234 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap. XL durable than monuments of brass and marble. But a senator, or even a citizen, conscious of his dignity, would have blushed to expose his person or his horses in the circus of Rome. The games were exhibited at the expense of the republic, the magis- trates, or the emperors : but the reins were abandoned to servile hands ; and, if the profits of a favourite charioteer some- times exceeded those of an advocate, they must be considered as the effects of popular extravagance, and the high wages of a disgraceful profession. The race, in its first institution, was a simple contest of two chariots, whose drivers were distinguished by white and red liveries ; two additional colours, a light green and a cerulean blue, were afterwards introduced ; and, as the races were repeated twenty-five times, one hundred chariots contributed in the same day to the pomp of the circus. The four factions soon acquired a legal establishment, and a mysterious origin ; and their fanciful colours were derived from the various appearances of nature in the four seasons of the year: the red dog-star of summer, the snows of winter, the deep shades of autumn, and the cheerful verdure of the spring. 42 Another interpretation preferred the elements to the seasons, and the struggle of the green and blue was supposed to represent the conflict of the earth and sea. Their respec- tive victories announced either a plentiful harvest or a prosper- ous navigation, and the hostility of the husbandmen and mariners was somewhat less absurd than the blind ardour of the Eoman people, who devoted their lives and fortunes to the colour which they had espoused. Such folly was disdained and indulged by the wisest princes ; but the names of Caligula, Nero, Vitellius, Verus, Commodus, Caracalla, and Elagabalus, At Rome were enrolled in the blue or green factions of the circus ; they frequented their stables, applauded their favourites, chastised their antagonists, and deserved the esteem of the populace by the natural or affected imitation of their manners. The bloody and tumultuous contest continued to disturb the public festivity 42 The four colours, albati, russati,prasini,veneti, represent the four seasons, according to Cassiodorius (Var. iii. 51), who lavishes much wit and eloquence on this theatrical mystery. Of these colours, the three first may be fairly translated white, red, and green. Venetus is explained by caeruleus, a word various and vague : it is properly the sky reflected in the sea ; but custom and convenience may allow blue as an equivalent (Robert. Stephan. sub voce. Spence's Polymetis, p. 228).
