﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 105 



to a " lauista," being from this circumstance called " auctorati." Cf. Horat. Sat. 2. 

 7. 58: 



" Quid refert uri, virgis ferroqiic necari 

 Auctoratus eas, an turpi clausus in area " ; 



and two Scholia Acr. : " Haec sunt verba eorum, qui gladiatorcs emunt, conditiones 

 proponentium, quibus se vendant ; cautiones enim hujusmodi facicbant, Uri fammis, 

 virgis secari, ferro necari" ; and, " Qui se vendunt ludo, auctorati vocantur; auctoratio 

 enim dicitur venditio gladiatorum." This same gladiator's oath is alluded to by our 

 own author (c. 1^17. 5): " Itaque, ut duraret inter omnes tutum mendacium, in verba 

 Eumolpi sacramentum juravimus, uri, ^inciri, verberari, ferroque necari, et quidquid 

 aliud Eumolpus jussisset, tamquam legitimi gladiatores, domino corpora animasque 

 religiosissime addicimus." That this " auctoramentum," or wages, was sometimes A"ery 

 considerable in amount, is proved by such a case as that of Tiberius, who, at a gladiato- 

 rial exhibition in honor of his deceased father m the Forum, induced, by a high com- 

 pensation, certain gladiators already discharged to appear once more. Cf Sueton. Tib. 7 : 

 " Munus gladiatorium in memoriam patris et alteram in avi Drusi dedit diversis tem- 

 poribus ac locis, primum in foro, secundum in amphitheatro, rudiariis quoquc quibus- 

 dam revocatis auctoramento centenum millium." That this letting one's self as a gladi- 

 ator, however profitable in some instances, Avas always considered a disreputable 

 condition, is apparent from the above passage in Horat. Sat. 2. 7. 58, and the following 

 of Seneca (Ep. 37): "Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti 

 ^irum bonum. Sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit, si quis tibi dixerit, mollem esse 

 militiam et facilem; nolo te decipi. Eadem honestissimi hujus, et illius turpissimi 

 auctoramenti verba sunt: uri, vinciri, ferroque necari. Ab illis, qui nianus arenae 

 locant, et edunt et bibunt, quae per sanguinem reddant, cavetur, ut ista vel inviti pa- 

 tiantur ; a te, ut volens libensque patiaris." 



A comparison which Cicero uses in his speech Pro Roscio Amerino (c. 6), comparing 

 T. Roscius Capito and T. Eoscius Magnus, the relatives and enemies of his client, the 

 former to an old, experienced, and distinguished gladiator, the latter to a tyro in the 

 same occupation, proves that " auctorati," or hii'ed gladiators, were not the offspring of 

 the imperial times, but reach far back into the republican period : " Nam duo isti sunt 

 T. Roscii — quorum alteri Capitoui cognomen est ; iste, qui adest, Magnus vocatur — 

 homines ejusmodi: alter plurimarum palmarum vetus ac nobilis gladiator habetur; hie 

 autem nuper se ad cum lanistam contidit, qui cum ante banc pugnam tiro esset scientia, 

 facile ipsum magistrum scelere audaciaque superavit." 



Encolpius, then, had been such an " auctoratus," and, taking advantage of an unex- 



