Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

[62] M. Licinio L. Calpurnio consulibus ingentium bellorum cladem aequavit
malum improvisum: eius initium simul et finis exstitit. nam coepto apud
Fidenam amphitheatro Atilius quidam libertini generis, quo spectaculum
gladiatorum celebraret, neque fundamenta per solidum subdidit neque
firmis nexibus ligneam compagem superstruxit, ut qui non abundantia
pecuniae nec municipali ambitione, sed in sordidam mercedem id negotium
quaesivisset. adfluxere avidi talium, imperitante Tiberio procul voluptatibus
habiti, virile ac muliebre secus, omnis aetas, ob propinquitatem loci effusius;
unde gravior pestis fuit, conferta mole, dein convulsa, dum ruit intus aut
in exteriora effunditur immensamque vim mortalium, spectaculo intentos
aut qui circum adstabant, praeceps trahit atque operit. et illi quidem, quos
principium stragis in mortem adflixerat, ut tali sorte, cruciatum effugere:
miserandi magis quos abrupta parte corporis nondum vita deseruerat;
qui per diem visu, per noctem ululatibus et gemitu coniuges aut liberos
noscebant. iam ceteri fama exciti, hic fratrem, propinquum ille, alius
parentes lamentari. etiam quorum diversa de causa amici aut necessarii
aberant, pavere tamen; nequedum comperto, quos illa vis perculisset, latior
ex incerto metus.
[In the consulate of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualties
of some great wars were equalled by an unexpected disaster. It began and
ended in a moment. A certain Atilius, of the freedman class, who had begun
an amphitheatre at Fidena, in order to give a gladiatorial show, failed both
to lay the foundation in solid ground and to secure the fastenings of the
wooden structure above; the reason being that he had embarked on the
enterprise, not from a superabundance of wealth nor to court the favours of
his townsmen, but with an eye to sordid gain. Greedy for such amusements,
since they had been debarred from their pleasures under the reign of
Tiberius, people poured to the place, men and women, old and young, the
stream swollen because the town lay near. This increased the gravity of the
catastrophe, as the unwieldy fabric was packed when it collapsed, breaking
inward or sagging outward, and precipitating and burying a vast crowd of
human beings, intent on the spectacle or standing around. Those, indeed,
whom the first moment of havoc had dashed to death, escaped torture, so far
as was possible in such a fate: more to be pitied were those whose mutilated
bodies life had not yet abandoned, who by day recognized their wives or
their children by sight, and at night by their shrieks and moans. The news
brought the absent to the scene – one lamenting a brother, one a kinsman,
another his parents. Even those whose friends or relatives had left home for
a different reason still felt the alarm, and, as it was not yet known whom the
catastrophe had destroyed, the uncertainty gave wider range for fear.]
In the wake of the disaster, Tacitus goes on to report, the senate passed
a decree that no one with a fortune of less than 400,000 sesterces should
organize gladiatorial games and that amphitheatres had to be built on
ground of tried solidity.