 Martial 's mention of gift @-@ giving is repeated in the account by Dio , who says that Titus would throw wooden balls into the crowd from his seat in the box at the north end of the arena . These balls were inscribed with a description of a gift , either food , clothing , slaves , pack animals , horse , cattle , or gold or silver vessels . Anybody who caught one could hand over the ball to an official who would provide the named gift in return . This was not unusual : Suetonius mentions that Nero did the same , giving 1 @,@ 000 birds daily , as well as food parcels , and vouchers for various extravagant gifts . 
