THE DYING GLADIATOK. 303 



anatomy and of man's nature. He is not resting ; 

 he is not falling ; but in the position of one wounded 

 in the chest, and seeking relief in that anxious 

 and oppressed breathing which attends a mortal 

 wound with loss of blood. He seeks support to 

 his arms, not to rest them or sustain the body, 

 but to fix them, that their action may be trans- 

 ferred to the chest, and thus assist the labouring 

 respiration. The nature of his sufferings leads to 

 this attitude. In a man expiring from loss of 

 blood, as the vital stream flows, the heart and 

 lungs have the same painful feeling of want, which 

 is produced by obstruction to the breathing. As 

 the blood is draining from him, he pants and looks 

 wild, and the chest heaves convulsively. And so 

 the ancient artist has placed this statue in the 

 posture of one who suffers the extremity of difficult 

 respiration. The fixed condition of the shoulders, 

 as he sustains his sinking body, shows that the 

 powerful muscles, common to the ribs and arms, 

 have their action concentrated to the struggling 

 chest. In the same way does a man afflicted with 

 asthma rest his hands or his elbows upon a table, 

 stooping forwards, that the shoulders may become 

 fixed points ; the muscles of the arm and shoulder 

 then act as muscles of respiration, and aid in the 

 motion of the chest during the heaving and anxiety 

 which belong to the disease. 



"When a man is mortally wounded, and still 

 more if he be bleeding to death, as the gladiator, 

 he presents the appearance of suffocation ; for the 

 want is felt in the breast, and relief is sought in 



