Note 209 — Chapter XIX · THE PUBLIC GAMES: THE THEATER, THE CIRCUS, AND THE AMPHITHEATER

The description of the Roman-style chariot race in Lew Wallace’s famous novel “Ben Hur” is technically as well as rhetorically admirable and accurate. However, no high-rank Roman, such as Messala is represented to have been, would have driven a quadriga in the public circus. The drivers were nearly always low-born men of provincial if not of servile origin.