The Sun. — 1863-12-10 (London, England)

LITERATURE.  Th. Gladiators. A Tale of Rome and Judaea. By G. J. Whyte Melville, author of "Digby Grand," &c. Three Vols. Longman. The author of "Digby Grand" and " Holmby House" has here adventured upon an ambitious task. In this new work—a classical and historical novel —he has endeavoured to bring before us the pomps and luxuries of Imperial Rome, when Vitellius degraded the purple, and the sanguinary conflicts of the amphitheatre were the chief deligt,t of the Roman citizens. Although there are flaws in the picture, here and there, the result has been suffi• ciently successful. Types of the various characters of that memorable period of imperial history, are portrayed with a very discriminative hand. There is Licinius the commander of the Tenth Legion, a noble Roman well worthy of his name, and Julius Placidus, the Tribune, a man of craft and cunning but of marvellous astuteness and sagacity—a man who could join con amore in the luxurious banquets of the Caesar while planning with the gladiators for the assassination of his host. There is Hippies, the chief of that formidable band, the fencing-master and favourite of the maids and matrons of Rome—the degenerate daughters of Lucretia and Cornelia. There is old Hirpinus, one of the band, a favourable exception to his class. There are Clams and Damasippus, the freed-men and fawning flatterers of Placidus, and others of their class. Contrasted with these despicable myrmidons are Eleazar, the Jew—the Lion of Judah, a stern, unyielding, uncompromising son of Israel—and his aged brother Catches, the Christian, who boldly and unflinchingly bears witness to the truth, whether he be a prisoner in the Roman camp, or a stranger among the fiery gladiators, or an accused before the formidable council of his own people—the Sanhedrim. The chief hero of the book is Esca, a youthful British chieftain, who had been taken prisoner by the invading Romans, and sold I for a slave in Rome. Esca is described as of stalwart size and symmetrical figure, and is the admiration of all beholders. His dauntless, manly character is very incompatible with his position as a slave, and it is somewhat repugnant to our British sentiments to find a countryman in such an ignominious position, and apparently so well resigned to his degradation The heroines of the history do not find favour in. our eyes. Valeria, the haughty and beautiful patrician lady of Rome, surrounded by lovers of all ranks, on whom she turns a cold disdainful eye, is captivated at last by the graceful figure of the slave Esca, who is unmoved by her most unwomanly condescension. After attempting the murder of Placidus, in a scene of great dramatic power, in order to save her beloved from death, Valeria turns for consolation to the admiring Hippies, and from her elevated dignity sinks into the mistress of a gladiator ! Perhaps such a character and career may be true to the manners of that degraded epoch, but the picture is certainly not a pleasing one. The other heroine, the beloved of Esca, is Mariamne, the Jewish maiden, who, to save her lover fora death, betrays Jerusalem into the hands of the invaders! Truly Captain Whyte Melville's ideas of womanly devotion are not the most complimentary to the sex ! As a specimen of the eloquent style of the descriptions which abound in these volumes, here is a finished portrait of—