LION. 341 



It must be acknowledged, however, that, from 

 the general constitution of the Lion, one would 

 not suppose him to be a very long-lived animal. 



Lions have sometimes constituted a part of the 

 established pomp of royalty in the eastern world. 

 The monarch of Persia, as we are informed by 

 Mr. Bell in his travels, had, on days of audience, 

 two large. Lions chained on each side the pas- 

 sages of the hall of state ; being led there, by pro- 

 per officers, in chains of gold. 



The Romans, struck with the magnificent ap- 

 pearance of these animals, imported them in vast 

 numbers from Africa, for their public spectacles. 

 Quintus Scasvola, according to Pliny, was the 

 first in Rome who exhibited a combat of Lions ; 

 but Sylla the dictator, during his pratorship, ex- 

 hibited a hundred Lions; and, after him, Pompey 

 the Great exhibited no less than six hundred in 

 the grand circus, viz. three hundred and fifteen 

 males, and the rest females ; and Caesar the dicta- 

 tor four hundred. Pliny also tells us, that the 

 first person in Rome who caused them to be 

 yoked, so as to draw a carriage, was Mark An- 

 tony, who appeared in the streets of Rome in a 

 chariot drawn by Lions, accompanied by his mis- 

 tress Cytheris, an actress from the theatre. A 

 sight, says Pliny, that surpassed in enormity even 

 all the calamities of the times ! 



" Leonum simul plurium pugnam, Romre prin- 

 ceps dedit Q. Sca3vola P. filius in curuli ,/Edili- 

 tate. Centum autem jubatorum primus omnium 

 L. Sylla, qui postea dictator fuit in Pnetura; 



