THE AUDITORIUM,
or lecture-hall of Mæcenas, the entrance being formed through the agger. It is 24 metres 40 centimetres long, by 10 metres 60 centimetres broad. The wall supporting the roof, in which was the window, is nearly eight metres high. On each side of the hall the walls contain six niches decorated in the Pompeian style. At the farther end of the hall is a sort of tribune composed of seven circular steps in tiers, once faced with marble. From here the author recited. In the circular wall behind these, which forms the end of the hall, are five more niches. The floor is below the surrounding level, probably to keep the building cool during the summer months. Its height was about forty feet.
It may be that in this auditorium Virgil read his "Georgics" to Mæcenas, as he says,—
"I sing, Mæcenas, and I sing to thee....
O thou! the better part of my renown,
Inspire thy poet, and thy poem crown;
Without thee, nothing lofty can I sing."
Or Horace, his Odes recited to Mæcenas' praise,—
"You that are both my shield and glory dear."