GLADIATORS. 



the good sense to propose a law, prohibit- 

 ing 'all candidates for offices from exhibit- 

 ing gladiators within two years before 

 they became such. Julius Caesar limited 

 their number in Rome. Augustus or- 

 dained that not more than sixty pairs of 

 combatants should fight at one exhibition, 

 and that there should be only two of the 

 latter in a year. During the reign of Ti- 

 berius it was decreed, that gladiators 

 were not to be brought before the public 

 by persons worth less than 400,000 ses- 

 terces. Constantine the Great had the 

 humanity and courage to abolish the cus- 

 tom, after it had prevailed near six hun- 

 dred years ; but it revived under Con- 

 stantius Theodosius and Valentinian, and 

 was finally suppressed by the Emperor 

 Honorius. 



The guilty persons alluded to by Cice- 

 ro must apply to those slaves whose mas- 

 ters sold them, for disobedience or mal- 

 practices, to the Lanistx, who, instructing 

 them in the arts of attack and defence, 

 hired them to any rich man disposed to 

 exhibit them. Had they been entirely 

 confined to this class of people, we might 

 have been less inclined to censure the 

 custom ; but when we reflect that honest 

 and courageous soldiers were condemned 

 to undergo the lash of their captors, and 

 afterwards perish by the swords of slaves, 

 or each other, we cannot fail of being as- 

 tonished that the high-spirited Roman 

 should expose himself to their vengeance, 

 by voluntarily entering the arena with 

 them, there to meet almost certain death. 

 Strange, however, as it appears, freemen 

 fought for hire under the term of aucto- 

 rati ; and even knights, nobles, and sena- 

 tors, who had wasted their property by 

 extravagance, have deigned to become 

 gladiators. Augustus, offended at their 

 conduct, forbid the senatorian order and 

 knights to enter the lists as such; but 

 preceding princes, less influenced by a 

 sense of honour, permitted them to act as 

 they pleased. The contagion at length 

 extended to the females of Rome ; and, 

 lastly, dwarfs were taught the use of the 

 sword, and fighting with the women, or 

 each other, furnished a new description 

 of diversion. Rennet classes the various 

 sorts of gladiators under the terms of the 

 Retiarii, the Secutores, the Myrmyllones, 

 the Thracians, the Samnites, the Esseda- 

 rii, and the Andabatse ; the Gladiatores 

 Meridiani fought in the afternoon ; the 

 Gladiatores Fiscales were paid from the 

 Emperor's private treasury ; the Gladia- 

 tores Postulatitii were m en of consummate 

 art in their profession ; the Gladiatores 



Catervarii fought in small companies; and 

 the Gladiatores Ordinarii were not parti- 

 cularly distinguished, but fought in a com- 

 mon way. 



The dress of the Retiarius was a short 

 habit, and a hat tied under the chin. His 

 means of offence were a weapon called a 

 fuscina, and a net. With the latter in his 

 right hand, he endeavoured to entangle 

 his adversary, and with the fuscina in the 

 left he aimed mortal blows at him ; but as 

 this description of gladiator was invariably 

 opposed to a Secutor, armed with a scy- 

 meter, a buckler, and a helmet, the Reti- 

 arius had no means of escape, if he failed 

 in casting his net, except by flight round 

 the arena, during which he adjusted it 

 for a new trial. 



The best gladiators were Thracians. 

 Those men, with their faulchion and small 

 round shields, possessed more national fe- 

 rocity and cruelty than any of their oppo- 

 nents. Kennet says, " The original of the 

 Saranite gladiators is given by Livy. The 

 Campanians (says he) bearing a great ha- 

 tred to the Samnites, they armed a part 

 of their gladiators after the fashion of 

 that country, and called them Samnites. 

 They wore a shield, broad at the top, to 

 defend the breast and shoulders, and 

 growing more narrow towards the bottom, 

 that it might be moved with the greater 

 convenience. They had a sort of belt 

 coming over their breasts, a greave on 

 their left foot, and a crested helmet on 

 their heads." The Epedarii sometimes 

 engaged from chariots, and at others on 

 foot; and the Andabatae, mounted on 

 horses, fought with a helmet which cover- 

 ed their faces and eyes. 



The exhibition of gladiators was an- 

 nounced to the public by bills affixed in 

 the public places, sometimes accompanied 

 by paintings of the intended combat, or 

 the most celebrated combatants ; and 

 when the time mentioned had arrived, 

 and the people assembled, the gladiators 

 marched slowly round the arena ; they 

 were then matched, by persons appointed 

 for that purpose, as equally as possible, 

 and they proceeded to prepare for the 

 contest by fencing with blunted swords, 

 &c. ; after which the trumpets were 

 sounded, and the battles began in serious 

 earnest. When a severe wound was gi- 

 ven, the gladiator who inflicted it, and the 

 people, exclaimed, ' He has it.' If that 

 proved decisive, the vanquished person 

 resigned his weapon, and acknowledged 

 himself conquered. But thi s submission 

 was not alone sufficient to save his life : 

 the people were to decide his fate. He 



