This building is tolerably well preserved, and several of the stone seats are still seen rising in terrace form one above the other.

From this place we betook ourselves into the amphitheatre, which is finer by far, and where we find passages leading to the wild beasts' dens, and above them rows of seats for spectators; all is in such good condition that it might, at a trifling expense, be so far repaired as to be made again available for its original purpose.

Now we proceeded to the "Ear of Dionysius," with which I was particularly struck.

It consists of a number of chambers, partly hewn out of the rock by art, partly formed by nature, and all opening into an immensely lofty hall, which becomes narrower and narrower towards the top, until it at length terminates in an aperture so minute as to be invisible from below.

To this aperture Dionysius is said to have applied his ear, in order to overhear what the captives spoke.
(This place is stated to have been used as a prison for slaves and malefactors.) It is usual to fire a pistol here, that the stranger may hear the reverberating echoes.