than the combatant ' Symm. 1. ii. Ep. 46. Comp. vii. 4. ^ Prudentius Adv. Symmach. ii. 1095 : Virgo — consurgit ad ictus, Et quotiens victor ferrum jugulo inserit, ilia Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque jacentis Virgo modesta jubet, converso pollice, rumpi ; Ni lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis, Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor. ' Lib. vi. c. 8. 124 THLBD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. in the body, aud fell more lamentably. . . . For when he saw the blood, he imbibed at once the love of it, turned not away, fastened his eyes upon it, caught the spirit of rage and vengeance before he knew it, and, fascinated with the nnirder- ous game, became drunk with bloodthirsty joy. . . . He looked, shouted applause, burned, and carried with him tlience the frenzy, by which he was drawn to go back, not only with those who had taken him there, but before them, and taking others with him." Chiistianity finally succeeded in closing the amphitheatre. Constantine, who in his earlier reign himself did homage to the popular custom in this matter, and exposed a great multi- tude of conquered barbarians to death in the amphitheatre at Treves, for which he was highly commended by a heathen ora- tor,' issued in 325, the year of the great council of the church at Nice, the fii'st prohibition of the bloody spectacles, " because they cannot be pleasing in a time of i3ublic peace." ^ But this edict, which is directed to the prefects of Phoenicia, had no permanent eftect even in the East, except at Constantinople, which was never stained with the blood of gladiators. In Syria and especially in the West, above all in Rome, the deeply rooted institution continued into the fifth century. Honoi'ius (395-423), who at first considered it indestructible, abolished the gladiatorial shows about 404, and did so at the instance of the heroic self-denial of an eastern monk by the name of Telemachus, who journeyed to Rome expressly to pro- test against this inhuman barbarity, threw himself into the arena, separated the combatants, and then was torn to pieces by the populace, a martyr to humanity.' Yet this put a stop only to the bloody combats of men. Unbloody spectacles of every kind, even on the high festivals of the church and amidst • Eumenii Panegyr. c. 12. ' Cod. Theod. xv. tit. 12,1. 1, de gladiatoribus : "Cruenta spectacula in otio civili et domestica quiete non placent ; quapropter omnino gladiatores esse prohibe- mus." Comp. Euseb. Vita Const, iv. 25. ' So relates Theodoret : Hist. eccl. 1. v. c. 26. For there is no law of Honorius extant on the subject. Yet after this time there is no mention of a gladiatorial con- test between man and man. § 22. EVILS OF THE UNION OF CHUKCH AND STATE. 125 the invasions of the barbarians, as we see by the grievous com- plaints of a Chrysostoin, an Aui^ustine, and a Salvian, were