lives were chequered with good and evil fortunes. Nemesis was supposed to lie in wait particularly for the prudent; that is, for those whose caution rendered them accessible only to mere accidents: and her first altar was raised on the banks of the Phrygian Aesepus by Adrastus, probably the prince of that name who killed the son of Croesus by mistake. Hence the goddess was called Adrastea1).

The Roman Nemesis was sacred and august: there was a temple to her in the Palatine under the name of Rhamnusia 2): so great indeed was the propensity of the ancients to trust to the re volution of events, and to believe in the divinity of Fortune, that in the same Palatine there was a temple to the Fortune of the day 5). This is the last superstition which retains its hold over the human heart; and from concentrating in one object the credulity so natural to man, has always appeared strongest in those unembarrassed by other articles of belief. The antiquaries have supposed this goddess to be synonymous with Fortune and with Fate 4): but it was in her vin dictive quality that she was worshipped under the name of Nemesis.

59.

I see before me the Gladiator lie.

Stanza cxl. line 1. Whether the wonderful statue which suggested

1) Dict. de Bayle, article Adrastea.

2) It is enumerated by the regionary Victor.

3) Fortunae hujusce diei. Cicero mentions her, de Legib. lib. ii.

4)

DEAE NEMESI

SIVE FORTUNAE

PISTORIVS

RYGIANVS

V. C. LEGAT.

LEG. XIII. G.
CORD.

See Quaestiones Romanae, etc. ap. Graev. Antiq. Roman, tom v. p. 942. See also Muratori, Nov. Thesaur. Inscript. Vet tom. i. p. 88, 86, where there are three Latin and one Greek inscription to Nemesis, and others to Fate.

this image be a laquearian gladiator, which in spite of Winkelmann's criticism has been stoutly niaintained 1) or whether it be a Greek herald, as that great antiquary positively asserted 2), or whether it is to be thought a Spartan or barba rian shield-bearer, according to the opinion of his Italian editor 3), it must assuredly seem a copy of that masterpiece of Ctesilaus which re presented a wounded man dying who perfectly expressed what there remained of life in him 4).» Montfaucon 5) and Maffei 6) thought it the identical statue; but that statue was of bronze. The gladiator was once in the villa Ludovici, and was bought by Clement XII. The right arm is an entire restoration of Michael Angelo 7).

60.

He, their sire,

Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday.

Stanza cxli. lines 6 and 7.

Gladiators were of two kinds, compelled and voluntary; and were supplied from several conditions; from slaves sold for that purpose; from

1) By the Abate Bracci, dissertazione supra un clipeo votivo, the Preface, pag. 7. who accounts for the cord round the neck, but not for the horn, which it does not appear the gladiators themselves ever used. Note A, Storia delle Arti, tom. ii. P. 205.

2) Either Polifontes, herald of Lajus, killed by Oedipus; or Ce. preas, herald of Euritheus, killed by the Athenians when he endeavoured to drag the Heraclidae from the altar of mercy, and in whose honour they instituted annual games, continued to the time of Hadrian; or Anthemocritus, the Athenian. herald, killed by the Megarenses, who never recovered the impiety. See Storia delle Arti, etc. tom. ii. pap. 203. 204, 205, 206, 207, lib. ix. cap. ii.

3) Storia, etc. tom. 1. p. 207. Not. (A.)

4)

Vulneratum deficientem fecit in quo possit intelligi quantum restet animae. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. cap. 8. 5, Antiq. tom. iii. par. 2. tab. 155.

6) Racc. stat. tab. 64.

7) Mus. Capitol. tom. iii. p. 154. edit. 1755.

culprits; from barbarian captives either taken in war, and, after being led in triumph, set apart for the games, or those seized and condemned as rebels; also from free citizens, some fighting for hire (auctorati), others from a depraved ambition at last even knights and senators were exhibited, a disgrace of which the first tyrant was naturally the first inventor 1). In the end, dwarfs, and even women, fought; an enormity prohibited by Severus. Of these the most to be pitied un doubtedly were the barbarian captives; and to this species a Christian writer 2) justly applies the epithet innocent, to distinguish them from the professional gladiators. Aurelian and Claudius sup plied great numbers of these unfortunate victims; the one after his triumph, and the other on the pretext of a rebellion 3). No war, says Lipsius 4), was ever so destructive to the human race as these sports. In spite of the laws of Constantine and Constans, gladiatorial shows survived the old established religion more than seventy years; but they owed their final extinction to the courage of a Christian. In the year 404, on the kalends of January, they were exhibiting the shows in the Flavian amphitheatre before the usual immense concourse of people. Almachius or Telemachus, an eastern monk, who had travelled to Rome intent on his holy purpose, rushed into the midst of the area, and endeavoured to separate the com. batants. The praetor Alypius, a person incredibly attached to these games 5), gave instant orders

1) Julius Caesar, who rose by the fall of the aristocracy, brought Farius Leptinus and A. Calenus upon the arena. 2) Tertullian "certe quidem et innocentes gladiatores in ludum veniunt, et voluptatis publicae hostiae fiunt. Just. Lips. Saturn. Sermon. lib. ii. cap. iii.

сар.

5) Vopiseus, in vit. Aurel, and in vit. Claud. ibid.

4) Credo imò scio nullum bellum tantam cladem vastitiemque generi humano intulisse, quam hos ad voluptatem ludos.» Just. Lips. ibid. i. cap. xii.

5) Augustinus (lib. vi. confess, cap. viii.), "Alypium suum gla diatorii spectaculi inhiatu incredibiliter abreptum,» scribit. ib. lib. i. cap. xii.

o the gladiators to slay him; and Telemachus gained the crown of martyrdom, and the title of saint, which surely has never either before or since been awarded for a more noble exploit. Ho. norius immediately abolished the shows, which were never afterwards revived. The story is told by Theodoret 1) and Cassiodorus 2), and seems worthy of credit notwithstanding its place in the Roman martyrology 3). Besides the torrents of blood which flowed at the funerals, in the amphi theatres, the circus, the forums, and other public places, gladiators were introduced at feasts, and tore each other to pieces amidst the supper tables, to the great delight and applause of the guests. Yet Lipsius permits himself to suppose the loss of courage, and the evident degeneracy of mankind, to be nearly connected with the abolition of these bloody spectacles 4).

61.

Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise Was death or life, the playthings of a crowd. Stanza cxliii. lines 6 and 6.

When one gladiator wounded another, he shouted, "he has it," "hoc habet," or "habet... The wounded combatant dropped his weapon, and advancing to the edge of the arena, supplicated the spectators. If he had fought well, the people saved him; if otherwise, or as they happened to be inclined, they turned down their thumbs, and he was slain.

1) Hist. Eccles. cap. xxvi. lib. v.

2) Cassiod. Tripartita, 1. x. c. xi. Saturn. ib. ib.

3) Baronius, ad ann. et in notis ad Martyrol. Rom. 1. Jan. See Marangoni delle memorie sacre e profane dell' Anfiteatro Flavio, p. 25. edit. 1746.

4) Quod non tu Lipsi momentum aliquod habuisse censes ad virtutem? Magnum. Tempora nostra, nosque ipsos videamus. Oppidum ecce unum alterumve captum, direptum est; tu multus circa nos, non in nobis: et tamen concidimus et turbamur. Ubi robur, ubi tot per annos meditata sapientiae studia? ubi ille animus qui possit dicere, si fractus illabatur orbis, etc. ibid. lib. ii. cap. xxv The prototype of Mr. Windham's panegyric on bull-baiting.

They were occasionally so savage that they were impatient if a combat lasted longer than ordinary without wounds or death. The emperor's presence generally saved the vanquished: and it is recorded as an instance of Caracalla's ferocity, that he sent those who supplicated him for life, in a spectacle at Nicomedia, to ask the people; in other words, handed them over to be slain. A similar cere mony is observed at the Spanish bullfights. The magistrate presides; and after the horsemen and piccadores have fought the bull, the matadore steps forward and bows to him for permission to kill the animal. If the bull has done his duty by killing two or three horses, or a man, which last is rare, the people interfere with shouts, the ladies wave their handkerchiefs, and the animal is saved. The wounds and death of the horses are accompanied with the loudest acclamations, and many gestures of delight, especially from the female portion of the audience, including those of the gentlest blood. Every thing depends on habit. The author of Childe Harold, the writer of this note, and one or two other Englishmen, who have certainly in other days borne the sight of a pitched battle, were, during the summer of 1809, in the governor's box at the great amphitheatre of Santa Maria, opposite to Cadiz. The death of one or two horses completely satisfied their curiosity. A gentleman present, observing them shudder and look pale, noticed that unusual reception of so delightful a sport to some young ladies, who stared and smiled, and continued their applauses as another horse fell bleeding to the ground. One bull killed three horses off his own horns. He was saved by acclamations, which were redoubled when it was known he belonged to a priest.

An Englishman who can be much pleased with seeing two men beat themselves to pieces, cannot bear to look at a horse galloping round an arena with his bowels trailing on the ground, and turns from the spectacle and the spectators with horror and disgust.