as the male; and consequently that the distribution would not include the women as well as the men x. In the time of Trajan, too, U. C. 751, there is proof that children were taken into account as well as grown up persons y. The same thing appears of the children of both sexes, in the reign of M. Aurelius, U. C. 9147; as also that the names of the children of freemen were to be registered with the præfecti ærarii Saturni, within a month after their birtha*: most probably in order to ascertain the number of the cornpensioners the better, and what proportion each citizen was entitled to, not only for himself, but also for his family: though as to the keeping a register of the births of Roman citizens, that was not peculiar to such as took place in Rome, but extended also to the provinces. The sum total then of the free population of Rome, of every age and of both sexes, which in the time of Augustus did not exceed 320,000, at the death of Severus, A. D. 211, was about 368,000. Here is an increase of 48,000; which is what we should expect in general, though the amount of the increase, in propor * The biographer of Aurelius says he was the first to make this regulation; but his commentators have shewn that this was not the case; it was only the revival or improvement of an ancient custom. It appears from Apuleius, De Magia Oratio, vol. ii. page 92, that in Africa (at Ea at least) the births of female citizens were wont to be publicly registered, at a time which was forty years before the date of that oration; viz. the proconsulate of Claudius Maximus, sometime in the reign x Cf. Juvenal, i. 120-126: Pliny, Epistolæ, x. 4. 107. gyricus, 25-27, 28. 51. Cf. Spartian, Hadrianus, 7. Cf. Dio y Pliny, Panez Capitolinus, Anto ninus Phil. 7. a Ibid. 9. tion to the length of time between Augustus and Severus, may appear small in particular. I am concerned, however, only with facts, and do not propose to investigate causes at present; some of which might nevertheless be specified, to account for the effect in the given instance; especially the debauchery and immorality of the Roman capital for all this period, and the still prevailing practice of the exposure of new born children; two causes which must strongly have checked the natural tendency of population to increase, even in times otherwise the most favourable to its augmentation; which the times between Augustus and Severus were not. I think the conclusion thus obtained, concerning the numbers of the free population of Rome, in the time of Augustus, or thenceforward, from the rate of the different congiaria, above considered, may be further confirmed, by a comparison of these numbers with the magnitude of the various theatres built at Rome, for their accommodation. Publius Victor in his Descriptio Urbis Romæ, (which was not written, however, before the reign of Constantine,) enumerates a great number of public buildings, as theatres, circuses, amphitheatres, &c.; but I shall confine myself of course to those which are most commonly mentioned in the writers contemporary with the reign of Augustus, or thereabouts. The principal theatres, then, in these times were Pompey's, dedicated U. C. 699 b: Balbus' and Marcellus', both dedicated U. C. 741. These three together served the same purpose for the resort of the people, on holydays, as the three forums, the forum Romanum, the forum Cæsaris, and the forum Augusti, upon other days, for b Dio, xxxix. 38: Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 16. e Dio, liv. 25, 26. the transaction of business d. They were as competent to contain the people, at times of public diversion and amusement, as the fora were, upon occasions of a graver nature. Moreover persons of all ages, and conditions, and of each sex, resorted to them promiscuously therefore they were intended for the accommodation of all, or at least of the greatest part of the inhabitants of Rome. Marcellus' theatre, according to Victor, contained 30,000 sittings: Balbus', 30,095. So likewise, the author of another Descriptio Urbis Romæ, posterior to A. D. 410: Regio ix. Pompey's theatre, according to Pliny, would accommodate 40,000 spectators. Another reading, it is true, has the number 400,000 in this passage; for the proof of the absurdity of which statement, it is enough to refer to the note of the editor, in locum. The theatre of Scaurus, a temporary building, and much larger than Pompey's for the time, yet contained only 80,000 sittings b. The same may be observed of a moveable theatre not long afterwards built by Curioi. The joint amount of these three theatres would be only 100,000 sittings; not so much more than the content of the single theatre of Scaurus. Yet both Lucan, U. C. 705, and Tacitus, U. C. 811, speak of Pompey's theatre alone, as competent to hold the greatest part of the people k. The Circus Maximus, however, was that particular quarter of Rome, to which the people resorted most for the sake of shows and diversions; and where in d Ovid, Tristium iii. xii. 23, 24. Ars Amandi, iii. 393, 394: Seneca, De Ira, ii. ix. 1. De Clementia, vi. 1. e Valerius Maximus, ii. iv. 3: Vitruvius, v. 3: Ovid, Tristium ii. i. 283, 284. Amorum iii. ii. passim. Ars Amandi, i. 97: 135sqq: iii. 633, 634: Calpurnii Ecloga, vi. 23-29, &c. f Descriptio Urbis Romæ, Regio ix. g H. N. xxxvi. 24. §. 7. h Pliny, loc. cit. Cf. Cicero, i Pliny, H. N. xxxvi. 24. §. 8. De Officiis, ii. 16. k Lucan, Pharsalia, fact they spent almost the whole of their time. To Idæum solenne colunt, similisque triumpho Juvenal, xi. 191-195. Now the Circus Maximus, even after its enlargement by Julius Cæsar, in the time of Dionysius of Halicarnassus m is estimated to contain only 150,000 sittings; though Pliny states it in his time, to be capable of holding 260,000". Dio speaks of it as further enlarged by Trajan, and rendered competent to hold the people (nuos) in his time: yet it would seem from Pliny the younger, that he added (about U. C. 851) no more than 5000 sittings P: and long after this, Publius Victor describes it as capable of holding only 385,000 persons; and the author of the other description, before referred to, Regio xi. only 485,000: a statement which is very probably to be corrected by that of Victor. If we take the sum of the content of these several theatres, from the time of Pompey to that of Pliny the elder, it seems that altogether they would not furnish accommodation for more than 360,000 spectators; which we may, therefore, justly presume represents the entire amount of the whole of the free population of Rome at least, of both sexes and of every age; for whose 1 Ovid, Ars Amandi, i. 135, 136; Seneca, De Ira, ii. vii. 4 : Juvenal, viii. 117, 118: x. 79-81: Calpurnius, Ecloga, vii. 23—30: Herodian, ii. 26: Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. 4. p. 534. m Ant. Rom. iii. 68. Cf. i. 3: Cf. Livy, i. 35. " H. N. xxxvi. 24. §. I. o Lib. lxviii. 7. P Panegyricus, 51. Cf. Ibid. 28: Dio, lxviii. 5. Descriptio, &c. Regio xi. Cf. Aurelius Victor, De Con stantino. convenience and amusement in particular all these buildings were primarily intended, and who alone would properly have a right to the use and enjoyment of them. How very exactly this conclusion, so obtained, squares with the numbers already deduced from the consideration of the various congiaria, distributed to the people throughout the same period, I need not observe. Either of them should serve to confirm the other. I have said nothing, as yet, of the numbers of the slave population, nor of those of persons resident at Rome, whether foreigners, or not, who did not possess the rights of citizens, and therefore must be distinguished from the free population. It is a very difficult thing to say what was the proportion which the amount of either of these classes, living at Rome, bore to that of the freemen, at a given time. Neither of them would appear in the results of a proper Roman census; if that comprehended, as I believe it always did, none but the libera capita, and cives Romani, as such. In the account of the census, mentioned by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. ix. 25, after stating what was the number of the male citizens and adults, he tells us that the amount of the women and children, the slaves, and the europo, or foreigners, was three times as many. It is evident, however, that we can build nothing upon the fact of such a proportion in this isolated case, in deducing a general rule, that the same thing would always hold good. Very strong descriptions indeed may be met with in different authors, from the time of Cæsar to that of Antoninus Pius, of the number of strangers or aliens, settled at Rome; as though entire communities or nations existed there, in |