The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1882-02-01
Pictures Of Ancient Extravagance.

Crassus, when a candidate for the
consulship, gave feast of 10, 900 tables,
to which all the citizens of Rome were
indiscriminately invited. Cesar, to
celebrate the funeral of a daughter, gave
one of $4,000 tables, with acoommoda
tion for three guests at each This en-.
tertainment was repeated and exceeded
for his triumph. he brought together
more gladiators and wild beasts than
we're ever produced on any former oc-
casion in an amphitheater, but his ex-
hibitions of this kind were 30 com
pletely outshone that it we're waste
of time to dwell upon them. In a
document annexed to his testament,
Augustus states as q title to public
gratitude that he had exhibited 5000
gladiators and brought more than $500
wild beasts to be killed in the circus.
In the course the festivities institu-
ted by Titus to celebrate the opening Of
the colosseum, 5000 wild beasts were
let loose and killed by the gladiators.
The Emperor Probus collected for
single show 100 lions, 100 lionesses,
1C0 Libyan and 100 Syrian leopards,
300 bears and 600 gladiators. Having
caused the circus to be planted with
trees to resemble forest, he let loose
1000 ostriches, 1000 stays, 1000 does
and 1000 boars, to be hunted by the
populace, who were to keep whatever
they could catch or kill. The fiercer
animals were encountered by the gladi-
ators. It does not appear how long the
show lasted.
Tiberius, whose life at Capri was
disgrace to human nature, was fonder
of saving money than of spending it,
and he left an immense sum In the
treasury, which his successor, Caligula,
managed to dissipate in two years by
extravaganza of the most senseless kind.
AS if in rivalry of Cleopatra, he swal
lowed precious stones dissolved in
! vinegar, and caused his guests to be
helped to gold (which they carried
away instead of bread and meat. One
of his favorite amusements was shower
ing money among the populace from
the Basilica of julius Cesar. He built
galleys of cedar, covered with j5welry,
and large enough to contain vines and
fruit trees, and had canals cut for them
along the coast. The stable of his
fayorite horse, which he talked OF
naming Consul, was of marble, the
trough of ivory, the harness OF purple,
and the collar of pearls. The set OF
meralds and pearls worn by one OF his
wives, Lolita Paulina, was valued al
940G, 900 sterling.
The principal extravaganza of Clau-
dius was in public games. One of the
shows organized for him was naval
combat on lake, in which the galleys
were manned by $4,000 men. He was
fond of good cheer, and was in the
habit of inviting himself to the tables
of the rich. He came on one occasion
with 60J persons in his train.
1t was to Nero that Tacitus applied
the expression, in0redibitiuns catpitor.
What he not only desired but achieved
in the way Of cruelty and vice would
lc declared incredible if Roman
history had not already showI
what revolving atrocities may b'
conceived by diseased imagi
nation and executed by irresponsible
power. After the burning Uf thu cit.
he gratified his taste, in entire uisre-
gard of the proprietors, in rebuilding
II. He at once appropriated a numbe
of the sites and a large portion o
the public grounds for NJ
new palace. The porticos, will
their ranks of columns, wer
mile long. The vestibule was larg
, enough to contain the colossal statue Q
! him, in silver and gold, 100 feet high
from which the colosseum got it
a name. The interior was gilded through
! out, and adorned with ivory and mother
, of.pearl. The ceilings of the dining
q rooms were formed of movable tablet
! of ivory, which shed flowers and pei
! fumes on the company; the princlpf
: saloon had dome which, turning da
q and night, initiated the movements
!. the terrestrial bodies. When this palaC
q was finished he exclaimed: At last
n am lodged like man." His diadel
n was valued at half a million. III
n dresses, which he never wore twlc
3 were stiff with embroidery and gol'
4 He fished with purple lines and hool
. of gold. Henever travelled with less tha
a a thousand carriages. The mules we
4 shod with silver, the muleteers clotht
i with the finest wool, and the attendan
"a wore bracelets and necklaces OF gol
- Five hundred she asses followed h
a wife Popr@a in her progresses, to su
10 ply milk for her bath. he was foI
"a of figuring in the circus as a chariote
\. and in the theater as singer and acto
N He prided himself on being an arts
II and when his possible deposition "
% hinted to him he said that artists cou
:. never be in want. There was not
( y vice to which he was not given, nor
10 crime which he did not commit. Y
of the world, exclaims Sueton;ols, e
"a dured this monster for fourteen yea
N and he was popular with the multituc
ne who we're dazzle6 by his magnihcen
and mistook his senseless profusion
liberality. On the anniversary OF
death, during many years, they crow