The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-06-07
ROMAN CRUELTY.
A National Conservation of Inhuman-
lty.


That at an advanced period Of ma
terial civilization spectacles whereof
the one grand interest consisted in
the elaborate and wholesale torture
and carnage of men and animals
should not only have been tolerated
with scarcely a protest for centuries.
bat should have formed the chief ans
indispensable amusement Of botl
sexes and all classes of the popula-
ton. including the hi i1hest-this ap-
pears on first sight to modern think
ers a moral fact almost Incredible III
its atrocity. And SO firm, moreover,
was their hold ON popular sympathy
that they lasted long after the con-
version Of the empire to Christianity
Constantine. to be sure, issued all
edlct suppressing the 2ladiatoria
shows. but it was suffered to remain
a dead letter, and it was not till near
iy a century later. when the Asiati,
monk Telemachus leaped into tho
arena and separated tile oombatants
at the cost OF his own life-he was
stoned to death 10y the indignant
spectators-that these games wer,
finally abolished. Something NAV be
due to the rel, ,iou', origin of the Gus,
tom, which is commonly alleged to
have sprung out Of a rite of human
sacrifice offered at the tombs Of great
men; though some scholars, like
Mommsen. deny the existence Of hu-
man sacrifice at Rome Later oD mo-
tives of policy conspired to sustain
the practi :e. both as a means of keep
ing ap the military spirit of the peo
pie and as Offering the sole orportu-
nifty under a despot Emperor for the
thousands ofcitizens then assembled
in presence Of their sovereign amt his
Minister to present petitions and
make known their grievances.
Still these explanations 10 not car
ry us very far. Theatrical enter, ai,,-
ments, such as the Greeks delighted
in, would have answered the latter
purpose quite as we'll, but for appre-
ciatiny such refined amusements these
CHASTITY orgies of blood quite untitled
the Roman populace. And it is a
curious fact, noted by distinguished
modern writer, that, as different kinds
of vice. which might appear to have
no mutual connection. dO vet act ano
react on one another, So here the in
tense craving after excitement enSen.
dered and gratiiied by sladlatorial
combats served to stimulate the taste
for such orgies of sensuality as de-
scribed 10y historians like Tacitus and
Suetonius And hence was not only
Hercules burnt on the stage, not In
effigy hut in the person of a condemn
ed criminal, hut the deeds Of gods
and heroes were represented. as Ju-
venal says, to the life. Nor can 1t be
oues:ioned-a and i. is chiefly in order
to illustrate that terrible lesson that
we have referred to the sui, ,ect here
that the gladiator shows betrayed
not merely indifference to human suf.
ferinu, bat that capacity for real and
keen pleasure in the contemplation "i
suffering, as such. which many are
loa,b, for the credit of human nature,
to admit. Suetonius, for instance,
tells us that it was the special delight
of Claudius to watch the faces of the
expiring gtadialors, as he had come
to take kind Vt artistic pleasure in
observing the variation in theira.ony
Hehouabalus and Galerius used to
reoale themselves while at the fable
with the spectacle of animals devour
ed by wild beasts; and Lactantlus
saws Of Galerius, ''he never suppeo
:. without human Slood." And what is
more horrible still 'beautiful ewes
trembling with passion. looked dowr
upon the light; and the noblest ladies
in Rome, even the Empress hersell
had been known to crave the victor
love- A story told by st. Augustine
exhibits the ghastly fascination o
E the spectacle. A Christian friend o
& his had somehow been drawn into The
o amphitheatre, which Christians were
strictly forbidden to enter. and re
, solved to guard against the tempta
o ton to sinful enjoyment b: Keeping
9 his eyes closed; sudden cry le'
n him to look up, and he was unable tt
. withdraw his gaze again.
!, If it shocks us to find among
highly civilized people ts.ls nat'ona