MENAGEEIES. 8 



mation, however, and his descriptions are mostly fabulous. This 

 may appear strange, when it is considered that at the time he 

 w«)te, Rome had probably "the most extensive and magnificent 

 menagerie the world had ever witnessed." 



But a love of science and a craving for knowledge formed no 

 part of the object the Eomans had, even in their most civilized 

 periods, in making those vast and stupendous collections, the 

 result of the labour of their Prastors, who caused animals to be 

 collected from the various regions that composed their mighty 

 empire, and these were constantly augmented by the donations 

 of other countries, who wished to conciliate or enlist the friend- 

 ship of the " Mistress of the World." Other feelings actuated 

 them, and these collections were used for the purpose of gratifying 

 the spirit of ferocity and barbarity which was a national trait. 

 The exhibition in the amphitheatre of terrific combats, animals 

 being slaughtered wholesale in numbers beyond conception, the 

 degrading spectacle of gladiatorial contests, or the execution of 

 criminals by enraged lions, these were the favourite pastimes of 

 the people, which were encouraged by their rulers, and conducted 

 with a savage and barbaric splendour almost beyond credence. 

 Titus, at the dedication of the amphitheatre he furnished, stained 

 its arena with the blood of upwards of 500O beasts, the carnage 

 being watched by over 100,000 Eomans; and Trajan destroyed 

 10,000 at the conclusion of the Dacian War. Caligula celebrated 

 his birthdays by contributing 400 bears, and 400 other wild beasts, 

 to be " butchered to make a Eoman holiday;" and several succeed- 

 ing wearers of the purple were even more lavish in the number 

 they supplied for these grand but brutal sports. 



In the beginning of the twelfth century we hear of collections 

 of birds and animals, called "Parks of Intelligence," being 

 introduced into China ; later, at the commencement of the sixteenth 

 century, we have the historiographer of Philip II. of Spain, 

 Herrera y Tordesilla's description of the magnificent menagerie 

 Cortes and his followers found in Montezuma's palace of Tezeuoo, 

 showing that in that wonderful place which so amazed the Mexican 

 invaders birds of all sorts, snakes, alligators, and wild beasts 

 from the Western world were found, magnificently housed and 



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