. . . compared to the hundreds of thousands who watched chariot races in Nero’s day.  The Circus, where the races were held, had room for 300,000, in a city, Rome, with about 2 million people.  “The roar that assails my eardrums,” wrote Juvenal,

Means, I am pretty sure, that the Greens have won — otherwise,

You’d see such gloomy faces, such sheer astonishment

As greeted the Cannae disaster, after our consuls

Had bitten the dust.

The Greens were one of the top two teams, the other was the Blues.  At Cannae, in 216 b.c., Hannibal defeated the Romans.  Two consuls — comparable to the U.S. president, the highest elected officials — died in that battle.  But fans are fans, and you’d think the president had died, to look at them when their team had lost.

The translation and explanation are by Peter Green in his 1974 book, The Six Satires (Penguin).  Get it at ABE Books for a dollar plus $4 shipping.  Very clever and entertaining read, but always with an edge.