THE AMPHITHEATRUM CASTRENSE,
(Amphitheatre of the Camp,)
of the time of Caligula, A.D. 39, and incorporated by Aurelian into his wall. It is of beautiful brickwork; the columns, of the Corinthian order, are best seen from outside the wall. It was built near the camp, that the soldiers might have their games without going into the city and mixing with the people.
Suetonius ("Caligula," xxxi.) says, "He began an amphitheatre near the septa or barracks of the soldiers." Dion Cassius records, "That on one occasion, when the Emperor Caligula was in want of criminals for combats, he seized a number of citizens, and after tearing out their tongues that they might not complain, he had them brought into the arena, where they were compelled to fight."