General History for Colleges and High Schools

by P. V. N. Myers

SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN.—Until after her marriage, the daughter of the family was kept in almost Oriental seclusion. Marriage gave her a certain freedom. She might now be present at the races of the circus and the various shows of the theatre and the arena, a privilege rarely accorded to her before marriage. In the early virtuous period of the Roman state, divorce was unusual, but in later and more degenerate times, it became very common. The husband had the right to divorce his wife for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all. In this disregard of the sanctity of the family relation, may doubtless be found one cause of the degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.—The entertainments of the theatre, the games of the circus, and the combats of the amphitheatre were the three principal public amusements of the Romans. These entertainments in general increased in popularity as liberty declined, the great festive gatherings at the various places of amusement taking the place of the political assemblies of the republic. The public exhibitions under the empire were, in a certain sense, the compensation which the emperors offered the people for their surrender of the right of participation in public affairs,—and the people were content to accept the exchange.

Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome: the people saw too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheatre to care much for the make-believe tragedies of the stage. The entertainments of the theatres usually took the form of comedies, farces, and pantomimes. The last were particularly popular, both because the vast size of the theatres made it quite impossible for the actor to make his voice heard throughout the structure, and for the reason that the language of signs was the only language that could be readily understood by an audience made up of so many different nationalities as composed a Roman assemblage.

More important and more popular than the entertainments of the theatre were the various games, especially the chariot races, of the circus. But surpassing in their terrible fascination all other public amusements were the animal-baitings and the gladiatorial combats of the arena.

The beasts required for the baitings were secured in different parts of the world, and transported to Rome and the other cities of the empire at an enormous expense. The wildernesses of Northern Europe furnished bears and wolves; Africa contributed lions, crocodiles, and leopards; Asia elephants and tigers. These creatures were pitted against one another in every conceivable way. Often a promiscuous multitude would be turned loose in the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then ensued, became at last too tame to stir the blood of the Roman populace. Hence a new species of show was introduced, and grew rapidly into favor with the spectators of the amphitheatre. This was the gladiatorial combat.

THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS.—Gladiatorial games seem to have had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. It was a custom among the early Etruscans to slay prisoners upon the warrior's grave, it being thought that the spirit of the dead delighted in the blood of such victims. In time the condemned prisoners were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being deemed more humane than their cold-blooded slaughter. Thus it happened that sentiments of humanity gave rise to an institution which, afterwards perverted, became the most inhuman of any that ever existed among a civilized people.

The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two sons at the funeral of their father, in the year 264 B.C. This exhibition was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that time no amphitheatres in existence. From this time the public taste for this species of entertainment grew rapidly, and by the beginning of the imperial period had mounted into a perfect passion. It was now no longer the manes of the dead, but the spirits of the living, that they were intended to appease. At first the combatants were slaves, captives, or condemned criminals; but at last knights, senators, and even women descended into the arena. Training-schools were established at Rome, Capua, Ravenna, and other cities. Free citizens often sold themselves to the keepers of these seminaries; and to them flocked desperate men of all classes, and ruined spendthrifts of the noblest patrician houses. Slaves and criminals were encouraged to become proficient in this art by the promise of freedom if they survived the combats beyond a certain number of years.

[Illustration: GLADIATORS. (After an old Mosaic.)]

Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs; again great companies engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, on horseback, on foot— in all the ways that soldiers were accustomed to fight in actual battle. The contestants were armed with lances, swords, daggers, tridents, and every manner of weapon. Some were provided with nets and lassos, with which they entangled their adversaries, and then slew them.

The life of a wounded gladiator was in the hands of the audience. If in response to his appeal for mercy, which was made by outstretching the forefinger, the spectators reached out their hands with thumbs turned down, that indicated that his prayer had been heard and that the sword was to be sheathed; but if they extended their hands with thumbs turned up, that was the signal for the victor to complete his work upon his wounded foe. Sometimes the dying were aroused and forced on to the fight by burning with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the arena with hooks, like the carcasses of animals, and the pools of blood soaked up with dry sand.