The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1893-02-17

four ranges, and the three lower ranges
had so columns each and arches after
arches, and ON each arch an exquisite
statue of god or hero
Into $50 feet of altitude scared the
Coliseum. 1t glittered and flashed and
shone with whole sunrises and sunsets OF
dazzlement After the audience had as
Iembled aromatic liquids oozed from
tubes distilled from pipes and rained
gently ON the multitudes and filled the
air with odors of hyacinth and hello.
trope and frankincense and balsam and
myrrh and saffron, so that Lucan, the
poet, says OF it,
At once ten thousand saffron currents flow
And rain their odors on the crowd below.
ORGANIZED MURDER AND TORTURE.
But where was the sport to come from!
Well, went into the cellars opening off
from the arena, and l saw the places
where they kept the hyenas and lions and
panthers and wild boars and beastly VIC
lences of all sorts without food or water
until made fierce enough for the arena,
and saw the underground rooms where
the gladiators were accustomed to wait
until the clapping of the people outside
demanded that they come forth armed
to murder or be murdered. All the ar
rangements were complete, as enough of
the cellars and galleries still remain to
indicate. What fun they must have had
turning lions without food or drink upon
an unarmed disciple of Jesus Christ!
At the dedication of this Coliseum
5000 wild beasts and 10000 immortal
men were slain, so that the blood of men
and beast was not brook, but a rivers
not pool, but lake. Having been in
that way dedicated, be not surprised
when tell you that Emperor Probus on
one occasion threw into that arena of
the Coliseum 1000 stays, 1000 bears and
1000 ostriches What fun it must have
been-the sound of trumpets, the roar of
wild beasts and the groans of dying men
while in the gallery the wives and chill
dren of those down under the lions paw
wrung their hands and shrieked out in
widowhood and orphanage, while 100000
people clapped their hands, and there
was "Hal HAP wide as Rome and deep
as perdition!
The corpses of that arena were put on
a cart or dragged by hook out through
what was called the Gate of Death. What
an excitement it must have been when
two combatants entered the arena, the
one with sword and shield and the other
with net and spear. The swordsman
strikes at the man with the net and
spear. He lodges the sword and then
filings the net over the head of the swords
man and jerks him to the floor of the
arena, and the man who flung the net
puts his foot on the neck of the fallen
swordsman, and spear in hand looks up
to the galleries, as much as to say, "Shall
let him up, or shall l plunge this spear
into his body until he is dead?"
The audience had two signs, either of
which they might give. If they waved
their flags, it meant spare the fallen con-
testant. If they turned their thumbs
down, it meant slay him. Occasionally
the audience would wave their flags.
and the fallen would be let up, but that
was too tame sport for most occasions,
and generally the thumbs from the gal
eries were turned down, and with that
sign would be heard the accompanying
shout of Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill"
CRUELTY ADDED TO CRUELTY.
Yet it was far from being a monotone
If sport, for there was change of pro-
,ramme in that wondrous Coliseum.
Under a strange and powerful machin-
ry, beyond anything of modern inven-
ion, the floor of the arena would begin |
o rock and roll and then give away, and
here would appear a lake of bright
water, and ON its banks trees would
pring up rustling with foliage, and t.
,ers appeared among the iungles, and
rmed men would come forth, and there
would be tiger hunt. Then on the lake
n the Coliseum armed ships would float,
nd there would be a sea fight. What
un! What lots of fun! When pestilence
anne, in order to appease the gods, in
his Coliseum a sacrifice would be made,
nd the people would thropg that great
shouting, 1.-THE Christians
Q the wild beastsv' and there would be
cracking of human bones in the jaws
f leonine ferocity.
But all this was to be stopped. By the
sense of public decency? No.
There is only one thing that has ever
topped cruelty and sin, and that is
and it was Christianity.
whether you like its form or not, that
topped this massacre of centuries. One
lay while in the Coliseum a Roman
-ictory was being celebrated, and 10O,-
700 enraptured spectators were looking
lown upon two gladiators in the arena
tabbing and slicing each other to death,
IN Asiatic monk of the name of Tele-
nachus was so overcome by the cruelty
hat he leaped from the gallery into the
arena and ran in between the two
iwordsmen and pushed first one back
md then the other back and broke up the
contest.
OF course the audience was affronted
1t having their sport stopped, and they
hurled stones at the head of Telemachus
until he fell dead in the arena. But
when the day was passed, and the pas
iions of the people had cooled off, they
leplored the martyrdom of the brave
and Christian Telemachus, and as a re