off the water; and as he could not safely rely on the
hydraulic interest of the spectacle for drawing such a concourse to
the spot as he wished to see there, he concluded to add to the
entertainment a show more suited to the taste and habits of the
times. He made arrangements accordingly for having a naval battle
fought upon the lake, for the amusement of the spectators, just
before the opening of the canal, which was to draw off the water.
Thus the battle was to be the closing scene, in which the history
and existence of the lake were to be terminated forever.

[Footnote A: See Map. Frontispiece.]

Ships were accordingly built, and an immense number of men were
designated and set apart for fighting the battle. These men
consisted of convicts and prisoners of war--men whom it was, in
those days, considered perfectly just and right to employ in killing
one another for the amusement of the emperor and his guests. A sort
of bulwark was built all around the shore, and the emperor's guards
were stationed upon it, to prevent the escape of the combatants, and
to turn them back to their duty if any of them should attempt, when
pressed hard in the battle, to escape to the land. The fleet of
galleys was divided into two antagonistic portions, and the men in
each were armed completely, as in a case of actual war. At the
appointed time, hundreds of thousands of people assembled from all
the surrounding country to see the sight. They lined the shores on
every side, and crowned all the neighboring heights. The contest, of
course, might be waged with all the fury and fatal effect of a real
battle without endangering the spectators at all, as there were in
those days no flying bullets, or other swift-winged missiles, like
those which in modern times take so wide a range beyond the limits
of the battle. The deadly effect of all that was done in an ancient
combat was confined of course to those immediately engaged. Then
there was, besides, nothing to intercept the vision. No smoke was
raised to obscure the view, but the atmosphere above and around the
combatants remained as pure and transparent at the end of the combat
as at the beginning.

A real battle was accordingly regarded by the Romans as the most
sublime and imposing of spectacles, and hundreds of thousands of
spectators flocked to witness the one which Claudius arranged for
them on the Fucine lake. He himself presided, dressed in a coat of
mail; and Agrippina sat by his side