The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-07-15
Cruelty ofthe Ancient Romans.

That in an advanced period of mate
e rial civilization spectacles whereof the
n one grand interest consisted in the elab-
t crate and wholesale torture and carnage
D of men and animals should not only have
Z been tolerated with scarcely protest for
e centuries, but should have formed the
, chief and indispensable amusement of
! both sexes and all classes of the popula-
ton including the highest this appears
at first sight to modern thinkers moral
fact almost incredible in its atrocity.
, And so firm moreover was their hold on
popular sympathy that they lasted long
after the conversion of the empire to
Christianity. Constantine, to be sure,
issued an edict suppressing the gladia-
torial shows, but it was suffered to re-
main dead letter, and it was not till
nearly century later, when the Asiatic
monk Telemachus leaped into the arena
and separated the combatants at the cost
of his own life-he was stoned to death
by the indignant spectators these
games were finally abolished. Something
may be due to the religious origin of the
custom, which is commonly alleged to
have sprung out of a rite of human sac
rifice offered at the tombs of great men,
though some scholars, like Mommsen,
deny the existence of human sacrifice at
Rome. Later on motives of policy con-
spired to sustain the practice, both as
means of keeping up the military spirit
of the people and as offering the sole OPP
portunity under despotic Emperor for
the thousands of citizens then assembled
in presence of their sovereign and his
| mi or fn nd
known their grievances.
Still these explanations do not carry
us very far. Theatrical entertainments
such as the Greeks delighted in would
have answered the latter purpose at least
quite as well, but for approaching such
refined amusements these CHASTITY orgies
of blood quite untitled the Roman popu-
lace. And it is q curious fact, noted by
a distinguished modern writer, that, as
different kinds of vice which might APP
pear to have no mutual connection do
yet act and react on one another. so here
the intense craving after excitement en-
gendered and gratified by gladiatorial
combats served to stimulate the taste for
such orgies of sensuality as are described
by historians like Tacitus and Suetonius.
And hence not only was Hercules burnt
fled the stage. notin effigy but in the per-
al cI of condemned criminal, but the
- eds of gods and heroes were repre-
ne a tied, as Juvenal says, to the life Nor
emai it be questioned it is chiefly in
he saer to illustrate that terrible lesson
nc pct we have referred to the subiect here
,ot hat the gladiatorial shows betrayed
i"' . merely indifference to human suffer-
rave, but that capacity for real and keen
ghtasure in the contemplation of suffer-
ecte6, as such, which many are 10th for
or A credit of human nature to admit.
- ,toniuS, for instance, tells US that it
LON the special delight of Claudius to
tah .ch the faces of the expiring gladia-
tors, as he had come to take a kind of
artistic pleasure in observing the varia-
tons in their agony. HeliogaBalus and
Galerius used to regale themselves while
at table with the spectacle of animals de-
voured by wild beasts; and Lactantius
says of Galerius that che never supped
without human blood" And what is
more horrible still, ''beautiful eyes,
trembling with passion. looked down
upon the fight, and the noblest ladies in
Rome had been known to crave the VIC
tors love-" A story told by St. Angus
tine exhibits the CHASTITY fascination of
the spectacle. A Christian friend of his
had somehow been drawn into the am
phitheatre, which Christians were strictly
forbidden to enter. and resolved to guard
against the temptation to sinful enjoy
ment by keeping his eyes closed; sud
den cry led him to look up, and he was
unable to withdraw his gaze again. e .
If it shocks us to find among a highly
civilized people this national consecra-
ton of cruelty, it is perhaps more start
ling still to learn that with few excep-
tons the novelists and philosophers of
the day had not a word to say against it.
The refined and gentle-hearted Cicero
calmly observes that some men think
these spectacles cruel and inhuman, but
that to make this use of criminals is
really to present to the eve an excellent
discipline against suffering and death.
Juvenal' S aristocratic feelings were out
ragged at the Roman nobility condescend-
ing to act as gladiators; but there is moth
ing to show that the Spectacle in itself
offended him. Seneca and Plutarch, az
we pointed out before, adopt a very diff
ferent tone, and Marcus Aurelius ordered
the gladiators to fight with blunted
swords, as he also ordered that no rope
dancers should perform without net or
a mattress being spread beneath them.
But such rare and honorable exceptions
only help to prove the rule. During the
Reign of Terror in France spirit very
like that of the worst period Of The Ro-
man Empire was evoked, and it has been
observed that in both cases the grossest
inhumanity was sometimes found united
with affection for animals-that is, for
pet animals. Fournier was devoted to a
squirrel, Couthon to his spaniel, and
Murat kept doves. But it may well be
questioned whether these particular af-
fections indicated any general temper of
mercy toward animals more than toward
mankind. Even the most bloodthirsty
monsters may have a sincere Partially
for their own belongings. Saturday Re
uielO. ,.....
! A New York Judge the other day
sentenced a young man to five years i'm
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