GLADIATORS. 



never admitted' bloody (hows into th.'ir city -. and when it 

 v/as propofud to cftabliHi combtus of j^.ladialor-; lliore, iu 

 order not to give place in that refpeft to the Corinthians, 

 " l-'irft throw down," exclaimed an Athenian in the niidll oJ 

 the aitembly, whofe name was Demonax, a famaus phiie- 

 fopher, who flourilhed in the reign of Maixus Anrelins, 

 " the altar which our forefathers above a thoufand years ago 

 erefted to Mercy." 



Some Pagan emperors, lamenting the fad effecft'; of tl<;s 

 favage ciiftom, cndeavourod, as we h.ave already i^-cn, to 

 moderate it. With this view Marcus Aurelius retrenched tlie 

 enormous expellees employed in thefe combats, and would 

 not fufFer th? gladiators to fight v.ith each other, except 

 with very blunt iVords, like foils ; io that they might Ihevv 

 their addrefs, without any danger of being killed. But the 

 honour of fupprefiing thefe combats was referved for Chrif- 

 tianity ; and it coll many efforts and much time to effeft 

 this purpofe : fo rooted was the evil, and fo much had it 

 cftablidied itfelf by the long prefcription of many ages, and 

 the opinion of the world, that thefe combats were accept- 

 able to the gods, to whom, for that reafon, they offered 

 the blood of gladiators lately (lied, by way of facriftce, as 

 feveral of the Chriftian fathers obferve. 



Conftantine the Great is faid to have ftril prohibited the 

 combats of gladiators in the Eaft ; at leaft, he forbad thofe 

 who were condemned to death for their crimes to be em- 

 ployed ; there being an order ftill extant to the pra:fcclua 

 prastorii, rather to fend them to v.ork in the niincs in lieu 

 thereof; it is dated at Berytus, in Phoenicia, the lii of 

 Ottober, 325. 



But, notwithftanding this edift, which condemned the 

 art and amufement of (bedding human blood, the benevolent 

 law expreffed the willies of the prince, without reforming an 

 inveterate abule, which degraded a civilized nation below 

 the condition of favage cannibals. Several hundred, perhaps 

 feveral thoufand, vidims were annually flaughtcred in the 

 great cities of the empire ; and the month of December, 

 more peculiarly devoted to the combats of gladiators, (till 

 exhibited to the eyes of the human people a grateful 

 fpeftacle of blood and cruelty. Amidll the general joy of 

 the viftory at Pollentia, gained by the emperor Honorius, 

 Prudentiiis, a Chriilfan poet, exhorted the emperor to extir- 

 pate, by his authority, the liorrid cullom which had fo long 

 refiftedthevoiceof humanity and religion. The pathetic reprc- 

 fentations of Prudcntius were lefs ef.'eclual than the generous 

 boldnefs of Telemachus, an Aliatic monk, whofe death was 

 more ufeful to mankind than his life. The Romans were pro- 

 voked by the interruption cf their pleafures ; and the ra(h 

 moiik, who had defeended into the arena, to fcparate the 

 gladiators, was overwhelmed under a diower of Hones. But 

 the madnefs of the people foon fubfided ; they refpetted th:; 

 memory of Telemachus, who had deferved the honours ot 

 martyrdom ; and they fubmittcd, without a murm.ur, to 

 the laws of Honorius, which aboliilied for ever the inhuman 

 facrifices of the amphitheatre. The citizens, who adhered 

 to the manners of their anccllors, might perhaps inilnuate, 

 that the lall remains of a martial fpirit were preferved in 

 tiiis fchool of fortitude, wliich aecuilomcd the Romans to 

 tlie litrht of blood, and to the contempt of death : — a vain 

 and cruel prejudice, fo nobly confuted by the valour of an- 

 tient Greece, and of modern Europe. 



It muft be obferved, howevej", that the praflice was not 

 entirely aboUllied in tile W'elt before Theodoric, king of the 

 Oftrogoths. Honorius, on the occalion tirll mentioned, had 

 prohibited them ; but the prohibition docs not fcem to have 

 been e'.;ecuted. Thsodoric, in the year 500, abuliflied tliem 

 finally. 



Some time before the day of battle, the perfon wlio pre.- 

 fented the people witli the (hows gave them notice thereof,., 

 by programnia.'', or bills, containing the names of the 

 gladiators, and the marks whereby lliey were to be dif- 

 tinguilhed ; for each had liis feveral badge, which was, molt 

 commonly, a peacock's feather, as appears, from the Scho- 

 lialt of Juvenal, i.mi tlic 158th vcrfe of the third Satire, and 

 Turnebus Adverf. lib. ii. tap. 8. 



They alfo gave notice what time the (hows would laft, 

 and iiow many couples of gladiators there were ; and it 

 even appears, from tlie Jid verfe of the fevcnth Satire 

 of the lecond book ot Horace, that they fometimcs made 

 reprefentations of thefe things in painting, as is prac- 

 tifed among us by thofe who have any thing to fliow at 

 fairs. 



Tile day being come, they began tlie entertainments by 

 bringing two kinds of wcaiions ; the fird were ftaves, or 

 wooden files, called ruths ; and the fecoiid were efTeftivc 

 weapons, as fwords, poniards, Sic. 



The iirfl were caWei anna Iiifiriii, or e.vercilor'ui ; the fe- 

 rond decrctona, as being given by decree or fcntence of 

 the praetor, or of him at whofe expencc the fpcftacle 

 was exhibited. They began to fence or Ikirmilh with 

 the firll, which was to be the prelude to the battle ; and 

 from thefe, when well warmed, they advanced to the 

 fecond, at the found of the trumpets, with which they 

 fought naked. 



Then they were faid wrlere aniin ; the terms of ftrikingr 

 were petcre ivwi lYpetere ; of avoiding a blow, exiir; and 

 when one of the combatants received a remarkable wound, 

 his adverfary or the people cried out, /lalnf, or /.'oc habd. 

 Tlie (Irft part of the engagement was called vt-ntilarc, 

 priihidere ; and the fecond, tlimicarc ad cerium, or ivijis. 

 armis piigiiare : and fome authors think, with much proba- 

 bility, that it is to thefe two kinds of combat that St. Paul 

 alludes, in the pafTage I Cor.ix. 26, 27. " T fight, not as. 

 one that beateth the air ; but I keep my body, and bring it 

 into fubjeftion." 



If the vanquiihed furrcndcred his arms, it was not in 

 the viftor's power to grant him life ; it was the people during 

 the time of the republic, and the prince or people during the 

 time of the empire, that were alone impowcred to grant the 

 boon. 



The reward of ^tlie conqueror was a branch of palm-tree, 

 and a fum of money, probably collefteti among the fpetlators ; 

 fometimcs they gave him his conge, or dilmilT^d him, by 

 pultifig one of the wooden foils or rudis in his hand ; and 

 fonietimes they even gave him his freedom, putting theplleuj 

 on his head. 



The lign or indication whereby the fpcftators (Itewed 

 that they granted the favour,, was preiiure pollicem, which 

 M. Dacien takes to be a clenching of the hugers cf botls 

 hands between one another, and fo holding the two thumbs 

 u))right, clofe togetlter : and, when th.ey v-ould have the 

 coinbat finiP.ied, and the vanquiihed (Iain, they vcr/erunt 

 pollifem, bent back the thumb ; v/liich we Icaxn from Juvc~ 

 nal, Sat. iii. ver. Jii, 



" Munera nunc edunt, et verfo polHce vulgi 

 Quemlibet oceidunt. populariter." Juv. 



The gladiators challenge,d or defied each other, by lliewing 

 the iittle finirer ; and, by extending this, or fome other, 

 during the combat, they owned themfelve.s vanquiihed, and 

 begged mercy from the people :. " Victi oilenfam digiti ve- 

 niaai a ])opulo polluiabaut," fays the old Scholiall on Per* 

 fius. Vide Pliii. lib, xxviii. cap. 2, Prudiutius, lib. ii. 

 contra Symm». ver. IC98. "Horace, lib. iv. iS. ver. 66i 



Politian. 



