197.] [Footnote 59: Seneca (epistol.

lxxxvi.) compares the baths of Scipio Africanus, at his villa of Liternum, with the magnificence (which was continually increasing) of the public baths of Rome, long before the stately Thermae of Antoninus and Diocletian were erected.

The quadrans paid for admission was the quarter of the as, about one eighth of an English penny.] [Footnote 60: Ammianus, (l.xiv.c.6, and l.xxviii.c.

4,) after describing the luxury and pride of the nobles of Rome, exposes, with equal indignation, the vices and follies of the common people.] But the most lively and splendid amusement of the idle multitude, depended on the frequent exhibition of public games and spectacles.
The piety of Christian princes had suppressed the inhuman combats of gladiators; but the Roman people still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic.

The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to secure their places, and there were many who passed a sleepless and anxious night in the adjacent porticos.