ludi

LUDIis a general term comprising the various spectacles and contests of the circus and amphitheatre (ludi circenses), and those of the theatre (ludi scenici) and stadium.

1. Kinds of games.--In their legal aspect we may divide the games into public and private. (a) Public. Originally the games were religious ceremonies, the two oldest being the Equirria [EQUIRRIA] and Consualia [CONSUALIA], held in honour of Mars and Consus. But games were frequently vowed (ludi votivi) on the eve of or during times of war (for a long list see Friedländer, ap. Marquardt, Staatsv. 3.476, note 7), especially to Jupiter (hence called ludi magni, maximi: Festus, s. v. Magnos Ludos), which gradually came by custom to be solemnised every year, and afterwards established by law as annual (Liv. 1.35, 9) [LUDI ROMANI]. During the time of the Republic there were seven such games,--the ludi Romani, Plebeii, Ceriales, Apollinares, Megalenses, Florales, Victoriae Sullanae. The first two were called sacri, because they had an epulum connected with them (Dio Cass.). These two, as well as the Apollinares, had also a day set apart for the equorum probatio. During imperial times many new games were added. The birthday feasts and games (ludi natalicii), celebrated in honour of the reigning emperors (called τὰ γενέθλια, whereas τὰ γενέσια were those celebrated in honour of dead emperors), were allowed by even the most modest of the Caesars, e. g. Antoninus Pius (see Capit. Ant. Pius, 5); but they seem to have been retained after death only for those emperors who were consecrated (ib. 13). Mommsen (in C. I. L. 1. p. 380) derives from the Calendar of Philocalus (constructed 354 A.D.) a list of nineteen such birthday games as were celebrated at that date. These games were nearly always circensian, as were also those celebrated in honour of the day the emperor ascended the throne (ludi natalis imperii). Only in the case of Sept. Severus (Dio Cass.) were the latter games retained beyond the time of the reigning emperor (cf. Capit. Pertinax, 15). Ludi votivi, too, were often instituted after a war, e. g. the ludi Parthici (perhaps on Sept. 18, Trajan's birthday), instituted by Hadrian in celebration of Trajan's Parthian war (Dio Cass., and Reimar ad loc.); and such are frequent in the Constantinian period, e. g. Ludi Alemannici (Oct. 5-10), Gottici (Feb. 4-9), Sarmatici (Nov. 25-Dec. 1), &c.; see a list in C. I. L. 1. p. 376. (b) Private. Besides these ludi publici, there were ludi privati, especially ludi funebres. Though the whole people took part in them, still they are private games, as being given by private individuals and not by the state. The ludi funebres were celebrated on the ninth day after death, hence sometimes called ludi no-vendiales (Serv. ad Verg. A. 5.64). Gladiatorial exhibitions in the Forum were frequent at these games (indeed were not given elsewhere during republican times), in accordance with the old belief that human blood should flow over the grave of a dead man (Serv. ad Verg. A. 3.67; 5.78-Z2). The beginning at Rome of gladiatorial contests, which came from Etruria and Campania, dates from the funeral games of D. Junius Brutus in 264 (Liv. Epit. xvi.; Mommsen, R. H. 2.412). Exhibitions of gladiators were often ordered by will to be given at the funeral of the testator (Cic. Vat. 15, 37; Sulla, 19, 54; Hor. Sat. 2.3, 84). Dramatic representations were also held at funeral games: e. g. the Adelphi was acted at the funeral games of Aemilius Paullus in 160 B.C. Generally the games only lasted one day, and only a few pairs of gladiators fought; but at the funeral of M. Aemilius Lepidus (Liv. 23.30, 15), in 216 B.C., the games lasted three days, and twenty-two pairs of gladiators fought; at those of M. Valerius Laevinus, in 200 B.C., the games lasted four days, and twenty-five pairs fought (Liv. 31.50, 4); while at those of P. Licinius in 183 B.C. the games lasted three days, and 120 gladiators fought (Liv. 39.46, 2), a very large exhibition indeed (cf. Liv. 41.28, 11). It was thought disgraceful for women to be present at ludi funebres, and P. Sempronius Sophus, consul in 268 B.C., sent a divorce to his wife because she attended funeral games (Val. Max., 12; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 267). Another kind of ludi privati were those given by people of high rank voluntarily, on occasions of great public rejoicing, such as Stella's games in 93 A.D. (Mart. 8.78: cf. Pers. 6.48). For giving such games, non-senators had to get permission from the senate (Dio Cass.). These games were perhaps the ludi honorarii referred to by Suet. Aug. 32, for which thirty days in the year had been set apart. Augustus reconstituted these as working days. Ludi honorarii appear to have been most constantly given at the Liberalia (Fest. p. 102, and Müller's note). Private exhibitions, to which special invitations were issued, were often given by the emperors; such as the LUDI PALATINIthe JUVENALES. Such also, too, were given by Caligula (Suet. Cal. 54), Nero (Tac. Ann. 14.44), Commodus (Lampr. Comm. 8), Cara-calla (Dio Cass.), Elagabalus (Lampr. Elag. 23), &c.

In the Calendar of Philocalus (354 A.D.) several other public games are mentioned, devoted to gods, but they are of little importance. The principal are on Jan. 7 to Janus; April 1, to Venus Verticordia (Macrob. Sat. 1.12, 15); April 5, to Quirinus; April 8, to Castor and Pollux; May 29-June 1, Fabarici to the goddess Carna (Macrob. Sat. 1.12, 31; Ov. Fast. 6.101 ff.); July 23-24, to Neptune (Tertull. Spect. 6); Aug. 5 (Cic. Att. 4.1, 4), to Salus; Sept. 29-30, to the Fates; Oct. 19-22, to the Sun; Nov. 1, to Osiris and Isis (C. I. L. 1.405).

According to their intrinsic nature, the games may be divided (cf. Cic. de Leg. 2.1. 5, 38) into (1) ludi circenses [CIRCUS], which include both the races in the circus and the gladiatorial shows [GLADIATOR ], and baitings of beasts [VENATIO] in the amphitheatre [AMPHITHEATRUM]; (2) the ludi scenici, or dramatic and spectacular shows in the theatre. [COMOEDIA; TRAGOEDIA; THEATRUM; HISTRIO; MIMUS; PANTOMIMUS. ] To these are to be added (3) the Greek contests of musicians and athletes, strictly called Agones. The performances and performers of the first two kinds are sufficiently treated in the articles referred to. Here we must say a word on the Agones. These contests were first introduced into Rome by M. Fulvius Nobilior in 186 B.C. (Liv. 39.22, 2). In 169 B.C. we are told that Aemilius Paullus gave similar shows at Amphipolis, in which the Romans were quite unversed (Liv. 45.32, 9-10). And at the triumph of L. Anicius Gallus in 167 B.C. it was attempted to give a musical exhibition, but the people made the performers box instead of playing the music: that was the only sort of ἀγὼν they understood (Plb. 30.13). In the last century of the Republic we hear of Sulla (App. BC 1.29), Scaurus (Val. Max., 7), Pompeius (Dio Cass.), Curio (Plin. Nat.36.120), and Caesar (Plut. Caes. 39) giving exhibitions of athletes. Such contests were not appointed to occur at regular intervals till imperial times. Then there were three principal agones: (1) the Actia; (2) the Agon Neroneus; (3) the Agon Capitolinus. The first two are described in the articles LUDI ACTIACIand QUINQUENNALIAThe Agon Capitolinus was established in 86 A.D. by Domitian (Suet. Dom. 4), and celebrated every fourth year in early summer (Herodian, 7.8, 3; and Clinton, Fasti Rom. p. 252). It lasted till the end of antiquity (Friedländer, S. G. ii.3 620-1), and even into modern times: for it was on Easter Sunday 1341, on the Capitoline hill, that Petrarch was crowned (Gregorovius, Gesch. der Stadt Rom, 6.207-216; Gibbon, 8.227, ed. Smith). It comprised contests in Greek and Latin poetry, Greek and Latin oratory (the subjects being the praises of Jupiter Capitolinus and Domitian, Quintil. 3.7, 4; Suet. Dom. 4), and music, for which Domitian built a covered theatre (the Odeum) in the Campus Martius (Preller, Regionen, 169), and in the same place he built a stadium for the athletes who contended in boxing, wrestling, and the pancratium (Friedländer, op. cit. 616-620, an important collection of evidence). Originally there was a foot-race for girls (Suet. l. c.). The victors were crowned with oak-leaves (Mart. 4.1, 6). For the other agones, which were mostly gymnastic, such as the Agon Minervae of Gordian, and the Agon Solis of Aurelian, see Friedländer, op. cit. 467.

2. The Length of the Games.--They originally lasted each only the portion of one day (Liv. 45.9, 4; Mommsen, R. H. 1.472). From one day they gradually increased during the Republic,--the Ludi Romani to 15, and after Caesar's death to 16, the Ludi Plebeii to 14, the Ceriales to 8, the Apollinares to 8, the Megalenses to 7, the Florales to 6, and the Ludi Victoriae Sullanae to 7: i. e. 66 in all. Of these the Ludi Romani had 5 dies circenses, the Ludi Plebeii 3, and the rest one each: i. e. 13 in all. (See the Calendar in C. I. L. i. and p. 377.) Various games were added during the Empire: in the time of M. Aurelius there were 135, and in 354 A.D., when the Calendar of Philocalus was drawn up, there were 175 (C. I. L. 1. p. 378). Gradually, too, the whole of each day came to be filled up with events, beginning from early morning (Cic. Fam. 7.1, 1; Nat. Deor. 1.28, 78; Suet. Cal. 26, Claud. 34), and continued on into the night (Suet. Cal. 18, Dom. 4; Tac. Ann. 14.20, 16.5-Z2) on a memorable occasion with living torches (Tac. Ann. 15.44). Night festivals probably began with the Floralia (Ov. Fast. 5.361 ff.); and the part of the secular games celebrated at night was the most important. After 61 B.C. there was a pause in the middle of the day for the audience to get their dinner (Dio Cass.); and this period was filled up, at least in the case of the circenses, with the exhibition of inferior gladiators, the meridiani. It was during this pause for dinner on one of the days that the giver of the games feasted the people, if he did feast them; though sometimes the epulum lasted for more than one day (Vell. 2.56). But we hear of viands being also brought into the circus and the theatre (Stat. Silv. 1.6, 28 ff.; Mart. 5.49, 9; cf. Suet. Dom. 4).

3. Instauratio (Macrob. Sat. 1.11, 5).--The anxious scrupulousness with which the Romans observed ritual is often insisted on (for examples, see Liv. 5.17, 2; 32.1-Z2, 9; 41.16-Z2, 1). So in the case of the games Cicero tells us (de Harusp. resp. 11, 23): Si ludius constitit aut tibicen repente conticuit aut puer ille patrimus et matrimus si tensam non tenuit aut lorum omisit aut si aedilis aut verbo aut simpulo aberravit, ludi non sunt rite facti eaque errata expiantur et mentes deorum immortalium ludorum instauratione placantur. That is, that in any such case when the games were performed non rite, non recte, minus diligenter, they had to be held over again, either entirely or the ceremonies of certain days were performed again. The strict phrase for the repetition of the games in their entirety was ludi toti instaurati sunt; that for the repetition of the ceremonies of certain days was ludi (semel, ter, quinquies, or per unum diem, per triduum, per quinque dies) instaurati sunt. See a long list of examples in Weissenborn on Liv. 23.30, 16. Games so repeated were called instaurativi (Cic. de Div. 1.2. 6, 55). Sometimes the games were repeated as often as ten times, owing to faults purposely committed by the performers who were interested. This was put a stop to by the Emperor Claudius, who forbade the Circenses to be renewed for more than one day, with the most salutary results (Dio Cass.). For further details on instauratio, see Ritschl, Parerga zu Plautus u. Terenz, p. 311 ff.

4. The Givers of the Public Games.--(a) Consuls. In order that they might be binding on the people, ludi votivi had to be administered by a magistrate with the imperium, usually then by the consul (Liv. 30.2, 8; 27, 11; Cic. pro Sest. 55, 117; Dio Cass., 56.1, 60.23). The Ludi Romani were administered by the consuls till the appointment of the curule aediles in 366 B.C. After that the consuls had only the presidency in these games (Liv. 8.40, 2, 45.1-Z2, 6; Mommsen, Staatsrecht, i.2 397). The fact was, the giving of the games held out too great opportunities of bribery for the higher magistrates (Mommsen, op. cit. ii.2 129). But in imperial times the consuls were appointed to administer the Ludi Actiaci on Sept. 2 (Dio Cass.), the birthday of Augustus on Sept. 23 (ib. 56.49; cf. C. I. L. i. pp. 401-2), and probably many others (ib. p. 377). The shows of gladiators given by consuls elect date from the beginning of the second century A.D. (Dig. 35, 1, 36, pr.). The first evidence of the games given by the consuls on their entry into office, which became so important in the fourth century (C. I. L. 1. p. 382), appears to be Fronto ad Marcum, 2.1. But in the early Empire the consuls were expected some time or other during their year of office to give shows (cf. Epictet. Diss. 4.10, 21); and though even in the time of Claudius this was considered a great burden (Dio Cass.), the custom continued (ib. 61.6; Vopisc. Aurel. 12, 12). Alexander Severus lessened the expense of the consuls and defrayed part of it himself (Lamp. Alex. Sev. 43; Dio Cass.). (b) Aediles. From the time of their appointment in 366 B.C., they were given the administration of the Ludi Romani (cf. Liv. 6.42, 13), and gradually they had entrusted to them the administration of all the other games except the Ludi Apollinares, which were administered by the praetor urbanus (Liv. 25.12, 10), as were also the Ludi Piscatorii (Festus, s. v.). The Ludi Plebeii were held by the plebeian aediles, and so too were the Ludi Ceriales. Cicero (Cic. Ver. 5.14, 36) indeed implies that the latter were celebrated by the curule aediles; but the Cerialia was the plebeian counter-feast to the Megalensia of the patricians (Gell. 18.2, 11; Mommsen, Staatsr. ii.2 509). After 44 B.C. the administration of the Ludi Ceriales was most probably transferred from the curule aediles to the newly-appointed (Dio Cass.) plebeian aediles Ceriales. The Ludi Megalenses and Florales were held by the curule aediles (Cic. Verr. l. c.; Mur. 19, 40; Liv. 34.54, 3; Dio Cass.). In 22 B.C. Augustus took the cura ludorum from the aediles and gave it to the praetors (Dio Cass.), after which time any games given by the aediles were voluntary (ib. 54.8; Capitol. Gord. 3). (c) Praetors. They had the charge of the Ludi Apollinares and Piscatorii during the Republic. But in imperial times we find the urban praetors (this is probably the meaning of τῶν στρατηγῶν τῶν πάνυ in Dio Cass.) administering the Ludi Megalenses (Juven. 11.193, and Mayor's note), Florales (Suet. Galb. 6), and gladiatorial shows (Dio Cass.). The Augustalia were administered by the praetor peregrinus (Tac. Ann. 1.15). A special praetor Parthicarius (Wilm. 1167) was appointed to superintend the Ludi Parthici of Trajan (Dio Cass.). Lots seem to have been cast as to which praetor should give the games (ib. 59.14). The son of Symmachus was praetor urbanus when he gave his celebrated games (Symm. Epist. 4.69). For the praetorian games of the post-Constantinian period at Constantinople, see Gothofred. Paratitlon to Cod. Theod. 6.4, init. (d) Quaestors. Gladiatorial exhibitions during the Republic were confined to the private funeral games. In imperial times they were given as public games, and are strictly called munera, not ludi. In 47 A.D. we find the duty of giving these munera imposed on the quaestors in lieu of paving the streets (Suet. Cl. 24; Tac. Ann. 11.22, 13.5-Z2). This was discontinued in 54 A.D., from which time till the age of Domitian (Suet. Dom. 4) it was only occasionally and voluntarily that the quaestors gave such shows. From the time of Domitian the munera, though fewer than the ludi, became, however, regular entertainments (Hirschfeld, Verwaltungsgeschichte, p. 177). In the time of Alexander Severus it was only the quaestores candidati principis who had to give the games at their own expense, and as a reward they were advanced at once to the praetorship (Lampr. Alex. Sev. 43). The rest got a subsidy from the treasury and were called quaestores arcarii (Lampr. l. c.; Mommsen, Staatsr. ii.2 518, 522). (e) Curatores. The emperor in virtue of his consular power (Dio Cass.)--for it was the consuls who gave extraordinary games (cf. Hirschfeld, l. c.)--often gave very brilliant games, which were administered by curatores ludorum or curatores munerum. The procuratores munerum (Wilm. 1285, cf. 1243), according to Mommsen (op. cit. ii.2 911, notes 1, 2), were permanent officials, the curatores those appointed for a special occasion (Suet. Cal. 27; Tac. Ann. 13.31; Plin. Nat.37.45). For further, see Hirschfeld, op. cit. pp. 175-8.

5. The Cost of the Games(see especially Marquardt, Staatsv. ii.2 85-87).--The cost of the games was defrayed partly by the state and partly by the giver of the games. The state part was called lucar [LUCAR], because it was originally the revenue from the produce of the sacred groves (luci), which was devoted to the games (Festus, s. v.; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 88, p. 285). For the ludi votivi a definite sum (pecunia certa) was voted (in Liv. 31.9, 7, the sum is indefinite, and that is mentioned as an exceptional circumstance), usually 200,000 asses (cf. Mommsen in Rhein. Mus. 14. p. 87), as it was also for the Ludi Romani till the Punic Wars (Dionys. 7.71; Ascon. p. 142, Or.). In 217 B.C. the sum voted was 333,333 1/3 asses (Liv. 22.10, 7). For the Ludi Apollinares in 212 B.C. the state gave 12,000 asses (Liv. 25.12, 12); in 51 B.C., for the Ludi Romani, 760,000 sesterces, for the Ludi Plebeii 600,000, and for the Apollinares 380,000 (see the Fasti Antiates in C. I. L. 1.328, 329),--sums which fell so far short of the actual amount expended that the magistrates who gave the games had to resort to the help of their friends and to extortions from the provincials to supply what was considered necessary (Liv. 40.44, 11; Cic. Q. Fr. 1.9, 26). The people sometimes made subscriptions among themselves towards the expenses of the games: e. g. in 186 B.C. for the games of Scipio Asiaticus (Plin. Nat.33.138), in 37 and in 27 B.C. (Dio Cass., 53.24); but such were unusual and did not go far. We know that Scaurus expended vast sums on the games he gave in 58 B.C. (Plin. Nat.36.113), and that Milo expended three patrimonies (Cic. Mil. 35, 95) in giving his extra-splendid games (ad Q. Fr. 3.8, 6). The expense in fact was so enormous that in 28 B.C. no senator could take the aedileship (Dio Cass.). Augustus did not allow one praetor to give more than another to the games (ib.); in 17 B.C. we find him allowing them to give three times the grant of the state (ib. 54.17); in 7 A.D. the money paid to them for gladiatorial shows was withheld by the state (ib. 55.31); but in the Ludi Augustales the tribunes were not allowed to defray the whole expense themselves (Dio Cass.; Tac. Ann. 1.15). The state always continued to make grants (cf. Spart. Hadr. 3), and sometimes advances to be repaid (Fronto, Ep. ad Verum, 6, 9); while in a somewhat opposite direction it tried to limit the expenses of the games (Suet. Tib. 34; Dio Cass.; Capitol. Ant. Pius, 12). But the enormous sums expended on the games may be seen from what has been said about the games of Scaurus and Milo, from what Martial (Mart. 5.25, 10) tells us that the chariot-races sometimes cost 400,000 sesterces (4,000l. nearly), from the case of Symmachus, who though not one of the richest senators expended 2,000 pounds of gold (= 80,000l. about), and Justinian's games, which cost 288,000 solidi (=220,000l. about). For further details, see Friedländer, Sittengesch. ii.3 276-278.

The games accordingly were splendid. As a sample, take those which are elaborately described by Calpurnius, Ecl. vii., and commented on by Gibbon, 2.58-60, ed. Smith; those given by Trajan, and described in Dio Cass.; and the games of Symmachus, by Friedländer, op. cit. ii.2 319 ff. For enactments on the games in the post-Constantinian period, see Cod. Theod. xv. titles 5, 6, 7, 9, especially the latter on the expenses of the games.

6. The Audience.--In early times slaves were not allowed to attend the games (Cic. Har. Resp. 12, 26); nor were any strangers present except state-guests. But in later times slaves certainly as a matter of fact used to frequent the games (Columella, R. R. 1.8, 2; Dig. 21, 1; 65, pr.; 10, 3, 1-5; Juven. 6.353), and also strangers (Ov. A. A. 1.173; Mart. Spect. 3). Apparently by law reserved seats were retained for the magistrates, e. g. consuls (Cic. Att. 2.1, 4), praetors (Suet. Nero 12), tribunes (Dio Cass.), priests and vestals (Arnob. adv. Gentes, 4.35, an important passage), some of the public apparitors (Tac. Ann. 16.12), and many of the officially recognised collegia (Hübner, ap. Marquardt, 3.471, note 7). The emperor had a regular closed--in box (cubiculum), which Trajan opened, so that he could be seen like any other spectator (Plin. Panegyr. 51; Suet. Nero 12). The actual seats were doubtless corresponding to the rank of each individual; e. g. the curule magistrates had a sella curulis, the tribunes a subsellium, &c. It was a custom frequently practised to give a free seat in perpetuity to a distinguished man and to his descendants (Val. Max., 8; Cic. Phil. 9.7, 16); this we find as early as 494 B.C. in the> case of M. Valerius Maximus (C. I. L. 1. p. 284; cp. Liv. 2.31); and occasionally a curule seat was dedicated in memory of a great man after his death (Dio Cass., 53.30; Tac. Ann. 2.83; C. I. L. 6.912). Those who had reserved seats could transfer them to another for the performance (Cic. Mur. 35, 73), and in the time of C. Gracchus, on the occasion of a show of gladiators, we read that several of the magistrates erected seats which they tried to sell, encroaching on the space which the people ought to have enjoyed (Plut. C. Gracch. 12). If we may judge from the initials of names on the seats in the amphitheatre at Syracuse, it appears that seats could be sold for lengthened periods (Friedl. ap. Marq. 3.473, note 1). Of course occasionally games were given by speculators to make money out of them, though such a course was looked on as sordid (Tac. Ann. 4.62): in that case, nearly, if not all, the places were sold. But at the ordinary games there appears to have been three kinds of seats (Mommsen, ap. Friedl. op. cit. 472): (1) those reserved by the exhibitor to give to his friends or to those who had legal right to reserved seats; (2) the seats which he reserved to sell to such as wished to avoid the long waiting and severe crush (cf. Suet. Cal. 26) attendant upon trying to secure them; (3) the seats or rather places (for the mass of the spectators stood) which were open gratis to the public. The traffic in the second kind of seats was pretty considerable, and box-officers (locarii, Mart. 5.24, 9) doubtless derived a large income from buying up the reserved seats and selling them at a raised price. A noticeable feature about the audience at the games was the way the exhibitor thought it advisable often to give them presents. This he did by throwing them among the spectators to be scrambled for, such being called missilia: see Stat. Silv. 1.6, 10 ff. Fruits (Mart. 11.31, 10), vegetables (Pers. 5.180; Hor. Sat. 2.3, 182), and other eatables (J. AJ, 3) were often thrown, but generally tesserae, which admitted to the most various kinds of pleasures (see Friedländer on Martial (Mart. 8.78, 9). One of these tesserae which we have is marked prandium (Friedl. ap. Marquardt, 3. p. 476, note 3). Occasionally the presents were fastened to a string (linea dives), which was jerked up and down (Mart. 8.78, 7). For the variety of articles scrambled for, see Suet. Nero 11. We may well believe that the crush and violence were very great (Herodian, 5.6), and wise people left before the scrambling began (Suet. Epist. 74, 7; cf. Friedländer, op. cit. ii.3 286-7).

Another point to be noticed was the opportunity the people took of giving free expression to their opinions in the theatre ( et, ubi plurima vulgi licentia, in circum ac theatra effusi seditiosis vocibus strepere, as Tacitus says, Hist. 1.72). In republican times much importance was attached to the manner in which public men were greeted in the theatre by the people (Cic. Att. 2.1. 9, 3; Sest. 54, 115). In imperial times we hear of the audience rising up when the emperor or a distinguished man entered, clapping (Suet. Aug. 56) or waving handkerchiefs (oraria, Vopisc. Aurel. 48) and vociferously addressing complimentary titles or good wishes (Suet. Dom. 13), often in a kind of song (Tac. Ann. 16.4; Dio Cass.). Of course there was the most clamorous outcry for the liberation of slaves or criminals who had made a good exhibition in the contests (Dig. 40, 9, 17, pr.), for the discharge of distinguished gladiators (Mart. Spect. 29, 3); and many a gibe was directed at unpopular people (Juven. 5.3, and Mayor's note; Tac. Ann. 11.13), and even the emperor himself (Capitol. Macrin. 12; Tertull. Spect. 16). The people also made use of these occasions (as it was very difficult to refuse requests made in this way, J. AJ, 4) to declare against laws (Dio Cass.; Joseph. l. c.), against detested ministers, e. g. Tigellinus (Plut. Galb. 17), Cleander (Herodian, 1.12, 5), Plautianus (Dio Cass.), and make many other appeals (cf. Tac. Ann. 6.13; Plin. Nat.34.62; Suet. Dom. 13) and demonstrations (Cic. Att. 13.4. 4, 1; Dio Cass.). Indeed, these were pretty much the only occasions on which the feelings of the people could be expressed or gauged under the Empire; and the importance which was attached to this expression of the popular will may be seen from the fact that Titus, in order to carry out certain executions which he considered advisable, put people throughout the theatre to demand them (Suet. Tit. 6). See further in Friedl. Sittengesch. ii.3 266-274. For the frantic excitement of the audience during the actual games, especially the chariot-races, see the passages quoted by Mayor on Juven. 11.197, and Tert. Spect. 16; and for the tumults occasioned by the partisans of rival performers, see Friedländer, S. G. ii.3 457 ff.

The spectators who were Roman citizens had to wear their toga at the games, and the higher ranks and magistrates appeared in official dress (Suet. Aug. 40). Augustus allowed the spectators to come in slippers, without boots, in summer, a permission revoked by Tiberius, but granted again by Caligula (Dio Cass.). Cloaks (lacernae), which had by order of Domitian to be white (Mart. 14.137), could be worn over the toga in bad weather, but they were (at least in the reign of Claudius) laid aside on the entry of the emperor (Suet. Cl. 6). We are told that Caligula also allowed, besides cushions for the senators, the broad-brimmed Thessalian or Macedonian causia [CAUSIA] as a protection against the sun (Dio Cass. l. c.; Mart. 14.39), so that it seems the audience before 37 A.D. used not to wear anything on their heads. Domitian revived the old customs of theatrical etiquette, and compelled the audience to appear in white, forbidding coloured costumes (Mart. 5.8; 23, 1), though we still hear that the favourers of the different factions wore their colours (cf. Mart. 14.131). When owing to wind the awning (velarium) could not be used, the spectators were allowed to hold up umbrellas (Mart. 14.28). The dissignator (Plaut. Poen. prol. 18) was the official who directly saw that these regulations were observed, and he was responsible to the aediles (cf. Suet. Aug. 40).

7. The Performers and the Performances.--See the special articles referred to above, p. 85. b.

For the political and social aspects of the games, how in regard to them idleness took the place of strenuousness till the people were content to give up their rights and assemblies in return for panem et circenses; and the demoralisation spread among the community in various ways by the passion for these shows, as such subjects lie outside the sphere of Antiquities, we must be content to refer to Friedländer, Sittengesch. i.4 468 ff., ii.3 263 ff., 288, 391 ff.; and H. Schiller, Geschichte der Röm. Kaiserzeit, 244, 433 ff.

(Further, on the games generally, see Friedländer in Marquardt, Röm. Staatsverwaltung, 3.462-475; also in his Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms, ii.3 263-289 (abbreviated S. G.); Mommsen in Corpus Inscript. Lat. i. pp. 293-412, esp. 375-381.)

A term applied to the various contests and spectacles held in the Roman Circus and amphitheatre (ludi circenses) and those of the theatre (ludi scaenici) and stadium.

Games were either public (publici) or private (privati). Public games were originally ceremonials connected with religion, the oldest being the Equirria, in honour of Mars, and the Consualia, in honour of Consus. (See Equirria; Consualia.) Games were frequently exhibited in fulfilment of a vow (ludi votivi). Such were the seven great celebrations of the republican period—the Ludi Magni (or Maximi), the Ludi Plebeii, the Ludi Cereales, the Ludi Apollinares, the Ludi Megalenses, the Ludi Florales, and the Ludi Victoriae Sullanae. (See below.) Under the Empire many new games were introduced—in honour of the emperor's birthday (ludi natalicii) and games instituted at the conclusion of a great war (e. g. ludi Parthici, ludi Alemannici, ludi Sarmatici, etc.).

Private games were those given by private individuals, and not by the emperor or by the State. The most usual private games were the ludi funebres, celebrated on the ninth day after death, and hence called ludi novendiales. Private games were also given by persons of high rank on any occasion of public thanksgiving (ludi honorarii.) Games given by the emperor for the benefit of invited guests alone were also classed as ludi privati.

Games were given in the Circus and amphitheatre, or in the theatre. Those in the Circus were races (see circus); those in the amphitheatre were gladiatorial contests (see gladiatores), or beast-baiting (see venationes). (For the theatrical games and contests, see comoedia; histrio; mimus; pantomimus; theatrum; tragoedia.) There were also contests imported from Greece and called agones, either musical or athletic in their nature, for which, see athletae; cursus; hippodromus; palaestra; pugil; stadium.

The games originally lasted for one day only; but in the later days of the Republic the duration of them was greatly extended—e. g. the Ludi Magni, or Romani, to sixteen days, the Ludi Plebeii to fourteen, the Ludi Cereales to eight, etc. Under the Empire the games were often continued through the night—a custom which probably began with the Floralia (Ovid, Fasti, v. 361 foll.).

The observance opened with a regular ritual, which was carefully carried out; and if it appeared that the instauratio had been in any way defective in form, the games were repeated (see Weissenborn on Livy, xxiii. 30, 16). The great games were administered by the consuls until B.C. 366, the date of the first creation of curule aediles. Down to the Empire, the praetors had charge of the Ludi Apollinares. The gladiatorial contests were frequently given under the direction of the quaestors.

The cost of the games was partly defrayed by the State from a special fund (lucar) originally formed from the income received from the sacred groves. The rest of the expense was borne by the giver of the games—i. e. the officials whose duty it was to administer them. The outlay was often so great as to deter many persons from aspiring to the curule offices (Dio Cass. liii. 2). Martial tells us that the chariot-races sometimes cost 400,000 sesterces ($16,000). Symmachus spent nearly $400,000 in this way; and Justinian's games cost $1,000,000. For an account of the magnificence of these exhibitions, see Calpurnius, Ecl. vii.; Dio Cass. lxviii. 15; Gibbon, ii. 58-60; and Friedländer, Sittengeschichte, ii. 319 foll. (2d ed.).

At the games, the emperor occupied a private box (cubiculum), and it is probable that seats were reserved by law for magistrates (consuls, praetors, tribunes, etc.) and priests and Vestals. Free seats were sometimes given in perpetuity to a distinguished man and his descendants ( Philipp. ix. 7, 16). At ordinary games seats were (1) sold by the exhibitor to those who wished to avoid the crush;

(2) given by him to his friends and to those who had by law a right to reserved places; or

(3) opened free to the general public. Tickets for the first class of seats were often secured by speculators (locarii) and sold at a considerable advance. In early times, slaves were not allowed to attend the games; but this prohibition was afterwards either withdrawn or ignored. Roman citizens were obliged to wear the toga at the games; magistrates appeared in official costume. The exhibitor often gave presents to the spectators in the shape of things to be scrambled for (missilia). Cloaks could be worn over the toga in bad weather, and hats (causiae) as a protection from the sun. When the weather was bad and the wind so high that the awning (velarium) could not be used, the spectators were allowed to hold up their umbrellas (umbracula).

The following are the principal games mentioned by the ancient writers:

(1) Ludi Actiăci (Ἄκτια). Games in honour of the Actian Apollo, decreed by Augustus in B.C. 31 after his victory over Antony at Actium. They consisted at Rome of horse-races, gymnastic contests, and occasionally of gladiatorial contests. They were held every fourth year (Dio Cass. li. 19). See Actia.

(2) Ludi Apollināres. Games established in B.C. 212, in accordance with a prophecy of the seer Marcius , in honour of Apollo, the averter of evil. They were originally ludi votivi, and were given by the praetor urbanus (Livy, xxv. 12, 2). They were, to a large degree, a Greek festival. The decemviri sacris faciundis sacrificed with victims after the Greek fashion; the State supplied the victims, and also gave 12,000 asses to defray the expenses of the games, and the people aided with a small subscription (Livy, xxv. 12, 12-14). The next year the praetor L. Calpurnius Piso proposed that the games should be vowed each year, and hence the Calpurnii have the head of Apollo on their denarii (Mommsen, Röm. Münzwesen, pp. 580, 626). After this they were celebrated every year, but till B.C. 208 on no definite day. In consequence of a pestilence in that year, the praetor P. Licinius Varus voted that they should be held every year on a fixed day. That day was July 13, which always continued to be the last day on which these games were held. The number of days gradually increased from one till it finally reached eight, or perhaps nine. They were, for the most part, theatrical exhibitions from the very beginning (see the interesting story in Festus, s. v. Thymelici, p. 326 Müller); but sometimes there was a venatio, and Dio Cassius (xlviii. 33) speaks of a horse-race. In the Apollinarian games, held by Agrippa in B.C. 40, two days were given to the games of the Circus, during one of which the ludus Troiae was exhibited (Dio Cass. xlviii. 20).

(3) Ludi Augustāles. See Augustales.

(4) Ludi Capitolīni. Livy states (v. 50Livy, 4) that in the year B.C. 390 (better 388), after the defeat of the Gauls, on the motion of Camillus, a decree of the Senate was passed that Ludi Capitolini should be instituted, inasmuch as Iupiter, the best and greatest, had preserved his settlement and citadel in a serious crisis, and that the dictator M. Furius should appoint for that purpose a collegium, consisting of those who dwelt in the Capitol and citadel (cf. Livy, v. 52, 11). As being administered by a collegium, the Capitoline games were like the Circensian games of the Fratres Arvales. After B.C. 384, when Marius Capitolinus was condemned, a motion was brought before the people that no patrician should dwell in the citadel or the Capitol (Livy, vi. 20, 3), so that from this time only plebeians could be members of this collegium.

For the guild of the Capitolini, see Q. Fr. ii. 5, 2.They had magistri of their own. Preller (Röm. Myth. 202) thinks this is a very old festival in honour of Iupiter Capitolinus, so old that it was attributed to Romulus (cf. Tert. Spect. 5). A curious ceremony was performed at these Capitoline games, from their supposed connection with a triumph of Romulus over Veii; or, as Mommsen holds, with the capture of Veii by Camillus in B.C. 396. An old man, who was considered to represent the king of Veii, was led through the Forum to the Capitol, dressed in regal attire and wearing a bulla suspended from his neck; and a herald accompanying him proclaimed the “sale of the Sardians,” because the Veientines, being Etruscans, were supposed to have come from Sardis, in Lydia (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 53, p. 227).

(5) Ludi Cereāles or Ceriāles. See Ceres.

(6) Ludi Compitalicii. See Compitalia.

(7) Ludi Florāles. See Floralia.

(8) Ludi Funēbres. See above, p. 972.

(9) Ludi Honorarii. See above, p. 972.

(10) See Iuvenalia.

(11) Ludi Liberāles. See Dionysia, p. 521.

(12) Ludi Magni. See above, p. 972.

(13) Ludi Martiāles or Martis Ultōris. Games celebrated annually by the consuls (Dio Cass. lx. 5; lvi. 46), in honour of Mons Ultor. They included sometimes a mock sea-fight, venationes, etc.

(14) Ludi Megalenses. See Megalesia.

(15) Ludi Natalicii. See above, p. 972.

(16) Ludi Novendiāles. See above, p. 972.

(17) Ludi Palatīni. Theatrical exhibitions held on the 21st, 22d, and 23d of each January in a private theatre and before a specially invited audience, in honour of the divinity of Augustus (Dio Cass. lvi. 46; lix. 16; Tac. Ann. i. 73).

(18) Ludi Plebeii. Games held in the Circus Flaminius, and mentioned as early as B.C. 216 (Livy, xxiii. 30, 17). Now, as the Circus Flaminius was built in B.C. 220 (Livy, Epit. xx), we may assign the establishment of the Ludi Plebeii to the same date, and also the Iovis epulum on the Ides (for all Ides were sacred to Iupiter) which is connected with these games (Livy, xxv. 2, 10; xxvii. 3, 9). We find from the Calendar of Philocalus (A.D. 354) that the Ludi Plebeii lasted till the fourth century. The date of them was originally Nov. 15, just as that of the Ludi Romani was Sept. 15 (C. I. L. i. 401). They were celebrated by the plebeian aediles; and already in B.C. 207 they lasted for more than one day (Livy, xxviii. 10, 7). In some early calendars—e. g. the Fasti Maffeiani—they are put down as lasting from Nov. 4 to Nov. 17. Dramatic performances formed a part of these games, as is seen from the didascalia to the Stichus of Plautus.

(19) Ludi Pontificāles. The same as the Ludi Actiaci. See above, p. 973.

(20) Ludi Romāni. Games held in honour of Iupiter, and said to have been established by Tarquinius Priscus on the occasion of his conquest of the Latin Apiolae (Livy, i. 35, 9); though Dionysius and Cicero refer their establishment to the victory over the Latins at Lake Regillus. At first they lasted for one day only; a second day was added on the expulsion of the kings in B.C. 509; a third after the first secession, B.C. 494. From the year 191 to 171 they lasted ten days (Livy, xxxvi. 2; xxxix. 22Livy, 1), and shortly before Caesar's death they appear to have been a fifteenday festival—from Sept.5 to 19. After Caesar's death a day was added: this day must have been Sept.4; and so it appears in the calendars of the Augustan period, the days of the games being Sept.4 to 19. There was the epulum Iovis on the 13th, and the equorum probatio on the 14th. The games in the Circus lasted from the 15th to the 19th. In the Calendar of Philocalus (A.D. 354) they run from Sept.12 to 15. The celebration was in the hands, at first, of the consuls; afterwards of the curule aediles.

We must not suppose that these games were regularly established as annual from the beginning. Games, as already stated, in many cases began from a vow made by the commander, and were celebrated as a special festival after his triumphal procession. As the army, however, used to go forth, as a general rule, each summer, it became customary, when it returned in autumn, to celebrate such games, though connected with no triumph, and though no signal victory had been gained. But still, in all cases, they were celebrated as extraordinary games, and not as games regularly established by law. They were sollemnes, “customary,” but had not yet become annui. Ludi magni is the term applied to extraordinary games originating in a vow (ludi votivi), while ludi Romani is that applied to the games when they were regularly established as annual (ludi stati). The latter term—i. e. ludi Romani—is first used by Livy in viii. 40Livy, 2(see Weissenborn ad loc.); and after that the terms varied according as the games are stati (e. g. x. 47, 7; xxv. 2, 8) or votivi (xxii. 9, 10; 10, 7; xxvii. 33, 8; xxxvi. 2, 2; xxxix. 22, 2, etc.; Suet. Aug. 23). The final establishment of these games must lie between B.C. 367 and B.C. 322; and the year B.C. 367, when so many changes were effected, and when we are told a day was added to these games and curule aediles appointed to superintend them, seems most reasonable to assume.

The actual Ludi Romani consisted of, first a solemn procession (pompa); then a chariot-race, in which each chariot, in Homeric fashion, carried a driver and a warrior, the latter, at the end of the race, leaping out and running on foot (Dionys.vii. 72). This was a practice confined to the Ludi Romani. In the exhibitions of riding, each rider had a second horse led by the hand, as it appears the Roman horsemen, in early times, were in the habit of using two horses in battle (cf. Gran. Licinian. bk. xxvi.), like the Tarentini in Greek warfare (Livy, xxxv. 28, 8). Such riders were called desultores (Livy, xxiii. 29, 5). Originally, in all probability, there was only one contest of each kind, and only two competitors in each contest, as “may be inferred from the circumstance that, at all periods in the Roman chariot-race, only as many chariots competed as there were so-called factions; and of these there were originally only two—the white and the red” (Mommsen, R. H. i. 301, note). These few events allowed further minor exhibitions, such as boxers, dancers, competition in youthful horsemanship (ludus Troiae), etc. It was allowed that the wreath the victor won should be put on his bier when dead (Twelve Tables, 10, 7). During the festival, too, the successful warrior in real warfare wore the spoils he had won from the enemy, and was crowned with a chaplet. After the introduction of the drama in B.C. 364, plays were acted at the Ludi Romani. In B.C. 161 the Phormio of Terence was given at these games. See Mommsen, Römische Forschungen, ii. 42-57.

(21) Ludi Saeculāres. Games originally known as Ludi Terentīni. Terentum (from terere) was a volcanic cleft in the Campus Martius, at which even under the monarchy the Valerian gens sacrificed dark victims to Dis and Proserpina. Valerius Maximus (ii. 5, 2) tells a story of a certain Valesius who got his sons cured of a serious illness by giving them water from the Tiber boiled over this cleft; and these sons saw in the sleep that restored them to health a vision which ordered the sacrifice of dark-coloured victims to Dis and Proserpina on an altar to be found in the Terentum, and the celebration of lectisternia and nocturnal games for three nights in their honour. The altar was found deep buried, the sacrifice was offered, and from this sacrifice date the Ludi Terentini. We are told that P. Valerius Poplicola, first consul, in a case of pestilence offered the same sacrifice and held the same games, and thereby saved the State (Val. Max. l. c.). But this latter is a very old mistake, due to the confusion of the first consul with the L. Valerius Poplicola, consul in B.C. 449; for though we cannot be certain of any celebration of these games in B.C. 349, we have the most distinct evidence for their being held in B.C. 249 (cf. Varro ap. Censor. De Die Natali, 17, 18). The next celebration was not in B.C. 149, but in 146 (Censor. op. cit. 17, 11, who quotes contemporary authorities, Piso, Gellius, and Hemina). In the year B.C. 49 religion was silent amid the turmoil of the Civil War, and the games were not solemnized till the well-known celebration of Augustus in B.C. 17. But why in that year?

There were many Greek myths (Lobeck, Aglaoph. 791 foll.) of certain ages of the world—the Golden Age, the Silver Age, etc.—mixed up with astronomical theories of the whole order of the universe beginning anew when the planets returned to their original positions after what was called the magnus annus. The same series of people would reappear on earth and repeat again the various exploits of their lives (cf. Verg. Ecl. iv. 34 foll.). Among these myths was one that the cycle began anew after four periods of 110 years each (cf. Probus ad Verg. l. c.; and Varro ap. St. August., De Civ. Dei, xxii. 28). Again, there was an influence from Etruria. Just as at Rome at the end of every five years there was a propitiatory offering made to the gods for the people, so in Etruria a similar sacrifice was made at the beginning of what they considered a saeculum—i. e. that space of time which embraced even the longest life. The propitiatory offering was made for all alive at the time: when that whole race had passed away, the gods signified that the cycle was over by sending prodigies, and a new sacrifice had to be offered (Censor. op. cit. 17, 5). The first four saecula of the Etruscans lasted 100 years each, the fifth 123, the sixth and seventh 119 (Varro ap. Censor. l. c.): so that something over 100 years was the average saeculum. The definite Greek theory that the saeculum lasted 110 years was taken up by the Quindecimviri ( Carm. Saec. 21), and in the interest of Augustus they proceeded to invent celebrations for B.C. 456, 346, 236, 126, Augustus's games being celebrated in the last year of the saeculum, B.C. 17.

The successors of Augustus celebrated the secular games according to different kinds of computation. Claudius, says Gibbon, did not treat the oracle with implicit respect. He celebrated the games, “which none had ever seen before,” in the eight hundredth year of the city (A.D. 47), with an actor who had taken part in the secular games of Augustus (Pliny , Pliny H. N. vii. 159). Domitian celebrated them in A.D. 87, six years too early if they were to be 110 years after those of Augustus. (See Suet. Domit. 4; Tac. Ann. xi. 11.) Antoninus Pius in the year 900 of the city (A.D. 147) celebrated them (Aurel. Vict. Caes. 15, 4), while Severus held them 220 years after Augustus, in A.D. 204. The last celebration was in the thousandth year of the city (A.D. 247) by the emperor Philip (Eutrop. 9, 3; Eckhel, vii. 323, 324). It may be that Gallienus in A.D. 257 (Eckhel, vii. 409; viii. 22) held them as an extraordinary solemnity in a period of great trouble (Trebell. Pollio, Gall. 5), and Maximian, in A.D. 304, certainly intended to hold them, but does not appear to have carried out his intention: so from Philip's time we may say that the secular games disappear till they were revived in the Middle Ages as the Papal Jubilees instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. in the year 1300 (Gibbon, i. 327, 328; viii. 217, ed. Smith).

The Ludi Terentini, then, and their continuation, the Ludi Saeculares, are not a really genuine Roman ceremony. They rest on reference to the Sibylline Books ( Carm. Saec. 5), are celebrated by the Quindecimviri outside the Pomoerium (that the gods of the lower world might not be brought inside the city), the gods honoured are not Roman, and the Roman antiquarians considered the solemnities to be derived from Etruria (Censor. l. c.).

The rites of the celebration are given by Zosimus (ii. 5), who also quotes verbatim the Sibylline oracle ordering the celebration. His account is as follows: Heralds summoned the people to the spectacle they had never seen before and never would see again. Then in the Capitoline temple of Iupiter and the Palatine temple of Apollo, the Quindecimviri gave to all present (slaves excluded) purificatories (καθάρσια, suffimenta), consisting of torches, sulphur, and bitumen; and in the same temples, and that of Diana on the Aventine, wheat, barley, and beans were given to the people to make an offering with, though Zosimus says these were to be given to the actors in the games. Then began the feast, which lasted three nights and three days. Offerings were made to Iupiter, Iuno Lucina, Apollo, Latona and Diana, the Fates, Demeter (Tellus, Carm. Saec. 29), Pluto, and Proserpina. On the first night, at the second hour, the emperor, with the assistance of the Quindecimviri, sacrificed to the Fates, at the Terentum, on the border of the Tiber, three rams on three altars, letting the blood flow all over the altars, and then thoroughly burned the victims. A stage was then erected, the people lighted torches, a newly-composed hymn was sung, and splendid shows exhibited: for the oracle had said that the grave was to be mingled with the gay. On the next day a sacrifice was made on the Capitol of white bulls to Iupiter and a white cow to Iuno, in accordance with the oracle, and then in the theatre there were dramatic representations in honour of Apollo. On the second night a white pig and a white sow were sacrificed to Tellus, in accordance with the oracle, and dark victims offered to Dis and Proserpina, at an altar of which some remains were discovered in the winter of 1886-87. On the second day the matrons offered supplications and sang hymns to Iuno on the Capitol; and on the third day in the Palatine temple of Apollo there was a sacrifice of white oxen, and thrice nine noble boys and maidens whose parents were still alive (ἀμφιθαλεῖς, patrimi ac matrimi) sang hymns in Greek and Latin for the preservation and prosperity of the Roman Empire. Such a hymn was called Carmen Saeculare, and we still possess the one which Horace wrote for the celebration of the games by Augustus.

A most interesting inscription containing an official report of the Augustan pageant was discovered September 20, 1890. It was cut upon a block of marble and contained 168 lines of minute writing. The inscription has been edited by Prof. Mommsen (Rome, 1891), and is the subject of an excellent popular article by Prof. Lanciani in the Atlantic Monthly for February, 1892.

(22) Ludi Sevirāles. The same as the Ludi Martiales.

(23) Ludi Taurii. Games in honour of the infernal gods (Fest. p. 350, Müller). They included a chariot-race in the Circus. The name is possibly derived from taura or taurea, a barren cow sacrificed to Proserpina. For an absurd etymology, see Varro, p. 351.

(24) Ludi Terentīni. See Ludi Saeculāres above.

(25) Ludi Victoriae Caesăris or Ludi Venĕris Genetrīcis. Games first celebrated by Iulius Caesar in B.C. 46, on the dedication of the temple of Venus Genetrix, which had been vowed at the battle of Pharsalia. (See Suet. Aug. 10; Dio Cass. xlix. 42.) They were held in July, from the 20th to the 30th. Venus Genetrix was in these identified with Victoria, on which see Gellius, x. 1, 7, and Mommsen in the C. I. L. i. 397.

(26) Ludi Victoriae Sullānae. Games established by Sulla in B.C. 82 (Vell. Paterc. ii. 27).

(27) Ludi Volcanalĭci. Games established probably after the recovery of the standards of Crassus from the Parthians by Augustus. They were celebrated in the temple of Vulcan outside the city, on the 23d of August ( Quaest. Rom. 47; Mommsen, C. I. L. i. 400).

(28) Ludi Votīvi. See above, p. 972.

On the games in general, see Friedländer's Sittengeschichte, ii. 263-289, 3d ed.; id. in Marquardt, Röm. Staatsverwaltung, iii. 462-475; and Mommsen in the C. I. L. i. pp. 293-412.