of a bull with so violent a stroke
that the point of the weapon comes out at the animal's back; and another
has just brought down and impaled a bear; a dog is leaping at the throat
of a fugitive wild boar and biting him; and, in this ferocious
menagerie, peopled with lions and panthers, two rabbits are scampering
about, undoubtedly to the great amusement of the throng. The Romans were
fond of these contrasts, which furnished Galienus an opportunity to be
jocosely generous. "A lapidary," says M. Magnin, "had sold the emperor's
wife some jewels, which were recognized to be false; the emperor had the
dishonest dealer arrested and condemned to the lions; but when the
fatal moment came, he turned no more formidable creature loose upon him
than a capon. Everybody was astonished, and while all were vainly
striving to guess the meaning of such an enigma, he caused the _curion_,
or herald, to proclaim aloud: "This man tried to cheat, and now he is
caught in his turn.""

I have described the hunts at Pompeii; they were small affairs compared
with those of Rome. The reader may know that Titus, who finished the
Coliseum, caused five thousand animals to be killed there in a single
day in the presence of eighty thousand spectators. Let us confess,
however, that with this exhibition, of tigers, panthers, lions, and wild
boars, the provincial hunts were still quite dramatic.

I now come to the gladiatorial combats. To commence with the
preliminaries of the fight, a ring-master, with his long staff in his
hand, traces the circle, within which the antagonists must keep. One of
the latter, half-armed, blows his trumpet and two boys behind him hold
his helmet and his shield. The other has nothing, as yet, but his shield
in his hand; two slaves are bringing him his helmet and his sword. The
trumpet has sounded, and the ring-master and slaves have disappeared.
The gladiators are at it. One of them has met with a mishap. The point
of his sword is bent and he has just thrown away his shield. The blood
is flowing from his arm, which he extends toward the spectators, at the
same time raising his thumb. That was the sign the vanquished made when
they asked for quarter. But the people do not grant it this time, for
they have turned the twenty thousand thumbs of their right hands
downwards. The man must die, and the victor is advancing upon him to
slaughter him.

Would you like to see an equestrian combat? Two horsemen are charging on
each other