ents, and was carried by four men. Others brought silver bowls, and goblets, and cups, all disposed in such order as to make the best show, and all valuable, as well for their bigness, as the thickness of their engraved work. On the third day, early in the morning, first came the trumpeters, who did not sound as they were wont in a procession, or solemn entry, but such a charge as the Romans use when they encourage their soldiers to fight. Next followed young men, girt about with girdles curiously wrought, who led to the sacrifice one hundred and twenty stalled oxen, with their horns gilded, and their heads adorned with ribands and garlands; and with these were boys that carried platters of silver and gold. After this was brought the gold coin, which was divided into vessels that weighed three talents, like to those that contained the silver; they were in number fourscore wanting three. These were followed by those that brought the consecrated bowl, which Æmilius caused to be made, that weighed ten talents, and was all beset with precious stones. Then were exposed to view the cups of Antigonus and Seleucus, and such as were made after the fashion invented by Thericles, and all the gold plate that was used at Perseus' table. Next to these came Perseus' chariot, in the which his armor was placed, and on that his diadem. And, after a little intermission, the king's children were led captives, and with them a train of nurses, masters, and governors, who all wept, and stretched forth their hands to the spectators, and taught the little infants to beg and entreat their compassion. There were two sons and a daughter, who, by reason of their tender age, were altogether insensible of the greatness of their misery; which insensibility of their condition rendered it much more deplorable; insomuch, that

Perseus himself was scarce regarded as he went along, whilst pity had fixed the eyes of the Romans upon the infants, and many of them could not forbear tears: all beheld the sight with a mixture of sorrow and joy, until the children were past. After his children and their attendants, came Perseus himself, clad all in black and wearing slippers, after the fashion of his country: he looked like one altogether astonished, and deprived of reason, through the greatness of his misfortunes. Next followed a great company of his friends, whose countenances were disfigured with grief, and who testified to all that beheld them, by their tears and their continual looking upon Perseus, that it was his hard fortune they so lamented, and that they were regardless of their own. After these were carried four hundred crowns, all made of gold, and sent from the cities, by their respective ambassadors, to Æmilius, as a reward due to his valor. Then he himself came seated in a chariot magnificently adorned (a man worthy to be beheld, even without these ensigns of power): he was clad in a garment of purple, interwoven with gold, and held out a laurel branch in his right hand. All the army, in like manner, with boughs of laurel in their hands, and divided into bands and companies, followed the chariot and their commander, some singing odes (according to their usual custom) mingled with raillery; others songs of triumphs, and the praises of Æmilius's deeds, who was admired and accounted happy by all men, yet unenvied by everyone that was good."

SEC. 503. Gladiators.-The gladiatorial fight had its origin among the Etruscans; but received most of its development among the Romans, who changed it from a private to a public show; from the accompaniment of a funeral to the main attraction of a state festival; from an

open field, in which relatively few spectators stood, to a permanent amphitheater of brick or stone, in which many thousands occupied comfortable seats; and from several successive duels between untrained slaves, continuing altogether. perhaps an hour, to a multitude of duels or of company fights, between warriors of high skill and reputation, succeeding each other rapidly for six or eight hours and for day after day.

Introduced into Rome in 265 B. C., the sword show proved so congenial to the popular taste that it was rapidly developed until it became one of the most prominent features of life in the city on the Tiber. It was regarded not merely as an amusement, but as a school in which the people should learn skill in the use of arms, familiarity with the sight of blood, the uses of courage and coolness in danger, and contempt for death. Consuls about to take the field against formidable foes considered it desirable to give gladiatorial shows to their raw levies. These, instead of being frightened, were stimulated by the carnage. The statesmen and the multitude, the generals and the common soldiers, agreed that next to participation in a real battle to prepare an army for its work, nothing was better than the sight of extensive sword shows.

These became the favorite pleasures of Rome, and custom required the consuls, the triumphing generals, and the emperors to supply these pleasures. The mob of the capital shouted for "bread and games," as their two chief wants which the government should supply, and in that phrase "games" meant mainly sword fights. The most virtuous emperors, including Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius, gave these shows; Martial and Statius commended them; Cicero, Tacitus, and the younger

Pliny mentioned them without censure; and the only notable protest against them in the pagan literature of Rome is made by Seneca.

Repugnant as such exhibitions would be to modern sentiment, they were irresistibly fascinating to nearly all classes of Romans. Eminent statesmen, famous philosophers, noble matrons, virtuous maidens of patrician families, and even the vestal virgins, considered it proper to attend and to express their pleasure. For two centuries after the recognition of Christianity as the established religion of the empire, the gladiatorial show was maintained, and Christians noted for their devoutness admitted that when they had once seen this bloody show, its attraction for them was strong enough to overcome the influence of all adverse opinions. Bullfights, bear baitings, dog fights, cockfights, and boxing matches flourish in modern European nations, and gratify the same feelings as those which made the success of the slaughter entertainments of ancient Rome.

The gladiators were nearly all slaves or condemned criminals, but some were freemen, and more than one emperor went into the bloody arena. Commodus took part in more than one hundred fights of the amphitheater, presumably under such circumstances that he was in little danger of serious injury. Many of the gladiators were proud of their profession, and happy in its exercise. Like famous Spanish bullfighters, the excitement of the conflict and the applause of the victory more than compensated for all the danger. They wanted. to be matched against the most formidable competitors, and to fight before the largest assemblages and the most powerful officials. "Such was the ferocity engendered by the habitual use of arms, so soothing to the sword

man's vanity the consciousness of skill and valor, so stimulating to his pride the thunders of applause from a hundred thousand admirers, that the practice of mortal combat, however unsophisticated nature may blanch at its horrors, was actually the source perhaps of more pleasure than pain to these Roman prize fighters." The successful gladiator was a popular favorite, and when he retired from the arena with freedom as a reward for his courage and skill, he was treated in private life with distinguished consideration.

In his Tusculan conversations, Cicero says: "What wounds do not the gladiators endure without complaint, though they are only criminals or barbarians! How bravely those who are well trained receive the fatal thrust rather than flee disgracefully! How often do they make it their highest ambition to please their masters and the multitude! When they are exhausted with wounds, we see them sending messengers to their masters for their commands, and expressing their readiness to receive the fatal blow, if so ordered. What merely mediocre gladiator ever groaned? What one turned pale? When did one stand or even sink down like a coward? What one after falling, when ordered to die, shrank from the sword? So much power have practice, reflection, and custom."

Schools were established for the education of gladiators, who, while learning, fought with wooden or dull swords, so that they should receive no serious wounds until they appeared in public exhibition. To the owners of these schools, the givers of the shows went to purchase their leading fighters. A large proportion of the combatants were presumably men of little skill, introduced to become victims of the more dextrous, who