Fucinus et pigri taceantur stagna Neronis:
Hanc norint unam sæcula Naumachiam.”
(Martialis de Spect. Ep. 28.)
That is, the stagna in the amphitheatre were supplied by an aqueduct from the lake of Fucino. This lake has been drained in 1874-75 by Prince Torlonia, by carrying out the project of the great engineers of the time of the Emperor Claudius, and making an emisarium, on even a grander scale than the one partially made in the time of Claudius, on a similar plan to those of the lakes of Albano and Nemi.
“Respice terrifici scelerata sacraria Ditis,
Cui cadit infausta fusus gladiator arena,
Heu male lustratæ Phlegetontia victima Romæ.
Nam quid vesani sibi vult ars impia ludi?
Quid mortes juvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas