The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-02-15

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eighty columns each, and arches after
arches, and on each arch an exquisite !
statue Of a god or a hero. Into 1870 feet
Of altitude scared the Colosseum. 1t
glittered and flashed and shone with
whole sunrises and sunsets Of dazzle-
ment After the audience had assem-
bled aromatic liquids oozed from tubes
distilled from pipes and rained gently |
on the multitudes, and flied the air
with odors of hyacinth and heliotrope
and frankincense and balsam and myrrh !
and saffron, so that Lucan, the poet,
says of II:
At once ten thousand saffron currents flow,
And rain their odors on the crowd below.
But where was the sport to come
from? Well went into the cellar
opening off from the arena, and l saw
the places where they kept the hyenas
and lions and panthers and wild boars
and beastly violences Of all sorts, with
out food or water until made fierce
enough for the arena, and saw the
underground rooms where the gladia-
tors were accustomed to wait until the
clapping Of the people outside de-
manded that they come forth armed to
murder or to be murdered. All the ar
rangements were complete, as enough
Of the cellars and galleries still re-
manned to indicate. What fun they
must have had turning lions without
food or drink for week upon an un-
armed disciple Of Jesus Christ At the
dedication of this Colosseum, nine
thousand wild beasts and ten thousand
immortal men were slain, so that the
blood Of men and beast was not a
brook but a river, not pool but lake.
Having been IN that way dedicated, be
not surprised when l tell you that Em-
peror Probus on one occasion threw
into that arena Of the Colosseum a
thousand stays, thousand boars and
thousand ostriches What fun it must
have been! the sound OF trumpets, the
roar Of wild beasts and the groans oi
dying menl While in the gallery the
wives and children Of those down under
the lions paw wrung their hands and
shrieked out in wldowhood and orphan.
age, while one hundred thousand peo-
pie clapped their hands and there was
a "Ha! Hal" wide as 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 II
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 hings 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 l plunge this spear into his
body until he Is dead?" The audience
had two signs, either Of which they
might give. II they waved their flags,
1t meant spare the fallen contestant II
they turned their thumbs down, II
meant slay him. Occasionally the au.
dience would wave their flags and the
fallen would be let up, but that was
too tame sport for most occasions, and
generally the thumb from the galleries
were turned down, and with that sign
would be heard the accompanying
shout OF "Killl KILL Kill KILL"
Yet it was far from being monotone
of sport, for there was change Of pro
gramme in that wondrous Colosseum.
Under a strange and powerful machin
cry, beyond anything Of modern inven'
ton, the floor Of the arena would begin
to rock and 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 jungles, and
armed men would come forth, and there
would be tiger hunt Then, on tho
lake in the Colosseum, armed ship,
would float, and there would be n seJ
fight What fun What lots of fun
When pestilence came, in order to ap
pease the gods, in this Colosseum n sac
rifice would be made, and the people
would throng that great nmphitheater
shouting THE Christians 10 the wilC
beastsl" and there would be a cracking
Of human bones in the jaws Of leonin,
ferocity.
But all this was to be. stopped. BY
the outraged sense of public decency'
No. There is only one thing that hai
ever stopped cruelty and sin, and tina
Is Christianity, and 1t was Christianity
whether you like its form or not, tina
stopped this massacre Of centuries. On,
day while in the Colosseum Roman
victory was being celebrated and 100,
900 enraptured spectators were looking
down upon two gladiators in the aren't
stabbing and slicing each other :,
death, an Asiatic monk by the name O
Telemachus was so overcome by th,
cruelty that he leaped from the gallery
into the arena, and ran in between tn,
two swordsmen and pushed first on,
back and then the other, and broke VI
the contest OF course the audienc,
was affronted at having their spor
stopped, and they hurled stones at th'
head OF Telemachus until he fell deat
In the arena But when the day wa
passed, and the passions Of the peopl'
had cooled of, they deplored the mar
tyrdom Of the brave and Christian Tel
lemachus, and as q result OF the over
done cruelty the human sacrifices o
the Colosseum were forever abolished
| What good thing, soy you, tina
such cruelties have ceased Ny friends
the same spirit of ruinous amusement