rue and Original_.

OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN CORNER.

ANSWER TO "PICTURE WANTING WORDS" (_p. 128_).

FIRST PRIZE ANSWER.

The picture on page 128 of LITTLE FOLKS represents the ruins of the vast
Flavian Amphitheatre, or, as it is also called, Coliseum. After a period
of civil war and confusion, Vespasian began the Flavian dynasty, and
entered upon his reign by filling up the spaces made by the demolitions
of Nero, and by the fire, with large buildings, the most conspicuous and
massive of them being the Coliseum. It is not known whether this name
was given to it from its tremendous size or from the Colossus of Nero
which stood near.

Vespasian, however, did not complete it, but his son Titus, who
succeeded him, did so. The splendour of the interior, as gathered from
Roman poets, was said to be unequalled. Marble statues filled the
arcades, gilt and brazen network supported on ivory posts and wheels
protected the spectators from the wild beasts, fountains of fragrant
waters were scattered throughout the building, and marble tripods for
burning the incense upon. Speaking of the size of it, it covers five
acres of ground, and is capable of holding a hundred thousand persons.
An idea of the solidity of the building may be taken from the fact that
after two thousand years, during which time it has been used for a
quarry for materials for palaces and churches, nearly three-quarters
still remain. Now that a description of the building has been given, I
will say something about the uses of it.

The Coliseum was first of all built for gladiatorial shows, which were
the favourite amusement of the Romans. All of both sexes, from the
Emperor down to the meanest slave, used to flock to see them. Primitive
Christianity is associated in a great degree with this building; "The
Christians to the Lions" often being the cry throughout the city, and
hundreds of innocent persons were "butchered to make a Roman holiday."
The first Christian Emperor tried to put a stop to this butchery
(statistics say that the combats of this amphitheatre cost from twenty
to thirty thousand lives per month), but the custom was too deeply
rooted to be stopped all at once. In the reign of Honorius, however, it
was altogether abolished. It is very marvellous how this piece of
masonry should have stood through all these years with comparatively so
little decay.

H. D. HOPE.
(Aged 15).
11, _Greenfield Crescent, Edgbaston,
Birmingham._

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