GLADIATORS. 
207 
gave a bold but unavailing example to his brethren, by rushing out 
of an amphitheatre at Verona, at the head of those collected there 
for public exhibition, declaring war against the Romans, and assem- 
bling so great a force as to make the citizens of Rome tremble. Simi- 
lar apprehensions were entertained at intervals by enlightened people ; 
and Cicero observed, “ The shows of gladiators may possibly to some 
persons seem barbarous and inhuman ; and indeed, as the case now 
stands, I cannot say that the censure is unjust. But in those times 
when only guilty persons composed the number of combatants,— the 
ear perhaps might receive many better instructions, but it is impos- 
sible that any thing which affects our eyes should fortify us with more 
success against the assaults of grief and death.” Still he had the 
good sense to propose a law prohibiting all candidates for offices from 
exhibiting gladiators within two years before they became such, 
Julius Caesar limited their number in Rome. Augustus ordained that 
not more than sixty pairs of combatants should fight at one exhibi- 
tion, and that there should only be two of the latter in a year. During 
the reign of Tiberius 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 custom, after it had prevailed near six hundred years; but it 
revived under Constantins, Theodosius, and Valentinian, and was 
finally suppressed by the emperor Honorius. 
The guilty persons alluded to by Cicero must apply to those slaves 
whose masters sold them, for disobedience or n>alpractices, to the 
Lanistae, who, instructing them in the arts of attack and defence, 
hired them to any rich man disposed to exhibit them. Had they 
been entirely conhned 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 astonished 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 Auctorati ; and 
even knights, nobles, and senators, who had wasted their property by 
extravagance, have deigned to become gladiators. Augustus, offended 
at their conduct, forbade 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 Rorne; 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 Retiarii, the Secutores, 
the Myrmillones, the Thracians, the Samnites, the Essedarii, and 
the Andabatae ; the Gladiatores Meridiani fought in the afternoon ; 
the Gladiatores Fiscales were paid from the emperor’s private trea- 
sury ; the Gladiatores Postulatiti were men of consummate art in the 
profession ; the Gladiatores Catervarii fought in small companies ; 
and the Gladiatores Ordinarii were not particularly distinguished, 
but fought in a common way. 
