THE THEATRE OF BALBUS.
Erected B.C. 12, as a compliment to Augustus, by L. Cornelius Balbus (Suetonius, "Aug." xxix.), being the third permanent theatre erected in Rome. It held twelve thousand spectators. Pliny (xxxiv. 12) says: "Cornelius Balbus erected four small pillars of onyx in his theatre as something marvellous." At No. 23 Via Calderari, to the right of the Cenci Palace, some remains can be seen of the Portico of the Theatre of Balbus, which was two stories high. Built into the house are two Doric columns of travertine stone, supporting an architrave, which is interspersed with brickwork repairs, by Septimius Severus, after a fire. Opposite are three pilasters supporting a vault.
In the lane opposite, the Palace of the Cenci can best be seen; this part has not been restored. Passing under the archway, on our left, is the gateway spoken of by Shelley.
The first turning on the right, in the Via Calderari, leads to the Via Catinari; turn to the left, follow the second street on the right past the church, then take the first turning on the left. It will be noticed that the fronts of the houses and the street are circular; they are built on the ruins of the circular part of
THE THEATRE OF POMPEY.
"Pompey also built that magnificent theatre, which is standing at this day, at whose dedication five hundred lions were killed in five days, and eighteen elephants having fought against armed men, part of them died upon the place, and the rest soon after" (Dion Cassius, "Cæsar"). Plutarch relates the same. The same author, in his "Life of Nero," speaking of the reception of Tiridates, says: "There was a great assembly in the Theatre of Pompey by order of the senate. Not only the scene, but all the inside of the theatre, and everybody that came into it, were covered with gold, which made that day be named Golden Day. The covering which was spread over it to defend the spectators from the heat of the sun, was of rich stuff, the colour of purple, representing the heavens, in the midst of which was Nero driving a chariot." (See Pliny, xxxiii. 16.) "Tiberius undertook to restore the Theatre of Pompey" (Suetonius, "Tiberius," xlvii.). "Tiberius undertook to rebuild the Theatre of Pompey, which was accidentally burned, because none of the family was equal to the charge; still, however, to be called by the name of Pompey" (Tacitus, "Ann." iii. 72). "Caligula completed it" (Suetonius, "Caligula," xxi.). It was burned; and again rebuilt by Caracalla, as we learn from an inscription found at Ostia in 1881. "In the games which Claudius presented at the dedication of Pompey's theatre, which had been burned down, and was rebuilt by him, he presided upon a tribunal erected for him in the orchestra; having first paid his devotions in the temple above, and then coming down through the centre of the circle, while all the people kept their seats in profound silence" (Suetonius, "Claudius," xxi.). It accommodated forty thousand (Pliny, xxxvi. 24). It was built B.C. 55, "in his second consulship" (Vel. Paterculus, ii. 48); but afraid of the criticism of the people, he erected at the top of the seats a temple to Venus.
THE SPOT WHERE CÆSAR FELL.
In the neighbourhood of his theatre Pompey built a house for himself (Plutarch); and from the back of the stage a portico (Vitruvius), which, according to Propertius (ii. 32), must have been a beautiful place.
"Pompey's portico, I suppose, with its shady columns, and magnificently ornamented with purple curtains, palls upon you; and the thickly-planted, even line of plane-trees, and the waters that fall from a sleeping Maro, and in streams lightly bubbling all over." In the centre of this portico Pompey erected a large hall, which he presented to the Roman people for the use of the senate. At the time of Cæsar's assassination the senate house on the Forum was being rebuilt. Suetonius ("Cæsar," lxxx.), says: "Public notice had been given, by proclamation, for the senate to assemble upon the ides of March (15th) in the senate house built by Pompey: the conspirators approved both time and place as most fitting for their purpose." "They killed him in the hall of Pompey, giving him twenty-three wounds" (Livy, "Ep." cxvi.). "The conspirators having surrounded him in Pompey's senate house, fell upon him all together, and killed him with several strokes" (Dion Cassius, "Cæsar." See Suetonius, "Cæsar," lxxxii.).
"The place, too, where the senate was to meet seemed providentially favourable for their purpose. It was a portico adjoining the theatre; and in the midst of a saloon, furnished with benches, stood a statue of Pompey, which had been erected to him by the commonwealth when he adorned that part of the city with those buildings. The senate being assembled, and Cæsar entering, the conspirators got close about Cæsar's chair. Cassius turned his face to Pompey's statue, and invoked it, as if it had been sensible of his prayers" (Plutarch. See Florus, iv. 2).