This time the amphitheater was silent. The Augustans
rose in their places, as one man, for in the arena something
uncommon had happened. That Lygian, obedient and
ready to die, when he saw his queen on the horns of the
wild beast sprang up as if touched by living fire, and 25
bending forward he ran at the raging animal.
From all breasts a sudden cry of amazement was heard,
after which came deep silence.
The Lygian fell on the raging bull in a twinkle, and seized
him by the horns. 30
"Look!" cried Petronius, snatching the toga from the
head of Vinicius.
The latter rose; his face was as pale as linen, and he looked
into the arena with a glassy, vacant stare.
All breasts ceased to breathe. In the amphitheater a fly
might be heard on the wing. People could not believe their
own eyes. Since Rome was Rome, no one had seen such a 5
spectacle.
The Lygian held the wild beast by the horns. The man's
feet sank in the sand to his ankles, his back was bent like a
drawn bow, his head was hidden between his shoulders, on
his arms the muscles came out so that the skin almost 10
burst from their pressure; but he had stopped the bull in
his tracks. And the man and the beast remained so still
that the spectators thought themselves looking at a picture
showing a deed of Hercules or Theseus, or a group hewn
from stone. 15
But in that apparent repose there was a tremendous
exertion of two struggling forces. The bull sank his feet
as well as did the man in the sand, and his dark, shaggy
body was curved so that it seemed a gigantic ball.
Which of the two would fail first, which would fall first,—that 20
was the question for those spectators enamored of such
struggles; a question which at that moment meant more
for them than their own fate, than all Rome and its lordship
over the world.
That Lygian was in their eyes then a demigod worthy of 25
honor and statues. Cæsar himself stood up as well as
others. He and Tigellinus, hearing of the man's strength,
had arranged this spectacle purposely, and said to each
other with a jeer, "Let that slayer of Croton kill the
bull which we choose for him"; so they looked now with 30
amazement at that picture as if not believing that it
could be real.
In the amphitheater were men who had raised their
arms and remained in that posture. Sweat covered the
faces of others, as if they themselves were struggling with
the beast. In the Circus nothing was heard save the
sound of flame in the lamps, and the crackle of bits of coal 5
as they dropped from the torches. Their voices died on
the lips of the spectators, but their hearts were beating
in their breasts as if to split them. It seemed to all that
the struggle was lasting for ages. But the man and the
beast continued on in their monstrous exertion; one 10
might have said that they were planted in the earth.