Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-16

ed that they come forth armcd-to murder
or to be murdered. All the arrangements
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 for week
upon an unarmed disciple of Jesus Christ
At the dedication of this Coliseum 1900
wild beasts and 10000 immortal men were
SLAIN so that the blood of men and beasts
was not brook, but river; not pool, but
q lake. Having been in that way dedicated,
be not surprised when | tell you that En-
pprOr Probus on one occasion threw into
that arena of the Coliseum a thousand
stays, Il thousand bears and thousand os.
triches. 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 children of those
down under the lions paw wrung their
hands and shrieked out in widowhood and
orphanage while 1000 people clapped their
hands, and there was u "Ha, hal" wide rs
Rome and deep as perdition.
The corpses of that arena were put on
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
aud 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 swordsman 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 | plunge this
spear into his body until he is dead?"
/ 1
which they might give. lfthey waved their
flags, 1t meant spare the fallen contestant.
ii they turned their thumbs down, it meant
STAY 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 galleries were turned down, and with
that sign would be heard the accompany
Ing shout of xiii! Kill! Kill! kip
VARIATIONS IN ?HE CRUEL SPORT.
Yet II was far from being monotone
of sport, for there was change of pro-
Gromme in that wondrous Coliseum. Under
strange ana powerful machinery, beyond
anything of modern invention, the floor Of
the arena would begin TO rock aud roll and
then give away, and there would appear
lake of bright water. and on its banks trees
would spring up rustling with foliage.
and tigers appeared among the iunplc-
and armed men would come forth. and
there would be n tiger hunt. Then. on the
lake in the Coliseum. armed ships would
float, and there would be a sea fight. What
fun! What lots of fun! When pesticnce
came, in order to apuease the gods. in
this Coliseum a sacrifice would be made.
and the Deople would thronp that grcot
amphitheater, shouting. The Christians
cracking OF human bones in the laws of
leonine ferocitv.
But all this was to be STONED. By the
outraged sense of public decencv? No.
There is only one thing that has ever
stopped cruelty and sin. and that is Chris
tianitv, and it was Christianity, whether
YOU like its form or not, that stopped this
massacre of centuries One dav while in
the Coliseum. n Roman victory was beinp
celebrated, and 100 600 enraptured snecta-
tors were looking down upon two cladia-
tors in the arena stabbing and slicing each
other TO death an Asiatic monk of the
name of Telemachus was so overcome by
the cruelty that he leaped from the gallery
into the arena and ran in between the two
swordsmen and pushed first one back and
then the other back and broke up the con-
test.
Oh course the audience was aifronted at
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 passions of the people
had cooled Off they depIored the martyr
dom OF the brave and Christian Telemachus
ana as "A result OF the overdone cruelty the
human sacrifices OF the Coliseum were for
ever abolished.
Il l, ,,al,