the greatest
breadth FIVE hundred and thirteen feet. The
outer wall is one hundred and ffty-seven feet
high, in its whole extent The exterior wall
is divided into four stories each ornamented
with one of the orders of architecture. The
cornce Of the upper story is perforated for the
purpose of inserting wooden masts These
masts were for the purpose Of attaching cords
to, for sustaining the awning which defended
the spectators from the sun and rain. Two
corridors run all round the building, leading to
staircases, which ascended to the several sto-
ries and the seats which descended towards
the arena, supported throughout upon eighty
arches, occupied so much of the space, that the
clear opening of the inner wall, next the arena,
is only two hundred and eighty.seven feet by
one hundred and eighty feet. Immediately
above and around the arena was the podum,
elevated about twelve or fifteen feet, on which
were seated the emperor, senators, ambassadors
of foreign nations, aud other distinguished per-
sonages in that city of distinctions From the
podium to the top of the second story were
seats of marble for the equestrian order; above
the second story the seats appear to be con-
structed of wood.
The order and arrangement of the seats are
still visible, and nothing can be more admira-
bly, contrived than the vomitories for facilita-
ting the ingress and egress of all ella ses to and
from their respective seats, without disorder or
confusion There was, it is thought, an upper
gallery for the multitude of which there are
now no remains. 1t must, indeed, when filed
have offered very imposing spectacle. The
very lowest computation allows that it would
contain eighty thousand spectators.
Such is the last and noblest monument of
Roman grandeur and of Roman crime, the
scene of the greatest magnifcence and of the
greatest barbarity which the world ever saw
the stupendous fabric
(Which, on its public shoes, unpeopled Rome,
And held, uncrowded, nations in its womb
Never" says an eloquent observer, did
human art present to the eye fabric so well
calculated, from its size and form, to surprise
and delight. Let the spectator first place him.
self to the north, and contemplate that side
which depreciation, barbarism and ages have
spared he will behold with admiration its
wonderful extent, we'll -proportioned stories and
flying lines, that retire and vanish without
break or interruption. Next, let him turn to
tho couth ap1 eNar,ina tboca ctnpanJou, orob
es which, devoid as they are of external deco
rations, still astonish us by their solidity and
duration. Then let him enter, range through
the lofty arcades, and ascending the vaulted
seats, consider the vast mass of ruin that sur
rounds him-isolated walls, immense stones
suspended in the arches, covered with weeds
and shrubs, vaults opening upon other ruins
in short, above, below, and around, one vast
collection of magnifcence and devastation, of
grandeur and decay"
Montaigne speaks thus of the Colosseum;
at was doubtless fine thing 10 bring and
plant within the theatre great number of
vast trees, with all their branches in their full
verdure, representing great shady forest, dis
posed in excellent order, and the first day to
throw into it thousand ostriches, thousand
stays, thousand boars, and a thousand fallow
deer, to be killed and disposed of by the peo-
pie; the next day to cause a hundred lions
and leopards and three hundred bears to be
killed in his presence and the third day to
make three hundred pair of fencers fight it out
to the last, as the Emperor Probus did. 1t
was also very fine to see those vast amphithea-
tres, all faced with marble without, curiously
wrought with figures and statutes, and inside
sparkling with rare decorations and enrich
ments; all the sides of this vast space filed
and environed from the bottom to the top.
with three or four score ranks of seats, all
marble also, and covered with cushions, where
a hundred thousand men might sit placed at
their ease and the place below where the
plays were played, to make it by art first open
and cleft into chinks. representing caves that