to be removed, I none the less, but so much the more, conceive it to be my
part, as a man and a citizen, to think and converse, as now, upon the
subject, in the hope that some new light may dawn upon its darkness. What
think you, Fausta? I hope you agree with me--nay, as to that, I think
Gracchus, from his tone, was but half in earnest.'

'It has struck me chiefly,' said Fausta, 'as a foolish custom; not so much
in itself very wrong, as childish. It is to me indeed attended with pain,
but that I suppose is a weakness of my own--it seems not to be so in the
case of others. I have thought it a poor, barren entertainment, fit but
for children, and those grown children whose minds, uninstructed in higher
things, must seek their happiness in some spring of mere sensual joy.
Women frequent the amphitheatre, I am sure, rather to make a show of their
beauty, their dress, and equipage, than for any thing else; and they
would, I believe, easily give in to any change, so it should leave them
an equally fair occasion of display. But so far as attending the
spectacles tends to make better soldiers, and stouter defenders of our
Queen, I confess, Lucius, I look upon them with some favor. But come, our
talk is getting to be a little too grave. Look, Lucius, if this be not a
brave sight? See what a mass of life encompasses the circus! And its vast
walls, from the lowest entrances to its very summit, swarm as it were with
the whole population of Palmyra. It is not so large a building as your
Flavian, but it is not wholly unworthy to be compared with it.'

It is not, indeed,' said I; 'although not so large, its architecture is
equally in accordance with the best principles, both of science and taste,
and the stone is of a purer white, and more finely worked.'

We now descended from our carriage, and made our way through the narrow
passages and up the narrow stairways to the interior of the theatre, which