"Not a man of you dare move. Stand where you are."
The guards, a batch of whom were stationed at each postern by which the attendants entered and left the arena, ran towards the Emperor. He ordered them to summon all their fellows from all through the Colosseum and when their chief officer approached him gave orders that they form a cordon behind the cages and see to it that no man of those who had been getting out the cages should escape.
While this was being done the spectators had reseated themselves, the inanimate had been revived and even Marcia had recovered consciousness and composure and, with her guests was as before their fright.
When all were in order Commodus ordered:
"Let out another lion!"
The overseer in charge of the cages and the officer of the guards demurred.
"Do as I tell you!" Commodus browbeat the overseer. To the officer he said:
"If I, with only a tunic and club, am not afraid of a lion charging me, you and your men, in armor and with shields and swords ought not to be afraid." "We are not," the officer declared, "we are concerned for you, not for ourselves."
"Pooh!" said Commodus. "If I could kill the first handily when I was not expecting him, I can kill all the rest the same way when I know what is coming. A lion, by that sample, is as easy to dodge and club dead as an ostrich or easier. Send me another."
Another was let out amid the dead silence of the dazed and astounded spectators. Commodus killed the second as handily as the first.