ions even women of quality
contended publicly. The excellent Marcus Aurelius not only retrenched
the enormous expenses of these amusements, but ordered that gladiators
should contend only with blunt weapons. But they were not abolished
until some time after the introduction of Christianity. Constantine
published the first edict which condemned the shedding of human blood,
and ordered that criminals condemned to death should rather be sent to
the mines than reserved for the service of the amphitheatre. In the
reign of Honorius, when he was celebrating with magnificent games the
retreat of the Goths and the deliverance of Rome, an Asiatic monk, by
name Telemachus, had the boldness to descend into the arena to part
the combatants. "The Romans were provoked by this interruption of
their pleasures, and the rash monk was overwhelmed under a shower of
stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they respected
the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honors of martyrdom,
and they submitted without a murmur to the laws of Honorius, which
abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre." This
occurred A.D. 404. It was not, however, until the year 500 that the
practice was finally and completely abolished by Theodoric.

Some time before the day appointed for the spectacle, he who gave it
(_editor_) published bills containing the name and ensigns of the
gladiators, for each of them had his own distinctive badge, and
stating also how many were to fight, and how long the show would last.
It appears that like our itinerant showmen they sometimes exhibited
paintings of what the sports were to contain. On the appointed day the
gladiators marched in procession with much ceremony into the
amphitheatre. They then separated into pairs, as they had been
previously matched. An engraving on the wall of the amphitheatre at
Pompeii seems to represent the beginning of a combat. In the middle
stands the arbiter of the fight, marking out with a long stick the
space for the combatants. On his right stands a gladiator only half
armed, to whom two others are bringing a sword and helmet. On the left
another gladiator, also only partly armed, sounds the trumpet for the
commencement of the fight; whilst behind him two companions, at the
foot of one of the Victories which enclose the scene, are preparing
his helmet and shield.

[Illustration: EXAMINING THE WOUNDED.]

At first, however, they contended only with staves, call