﻿106 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



pected chance, escaped from his employer. What that chance was, is perhaps indicated 

 by the preceding expression, "Ergo me non ruina terra potuit haurire T' and by the 

 similar one (c. 9. 8), " Non taces, inquit, gladiator obscoene, qnem de ruina arena 

 dimisit?"'* The gi^ing way of a part, or the whole, of the structure erected for a 

 gladiatorial exhibition, might have afforded an opportunity for escape to the gladiators, 

 whether slaves or " auctorati." That such accidents were not unkno^vn, and sometimes 

 attended with terrible loss of life, is apparent from the case related by Tacitus in Ann. 

 4. 62, which happened in the reign of Tiberius (in 27 A. D., 780 U. C), in an amphi- 

 theatre near Fidense, erected by a freedman, Atilius, for the sake of gain, and by which 

 fifty thousand persons were killed or wounded.-j" 



This view of the condition of Encolpius as a freeman, although a hired gladiator, is 

 confirmed, not only by the circumstance that his companion, Ascyltus, is (in c. 58. 

 3 and 5) spoken of by the angry freedman as a freeman, but also by his own assertion 

 (at the close of the chapter, . § 6) : " Xam aut vir ego liberque non sum, aut noxio san- 

 gume parentabo injuriae meae." Another proof is to be fovmd in c. 107. 3, where 

 Eumolpus, in his endeavor to bring about a reconciliation between Lycas and Encol- 

 pius, uses this language : " Flectite ergo mentes satisfactione lenitas, et patunmi liberos 

 homines ire sine injuria, quo destinant. Sae^i quoqiie implacabilesque domini crudeli- 

 tatem suam impediunt, si quando poenitentia fugitives reduxit ; et dedititiis hostibus 

 parcimus." It ■«ill be observed that Eumolpus not only calls Encolpius and Gito 

 " liberos homines," but uses this argument : If severe masters relent towards their 

 repentant runaway slaves, if victors spare their conquered enemies, how much more 

 is it proper for you to be reconciled to your former friends 1 If there were need of any 



* Anthon reads, " quern de arena ruina dimisit," and Studer approves of the emendation. 



t " Marco Licinio Lucio Calpurnio consulibus ingentium bellorum cladem aequavit malum improvisum ; 

 ejus initlum simul et finis esstitit. Nam coepto apud Fidenam amphitheatro Atilius quidam libertini generis, 

 quo spectaculum gladiatorium celebraret, neque fundamenta per solidum subdidit, neque firmis nexibus 

 ligneam compagem superstruxit, ut qui non abundantia pecuniae nee municipali ambitione, sed in sordida 

 mercede id negotium quaesivisset. Afflusere avidi talium imperitante Tiberio procul volupfatibus habiti, 

 virile ac muliebre secus, omnis aetas, ob propinquitatem loci effusius ; unde gravior pestis fuit, conferta 

 mole, dein convulsa, dum ruit intus aut in exteriora effunditur, immensamque vim mortalium, spcctaculo 

 intentos aut qui circum adstabant, praeceps trahit atque operit ; et illi quidem, quos principium stragis in 

 mortem afflixerat, ut tali sorte, cruciatum effugere ; miserandi magis, quos abrupta parte corporis nondum 

 vita deseruerat ; qui per diem visu, per noctem ululatibus et gemitu conjuges aut liberos noscebant. Jam 

 ceteri fama exciti, hie fratrem propinquum ills, alius parentes lamentari ; etiam quorum diversa de causa 

 amici aut necessarii aberant, pavere tamen ; neque dum comperto, quos ilia vis perculisset, latior ex incerto 

 metus." 



