This announcement of a public entertainment is written on a wall of the court of the baths, to the right hand on entering.
The provincial towns, imitating the example of Rome, and equally fond of all sorts of theatrical and gladiatorial exhibitions, of which we have spoken at length in describing the various theatres of Pompeii, usually solemnized the completion of any edifices or monuments erected for the public service by dedicating them. This ceremony was nothing more than opening or exhibiting the building to the people in a solemn manner, gratifying them at the same time with largesses and various spectacles. When a private man had erected the building, he himself was usually the person who dedicated it. When undertaken by the public order and at the public cost, the citizens deputed some magistrate or rich and popular person to perform the ceremony. In the capital vast sums were expended in this manner; and a man who aspired to become a popular leader could scarcely lay out his money to better interest than in courting favor by the prodigality of his expenses on these or similar occasions. It appears, then, that upon the completion of the baths, the Pompeians committed the dedication to Cnæus Alleius Nigidius Maius, who entertained them with a sumptuous spectacle.
There were combats (_venatio_) between wild beasts, or between beasts and men, a cruel sport, to which the Romans were passionately addicted; athletic games (_athletæ_), sprinkling of perfumes (_sparsiones_), and it was further engaged that an awning should be raised over the amphitheatre. The convenience of such a covering will be evident, no less as a protection against sun than rain under an Italian sky: the merit of the promise, which may seem but a trifle, will be understood by considering the difficulty of stretching a covering over the immense area of an ancient amphitheatre. We may observe, by the way, that representations of hunting and of combats between wild beasts are common subjects of the paintings of Pompeii. A combat between a lion and a horse, and another, between a bear and a bull, have been found depicted in the amphitheatre. The velarium, or awning, is advertised in all the inscriptions yet found which give notice of public games. Athletæ and sparsiones appear in no other. We learn from Seneca that the perfumes were disseminated by being mixed with boiling water, and then placed in the centre of the amphitheatre, so that the scents rose with the steam, and soon became diffused throughout the building.