the Amphitheatre is formed of two Theatres <lb/>
with their Horns joined together, and the <lb/>
Rows of Seats continued quite round; and <lb/>
the chief Difference between them is, that a <lb/>
Theatre is properly an half Amphitheatre, <lb/>
with this further Variation too, that the Am<lb/>
phitheatre has its middle Area quite clear from <lb/>
any Thing of a Stage or Scenes; but in all <lb/>
other re&longs;pects, and particularly in the Seats, <lb/>
Porticoes, Entrances and the like, they exactly <lb/>
<arrow.to.target n="marg43"/><lb/>
agree. </s> <s>I am inclined to believe, that the Am<lb/>
phitheatre was at fir&longs;t contrived chiefly for <lb/>
Hunting, and that for this Rea&longs;on it was made <lb/>
round, to the Intent that the wild Bea&longs;ts <lb/>
which were enclo&longs;ed and baited in it, not <lb/>
having any Nook or Corner to fly to, might <lb/>
be the &longs;ooner obliged to defend them&longs;elves <lb/>
again&longs;t their A&longs;&longs;ailants, who were extremely <lb/>
bold and dextrous at engaging with the fier<lb/>
ce&longs;t wild Bea&longs;ts. </s> <s>Some armed only with a <lb/>
Javelin, would with the Help of that leap <lb/>
over a wild Bull that was making at him full <lb/>
Speed, and &longs;o elude his Blow. </s> <s>Others having <lb/>
put on a Kind of Armour, compo&longs;ed of no<lb/>
thing but thick Thorns and Prickles, would <lb/>
&longs;uffer them&longs;elves to be rowled about and <lb/>
mumbled by a Bear. </s> <s>Others enclo&longs;ed in a <lb/>
Kind of wooden Cage, teazed and provoked a <lb/>
Lion, and fome with nothing but a Cloak <lb/>
about their left Arm, and a &longs;mall Ax or Mal<lb/>
let in their right Hand would attack him <lb/>
openly. </s> <s>In a Word, if any Man had either <lb/>
Dexterity to deceive, or Courage and Strength <lb/>
to cope with wild Bea&longs;ts, he offered him&longs;elf as <lb/>
a Champion, either merely for the Sake of Ho<lb/>
nour, or for Reward. </s> <s>We read too, that both <lb/>
in the Theatres and Amphitheatres, the great <lb/>
Men u&longs;ed to throw Apples, or let fly little Birds <lb/>
among the Mob, for the Plea&longs;ure of &longs;eeing <lb/>
them &longs;cramble for them. </s> <s>The middle Area <lb/>
of the Amphitheatre, though it is &longs;urrounded <lb/>
by two Theatres joined together, yet mu&longs;t not <lb/>
be made &longs;olong as two compleat Theatres would <lb/>
make it, if their Horns both pretended to meet <lb/>
each other: But its Length mu&longs;t bear a cer<lb/>
tain Proportion to its Breadth. </s> <s>Some among <lb/>
the Ancients made the Length eight, and the <lb/>
Breadth &longs;even Parts, and &longs;ome made the <lb/>
Breadth three fourths of the Length. </s> <s>In other <lb/>
Particulars it agrees with the Theatre: It mu&longs;t <lb/>
have Porticoes on the Out&longs;ide, and one at the <lb/>
Top within, over the highe&longs;t Seat, which we <lb/>
<arrow.to.target n="marg44"/><lb/>
have called the Circumvallation. </s> <s>We are next <lb/>
to treat of the Circus. </s> <s>Some tell us, that this <lb/>
was built in Imitation of the heavenly Bodies; <lb/>
for as the Heavens have twelve Hou&longs;es, &longs;o the <lb/>
Circus has twelve Gates for Entrance; and as <lb/>
there are &longs;even Planets, &longs;o this has &longs;even Goals, <lb/>
lying from Ea&longs;t to We&longs;t at a good Di&longs;tance one <lb/>
from the other, that through them the con<lb/>
tending Chariots may hold their Cour&longs;e, as the <lb/>
Sun and Moon do through the Zodiac; which <lb/>
they did four-and-twenty Times, in Imitati<lb/>
on of the four-and-twenty Hours. </s> <s>The Con<lb/>
currents were al&longs;o divided into four Squadrons, <lb/>
each of which was di&longs;tingui&longs;hed by its particu<lb/>
lar Colour; the one was cloathed in Green, in <lb/>
Repre&longs;entation of the verdant Spring; another <lb/>
to denote the flaming Summer in Red; the <lb/>
third in White, in Imitation of the pale Au<lb/>
tumn; and the fourth in dusky Brown for the <lb/>
gloomy Winter. </s> <s>The middle Area of the Cir<lb/>
cus was neither clear nor open like the Am<lb/>
phitheatre, nor taken up with a Stage like the <lb/>
Theatre, but it was divided Lengthways into <lb/>
two Cour&longs;es by the Goals or Terms which <lb/>
were &longs;et up at proper Di&longs;tances, about which <lb/>
the Hor&longs;es or Men performed their Races. </s> <s>Of <lb/>
the&longs;e Goals there were three principal ones, <lb/>
whereof the Middlemo&longs;t was the chief of all, <lb/>
and this was a Pile of Stone tapering up to the <lb/>
Top, upon account of which regular Diminu<lb/>
tion, it was called an Obelisk. </s> <s>The other two <lb/>
principal Goals were either colo&longs;&longs;al Statues, or <lb/>
lofty Piles of Stones in the Nature of Trophies, <lb/>
de&longs;igned a&longs;ter the Workman's Fancy, &longs;o as <lb/>
they were only great and beauti&longs;ul. </s> <s>Between <lb/>
the&longs;e principal Goals were two others on each <lb/>
Side, either Columns or Obelisks le&longs;s than the <lb/>
former, which made up the Number of Seven. <lb/>
</s> <s>We read in Hi&longs;torians, that the Circus Maxi<lb/>
mus at <emph type="italics"/>Rome<emph.end type="italics"/> was three Furlongs in Length, <lb/>
and one in Breadth. </s> <s>Now indeed it is entire<lb/>
ly de&longs;troyed, and there are not the lea&longs;t Foot<lb/>
&longs;teps remaining by which we can form a Judg<lb/>
ment of its ancient Structure: But by an actual <lb/>
Survey of other Works of this Nature I find the <lb/>
Manner of them was as follows: The Anci<lb/>
ents u&longs;ed to make the middle Area of the Cir<lb/>
cus in Breadth at lea&longs;t three&longs;core Cubits, or <lb/>
ninety Foot, and in Length &longs;even Times that <lb/>
Breadth. </s> <s>The Breadth was divided into two <lb/>
equal Parts or Cour&longs;es by a Line drawn the <lb/>
Length of the Circus, on which Line the Goals <lb/>
or Terms were placed according to the follow<lb/>
ing Method: The whole Length being divided <lb/>
into &longs;even Parts, one of tho&longs;e Parts was given <lb/>
to a Sweep at each End for the Concurrents to <lb/>
turn out of the right Cour&longs;e into the left, and <lb/>
the Remainder was allowed for the Goals, which <lb/>
<lb/>
</s></p>