re allies of Rome, to sit in the orchestra; having found that some
manumitted slaves had been sent under that character. He separated the
soldiery from the rest of the people, and assigned to married plebeians
their particular rows of seats. To the boys he assigned their own
benches, and to their tutors the seats which were nearest it; ordering
that none clothed in black should sit in the centre of the circle [186].
Nor would he allow any women to witness the combats of gladiators, except
from the upper part of the theatre, although they formerly used to take
their places promiscuously with the rest of the spectators. To the
vestal virgins he granted seats in the theatre, reserved for them only,
opposite the praetor's bench. He excluded, however, the whole female sex
from seeing the wrestlers: so that in the games which he exhibited upon
his accession to the office of high-priest, he deferred producing a pair
of combatants which the people called for, until the next morning; and
intimated by proclamation, "his pleasure that no woman should appear in
the theatre before five o'clock."

XLV. He generally viewed the Circensian games himself, from the upper
rooms of the houses of his friends or freedmen; sometimes from the place
appointed for the statues of the gods, and sitting in company with his
wife and children. He (108) occasionally absented himself from the
spectacles for several hours, and sometimes for whole days; but not
without first making an apology, and appointing substitutes to preside in
his stead. When present, he never attended to anything else either to
avoid the reflections which he used to say were commonly made upon his
father, Caesar, for perusing letters and memorials, and making rescripts
during the spectacles; or from the real pleasure he took in attending
those exhibitions; of which he made no secret, he often candidly owning
it. This he manifested frequently by presenting honorary crowns and
handsome rewards to the best performers, in the games exhibited by
others; and he never was present at any performance of the Greeks,
without rewarding the most deserving, according to their merit. He took
particular pleasure in witnessing pugilistic contests, especially those
of the Latins, not only between combatants who had been trained
scientifically, whom he used often to match with the Greek champions; but
even between mobs of the lower classes fighting in streets, and tilting
at random, without