wards, each tier coming out far beyond the one above it; so that between the lowest and the outer wall there was room for a great variety of chambers, passages, and vaults around the central space, called the arena.

1

Altogether, when full, this huge building held no fewer than 87,000 spectators! It had no roof; but when there was raiu, or if the sun was too hot, the sailors in the 'porticos unfurled awnings that ran along upon ropes, and formed a covering of silk and gold tissue over the whole. Purple was the favourite colour for this veil; because, when the sun shone through it, it cast such beautiful rosy tints on the snowy arena and the white purple-edged togas of the Roman citizens.

When the emperor had seated himself and given the signal, the sports began. Sometimes a rope-dancing elephant would begin the entertainment, by mounting even to the summit of the building and descending by a cord. Or a lion came forth with a jewelled crown on his head, a diamond necklace round his neck, his mane plaited with gold, and his claws gilded, and played a hundred pretty gentle antics with a little hare that danced fearlessly within his grasp.

Sometimes water was let into the arena, à ship sailed in, and falling to pieces in the midst, sent a crowd of strange animals swimming in all directions. Sometimes the ground opened, and trees came growing up through it, bearing golden fruit. Or the beautiful old tale of Orpheus2 was acted: these trees would follow the harp and song of the musician; but to make the whole part complete-it was in no mere play, but in real earnest, that the Orpheus of the piece fell a prey to live bears.

For the Coliseum had not been built for such harmless spectacles as those first described. The fierce Romans wanted to be excited and to feel themselves strongly stirred; and, presently, the doors of the pits and dens around the arena were thrown open, and 'absolutely savage beasts were let loose upon one another— ⚫rhinoceroses and tigers, bulls and lions, ·leopards and wild boars -while the people watched with ferocious curiosity to see the various kinds of attack and defence, their ears at the same time being delighted, instead of horror-struck, by the roars and howls of the noble creatures whose courage was thus misused.

Wild beasts tearing each other to pieces might, one would think, satisfy any taste for horror; but the spectators needed even nobler game to be set before their favourite monsters;men were brought forward to confront them. Some of these were, at first, in full armour, and fought hard, generally with

success. Or hunters came, almost unarmed, and gained the victory by swiftness and dexterity, throwing a piece of cloth over a lion's head, or disconcerting him by putting their fist down his throat.

But it was not only skill, but death, that the Romans loved to see; and condemned criminals and deserters were reserved to feast the lions, and to entertain the populace with their various kinds of death. Among those condemned was many a Christian martyr,3 who witnessed a good confession before the

savage-eyed multitude around the arena, and "met the lion's gory mane" with a calm 'resolution and a hopeful joy that the lookers-on could not understand. To see a Christian die, with upward gaze, and hymns of joy on his tongue, was the most strange and unaccountable sight the Coliseum could offer; and it was therefore the choicest, and reserved for the last of the spectacles in which the brute creation had a part.

The carcasses were dragged off with hooks, the blood-stained sand was covered with a fresh clean layer, perfume was wafted in stronger clouds, and a procession came forward-tall, well

made men, in the prime of their strength. Some carried a sword and a lasso, others a trident and a net; some were in light armour, others in the full, heavy equipment of a soldier; some on horseback, some in chariots, some on foot. They marched in, and made their obeisance to the emperor; and with one voice their greeting sounded through the building: "Hail, Cæsar; those about to die salute thee!" They were the gladiators—the swordsmen trained to fight to the death to amuse the populace. Fights of all sorts took place, the light-armed soldier and the netsman-the lasso and the javelin-the two heavy-armed warriors, all combinations of single combat, and sometimes a general mêlée. When a gladiator wounded his adversary, he shouted to the spectators, "He has it !" and looked up to know whether he should kill or spare. When the people held up their thumbs, the conquered was left to recover, if he could; if they turned them down, he was to die: and if he showed any 'reluctance to present his throat for the death-blow, there was a scornful shout, "Receive the steel !" Many of us must have seen

casts of that most touching statue of the wounded glad'iator, that called forth from Byron these noble lines of indignant pity:

I see before me the gladiator lie:

He leans upon his hand; his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony;
And his drooped head sinks gradually low;
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one,
Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now
The arena swims around him-he is gone,

:

"He heard it, but he heeded not; his eyes

Were with his heart, and that was far away:
He recked not of the life he lost, nor prize;

But where his rude hut by the Danube lay-
There were his young barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian' mother-he their sire,
Butchered to make a Roman holiday.-

All this rushed with his blood.-Shall he expire,
And unavenged?—Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire!"

5

Christianity, however, worked its way upwards, and at last was professed by the emperor on his throne. Persecution came to an end, and no more martyrs fed the beasts in the Coliseum. The Christian emperors endeavoured to prevent any more shows where cruelty and death formed the chief interest, and no truly religious person could endure the spectacle; but custom and love of excitement prevailed even against the emperor. They went on for fully a hundred years after Rome had, in name, become a Christian city, and the same customs prevailed wherever there was an amphitheatre or pleasure-loving people.

Meantime the enemies of Rome were coming nearer and nearer. Al'aric, the great chief of the Goths, led his forces into Italy, and threatened the city itself. Hono'rius, the emperor, was a cowardly, almost idiotic boy; but his brave general, Stil'icho, assembled his forces, met the Goths at Pollen'tia (about twentyfive miles from where Turin now stands), and gave them a complete defeat, on Easter-day of the year 403. He pursued them to the mountains, and for that time saved Rome.

In the joy of victory, the Roman Senate invited the conqueror and his ward Honorius to enter the city in triumph, at the opening of the new year, with the white steeds, purple robes, and vermilion cheeks with which, of old, victorious generals were welcomed at Rome. The churches were visited instead of the Temple of Jupiter, and there was no murder of the captives; but Roman bloodthirstiness was not yet allayed, and, after the procession had been completed, the Coliseum shows commenced, innocently at first, with races on foot, on horseback, and in chariots; then followed a grand hunt of beasts turned loose in the arena; and next a sword-dance. But after the sword-dance came the arraying of swordsmen, with no blunted weapons, but with sharp spears and swords—a gladiator combat in full earnest. The people, enchanted, applauded with shouts of ecstasy this gratification of their savage tastes.

Suddenly, however, there was an interruption. A rude,

roughly-robed man, bareheaded and barefooted, had sprung into the arena, and, waving back the gladiators, began to call aloud upon the people to cease from the shedding of innocent blood, and not to requite God's mercy, in turning away the sword of the enemy, by encouraging murder. Shouts, howls, cries, broke in upon his words; this was no place for preachings—the old customs of Rome should be observed-" Back, old man!”—“ On, gladiators!"

י!

The gladiators thrust aside the meddler, and rushed to the attack. He still stood between, holding them apart, striving in vain to be heard. "Sedition! sedition! "Down with him!" -was the cry; and the prefect in authority himself added his voice. The gladiators, enraged at interference with their 'vocation, cut him down. Stones, or whatever came to hand, rained upon him from the furious people, and he perished in the midst of the arena! He lay dead; and then the people began to reflect upon what had been done.

His dress showed that he was one of the hermits who had vowed themselves to a life of prayer and self-denial, and who were greatly reverenced, even by the most thoughtless. The few who had previously seen him, told that he had come from the wilds of Asia on pilgrimage, to visit the shrines and keep his Christmas at Rome. They knew that he was a holy man-no more: it is not even certain what his name was. But his spirit had been stirred by the sight of thousands flocking to see men slaughter one another, and in his simple-hearted zeal he had resolved to stop the cruelty, or die.

His work was done. The

He had died, but not in vain. shock of such a death before their eyes turned the hearts of the people; they saw the wickedness and cruelty to which they had blindly surrendered themselves; and since the day when the hermit died in the Coliseum, there has never been another fight of gladiators. Not merely at Rome, but in every province of the empire, the custom was utterly abolished; and one habitual crime at least was wiped from the earth by the self-devotion of one humble, obscure, and nameless man. A Book of Golden Deeds. amuse'

abolished, destroyed'.

ab'solutely, pos'itively.

admirably, ex'cellently.

ag'ony, suffering.

amphitheatres, cir'cuses. awn'ings, can'opies. blood'thirstiness,

for slaugh'ter.

car casses, dead bod'ies.

desire

condemned', sen'tenced to entertainment,

death.

confront', encoun'ter.

descend'ing, going down.
dexter'ity, cleverness.
disconcert'ing, confus'ing.
ec'stasy, rap'ture.
enchant'ed, delight'ed.
endeavoured, attempt'ed.

equipment, out'fit. [ment.
excitement, sensation.
gal'leries, tiers.
inhu'man, mer'ciless.
in'nocently, harm'lessly.
leop'ards, spot'ted an'imals.
mêlee' (mā-lā), confused'

fight.