366 On some Quadrupeds supposed to be extinct 



Ptolemy Philadelphus, in a procession at Alexandria, had 

 twenty-four thousand Indian dogs, a camelopard, a white 

 bear, and twenty- four chariots drawn by elephants, twelve by 

 lions, seven by oryxes, eight by ostriches, four by wild asses, 

 and five by buffaloes *, Bajazet, in the fourteenth century, 

 had twelve thousand dog-keepers. The immensity of wild beasts 

 slaughtered by the Persians, Moguls, and Romans, would 

 be incredible, were it not attested by so many different autho- 

 rities ; and with regard to the Romans, no author mentions a 

 less number than five thousand of every description slain at the 

 opening of the Coliseum. These sports having been in vogue 

 all over the Roman empire for so many centuries, the fossil 

 bones which have been found are but few indeed. In Britain 

 there were at least five amphitheatres ; at Sandwich, Dor- 

 chester, Silchester, Caerleon, Yorkf. In France, at Paris, 

 Cahors J, Vienne, Aries, Orange, Autun, Treves, Nismes, 

 Poitou §, and Bordeaux. In Spain, at Seville, Tarragona, 

 Merida, and Saguntum. In Italy a great number. The popu- 

 larity of monarchs and statesmen depended on their power to 

 indulge the people with these cniel sports. Commodus is said 

 to have been one of the most dexterous marksmen : he always 

 had with him Parthians, to teach him archery, and Moors, to 

 perfect him in throwing the dart. He ran with all horned 

 animals, except bulls, and smote them unerringly as he pur- 

 sued. Lions, panthers, and other fierce beasts, he ran aflerin 

 the Peridrome, and darted at them from above with never- 

 failing effect, whether he aimed at the forehead or the heart. 

 With arrows, pointed like a half-moon, he would cut off the 

 heads of the Mauritanian ostriches, while their wings were 



* Montfaucon, vol. iii. p. 179. 



+ Augustan History, " Severus," p. 253. " Wherever Caracalla win- 

 tered, or but intended to winter, they were constrained to erect amphi- 

 theatres and cirques for public games, and those within a while were 

 taken down again." — Hakewill's Apology, p. 443. Caracalla was three 

 years at York ; and Spartian, in his Life of Severus, relates, that among 

 other omens just before that emperor died, (at York,) three figures, 

 of Victory, which stood upon the platform near the throne, were blown 

 down while the games of the circus were celebrating. There was a 

 Roman road from York to Whitby (Dunus Sinus), and Kirkdale is 

 about half way between the port and the capital. 



% Rees's Cyc. " Cahors.". 



§ Marquis Maffei, p. 260. 



