ties.
To surprise them in their solitary haunts, and to transport them to
Rome, that they might be slain in pomp by the hand of an emperor, was
an enterprise equally ridiculous for the prince and oppressive for the
people. Ignorant of these distinctions, Commodus eagerly embraced the
glorious resemblance, and styled himself (as we still read on his medals
) the Roman Hercules. * The club and the lion's hide were placed by the
side of the throne, amongst the ensigns of sovereignty; and statues were
erected, in which Commodus was represented in the character, and with
the attributes, of the god, whose valor and dexterity he endeavored to
emulate in the daily course of his ferocious amusements.

Elated with these praises, which gradually extinguished the innate sense
of shame, Commodus resolved to exhibit before the eyes of the Roman
people those exercises, which till then he had decently confined within
the walls of his palace, and to the presence of a few favorites. On the
appointed day, the various motives of flattery, fear, and curiosity,
attracted to the amphitheatre an innumerable multitude of spectators;
and some degree of applause was deservedly bestowed on the uncommon
skill of the Imperial performer. Whether he aimed at the head or heart
of the animal, the wound was alike certain and mortal. With arrows whose
point was shaped into the form of crescent, Commodus often intercepted
the rapid career, and cut asunder the long, bony neck of the ostrich. A
panther was let loose; and the archer waited till he had leaped upon
a trembling malefactor. In the same instant the shaft flew, the beast
dropped dead, and the man remained unhurt. The dens of the amphitheatre
disgorged at once a hundred lions: a hundred darts from the unerring
hand of Commodus laid them dead as they run raging round the Arena.
Neither the huge bulk of the elephant, nor the scaly hide of the
rhinoceros, could defend them from his stroke. AEthiopia and India
yielded their most extraordinary productions; and several animals
were slain in the amphitheatre, which had been seen only in the
representations of art, or perhaps of fancy. In all these exhibitions,
the securest precautions were used to protect the person of the Roman
Hercules from the desperate spring of any savage, who might possibly
disregard the dignity of the emperor and the sanctity of the god. ^

But the meanest of the populace were affected with shame and indignation
when they beheld th