BOOK VIII. VII. 20-22 



tion of the Temple of Venus Victrix, twenty, or, as 

 some record, seventeen, fought in the Circus, their 

 opponents being GaetuUans armed with javelins, one 

 of the animals putting up a marvellous fight — its feet 

 being disabled by wounds it crawled against the 

 hordes of the enemy on its knees, snatching their 

 shields from them and throwing them into the air, 

 and these as they fell dehghted the spectators by 

 the curves they described, as if they were being 

 thrown by a skilled juggler and not by an infuriated 

 wild animal. There was also a marvellous occvurence 

 in the case of another, which was killed by a single 

 blow, as the javehn striking it under the eye had 

 reached the vital parts of the head. The whole 

 band attempted to burst through the iron paUsading 

 by which they were enclosed and caused considerable 

 trouble among the pubhc. Owing to this, when 

 subsequently Caesar in his dictatorship " was going to 

 exhibit a similar show he surrounded the arena with 

 channels of water ; these the emperor Nero removed 

 when adding special places for the Knighthood. 

 But Pompey's elephants when they had lost all hope 

 of escape tried to gain the compassion of the crowd 

 by indescribable gestures of entreaty, deploring 

 their fate with a sort of waihng, so much to the 

 distress of the pubhc that they forgot the general and 

 his munificence carefuUy devised for their honour, 

 and bursting into tears rose in a body and invoked 

 curses on the head of Pompey for which he soon 

 afterwards paid the penalty. Elephants also fought 

 for the dictator Caesar in his third consulship,* twenty 

 being matched against 500 foot soldiers, and on a 

 second occasion an equal number carrying castles 

 each with a garrison of 60 men, who fought a pitched 



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