LION. 341 
It must be acknowledged, however, that, from 
the general constitution of the Lion, one would 
not suppose him to be a very long-hved animal. 
Lions have sometimes constituted a part of the 
established pomp of royalty in the eastern world. 
The monarch of Persia, as we are informed by 
Mr. Bell in his travels, had, on days of audience, 
two large Lions chained on each side the pas- 
sages of the hall of state; being led there, by pro- 
per officers, in chains of gold. 
The Romans, struck with the magnificent ap- 
pearance of these animals, imported them in vast 
numbers from Africa, for their public spectacles. 
Quintus Scaevola, according to Pliny, was the 
first in Rome who exhibited a combat of Lions ; 
but Sylla the dictator, during his pra^torsliip, ex- 
hibited a hundred Lions; and, after him, Pompey 
the Great exhibited no less than six hundred in 
the grand circus, viz. three hundred and fifteen 
males, and the rest females ; and Ciesar the dicta- 
tor four hundred. Plmy also tells us, that the 
first person in Rome who caused them to be 
yoked, so as to draw a carriage, was Mark An- 
tony, who appeared in the streets of Rome in a 
chariot drawn by Lions, accompanied by his mis- 
tress Cytheris, an actress from the theatre. A 
sight, says Pliny, that surpassed in enormity even 
all the calamities of the times ! 
Leonum simul plurium pugnam, Rom^e prin- 
ceps dedit Q. Sccevola P. filius in curuli iEdili- 
tate. Centum autem jubatorum primus omnium 
L. Sylla, qui postea dictator fuit in PriBtura. 
