Ancient Roman Beast-fighter.
demned persons, who were mostly exposed to the furj' of the animals unclothed, unarmed, and sometimes bound (Cicero, Pro Sext. G4 ; Ep. ad Quint. Frat. ii, G ; Seneca, De Benef. ii, 19; Tertull. AjtoK 9). Political offenders especially were so treated, and Josephus {War, vii, 3, 1) records that no less than 2500 Jews
were destroyed in the theatre at Caesarea by this and similar methods. The expression as used by Paul is usually taken as metaphorical, both on account of the (iualif3'ing words /car' a'l'SjjwTroi', "after the man- ner of a man," the absence of all reference to the oc- currence in the Acts, and the rights of citizenship which he enjoyed : none of these arguments can be held to be absolutely conclusive, while, on the other hand, the term Q]\MO[uixiiv is applied in its literal sense in the apostolical epistles (Ignatius, ad Eph. 1 ; ad Trail. 10; Mart. Pohjc. 3; comp. Euseb. E. II. iv, 15), and, where metaphorically used (Ignatius, ad Pom. 5), an explanation is added which implies that it would otherwise have been taken literalh'. Certain!}' Paul was exposed to some extraordinary suffering at Ephe- sus, which he describes in language borrowed from, if not descriptive of, a real case of (irjnio^iaxia ; for ho speaks of himself as a criminal condemned to death (tindavuTiovc, 1 Cor. iv, 9 ; c'nroKpij.ta tov Vapa-ov In- XilKaj^itp, 2 Cor. i, 9), exhibited previously to the exe- cution of the sentence (c'lTvictt'^ei', 1 Cor. /. c), reserved to the conclusion of the games (taxuTOvc), as was usual with the theriomachi ("novissimos elegit, velut bestiari- os," Tertull. Be Pudic. 14), and thus made a spectacle (Q'tarpov tyti')')9iii.tti'). Lightfoot {Exeixit. on 1 Cor. XV, 32) points to the friendliness of the asiarchs at a subsequent jieriod (Acts xix, 31) as probabh' resulting from some wonderful preservation which they had wit- nessed. Nero selected this mode of executing the Christians at Rome, with the barbarous aggravation that the victims were dressed up in the skins of beasts (Tacitus, Ann. xv, 44). Paul may possibly allude to his escaps from such torture in 2 Tim. iv, 17. As none but the vilest of men were in general devoted to these beast-fights, no punishment could be more con- dign and cruel than what was frequenth' inflicted on the primitive Christians, when thej' were huiTied away "to the lions" (as the phrase was), merely for their lidelity to conscience and to Christ its Lord. Ephesus appears to have had some unenviable distinction in these brutal exhibitions (Schleusner, Lex. s. v.), so that there is a peculiar propriety in the language of the apostle.
Of these beast-fights the Romans were passionately fond. The number of animals which appear to have been from time to time engaged in them is such as to excite in the reader's mind both pity and aversion. Sylla, during his praetorship, sent into the arena no fewer than 100 lions, which were butchered bj^ beings wearing the human shape. Pompey caused the de- struction in this way of 600 lions. On the same occa- sion there perished nearh' twenty elephants. These numbers, however, are small compared with the butch- ery which took place in later periods. Under Titus, 5000 wild and 4000 tame animals, and in the reign of Trajan, 11,000 ani- mals, are said to have been destroyed. Sec Smith, Diet, of Class. Ant. s. V. Bestiarii.
(2.) The fights of the gladiators with one another was also a common practice at Rome. I!" began B. C. 2G4, and increased to such a fearful ex- tent that on a single occasion, in honor of the tiium]ih of the emperor Trajan over the Dacians, 10,000 gladiators fought for the amusement of the people. They
were at first com- ^c^t Figm-e of the famous Gladia- posed of captives or tor Batou.
GAMES
'732
GAMES
condomned malefactors, but afterwards, as the passion for lilood grew stronger, free-born citizens, men of no- ble birth, and even women, fought after this ftishion. Tlie spectators betted on their favorite gladiators with much the same feelings as tiiev betted on the favor- it3 horses which ran before them in the circus. See Smith, Diet, of Class. Ant. s. v. Gladiatores.
The games and theatrical exhibitions of the heathen were regarded by the early Christians with as strong disapprobation as thej^ were hy the Jews generally, and for better reasons (Neander's Church Hist, i, 365, § iii). National antagonism to everj-thing foreign as such had much effect in producing Jewish opposition to the games. It was as ministering in themselves and by their attendant circumstances to the lusts of the flesh and of the eye, as producing almost of ne- cessity a cruel temper in the beholders, and running counter to the moral feeling, modesty, and sobriety of the Christian character, that the public spectacles and games of the heathen were ranked among those pomps and vanities which the Christians were obliged to renounce by their baptismal vow. Even the bet- ter-minded among the heathen regarded these games -with disapproval. Pliny the consul speaks with ap- proval of Junius Mauricius, who expressed an earnest ■VN'ish that they could be abolished at Rome (Pliny's Letters, iv, 22) ; nor does Tacitus appear to treat them with much greater respect (Hist, iii, 83). Rome add- ed to the Greek example features of cruelty which were unknown in the original Grecian games ; and there Avas one feature of difference between the Gre- cian and Roman games which rendered the former a much more fitting illustration of the Christian life than the latter were, namely, that in the Grecian games the most eminent men in the land came forward and con- tended personally for victory, while in Rome the most eminent men were merely spectators of the contests of their inferiors (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap, xl, p. 11). Diomede and Menelaus, Antilochus and Ajax, and Ulysses, the kings, great warriors, and wise men of the Grecian states, deemed it an honor to contend for victory in their countries' games, and even old Nestor, the Homeric type of perfection in the qualities of mind and body, regretted that his years prevented him from joining in the glorious strife (Iliad, xxiii, G34) ; but " a senator, or even a citizen, conscious of his dignity, would have blushed to expose his person or his horses in the circus of Rome." See Smith's Diet, of Class. Ant. s. V. Ludi.