Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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" " Seneca: His Character and Environment to the spectacle. Nor was any form of human suffer ing wanting. The first Gordian. when edile, gave twelve spectacles, in each of which from one hundred and fifty to five hundred pair of gladiators appeared. Eight hundred pair fought at the triumph of Aurelian. Ten thousand men fought during the games of Trajan. Nero illumined his gardens dur ing the night by Christians burning in their pitchy shirts. Under Domitian, an army of feeble dwarfs was compelled to fight, and more than once female gladiators descended to perish in the arena." So intense was the craving for blood, that a prince was less unpopular if he neglected the distribution of corn than if he neglected the games; and Nero him self, on account of his munificence in this respect, was probably the sovereign who was most beloved by the Roman multitude." It is well for us to look steadily on such facts these. They display more vividly than any mere philosophical disquisition the abyss of depravity into which it is possible for human nature to sink. They furnish us with striking proofs of the reality of the moral progress we have attained, and they enable in some degree to estimate the regenerating influence that Christianity has exercised in the world. For the destruction of the gladiatorial games is all its work. Philosophers, indeed, might deplore them, gentle natures might shrink from their contagion, but to the multitude they possessed a fascination which nothing but the new religion could overcome." 41 as us
Seneca: His Character and Environment How deeply the virulent poison of inhumanity and the insatiable thirst for blood had infected the Roman people is further evident, not only from the means employed to make these sanguinary spectacles as fascinating as possible, but also from the impress they made upon the current phraseology. further: "No Lecky says pageant has ever combined more power ful elements of attraction. The magnificent circus, the gorgeous dresses of the assembled court, the con tagion of a passionate enthusiasm thrilling almost visibly through tbe mighty throng, the breathless si lence of expectation, the wild cheers bursting simul taneously from eighty thousand tongues, and echoing to the fartherest outskirts of the city, the rapid alter nations of the fray, the deeds of splendid courage that were manifested, were all well fitted to entrance the imagination. The crimes and servitude of the gladiator were for a time forgotten in the blaze of glory that surrounded him. Representing to the highest degree that courage which the Romans deemed the first of virtues, the cynosure of countless eyes, the chief object of conversation in the metrop olis of the universe, destined, if victorious, to be im mortalized in the mosaic and the sculpture, he not unfrequently rose to heroic grandeur Beautiful eyes, trembling with passion, looked down upon the fight, and the noblest ladies of Rome, even the empress herself, had been known to crave the victor s love. We read of gladiators lamenting that the games occurred so seldom, complaining bitterly
Page 2: THEQL STACK
Page 7 and 8: Between Heathenism and Christianity
Page 9 and 10: " PREFACE. It is admitted by s
Page 11 and 12: Preface In the following pages I ha
Page 13 and 14: CONTENTS, ....... PAGE. PBEFAOE ...
Page 15 and 16: SENECA: HIS CHARACTER AND ENVIRONME
Page 17 and 18: " " Seneca: His Character
Page 19 and 20: Seneca: His Character and Environme
Page 29 and 30: " No Seneca: His Character and
Page 33 and 34: " Seneca: His Character and En
Page 47: " The Seneca: His Character an
Page 67 and 68: SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SEN
Page 69 and 70: Selections from the Writings of Sen
Page 83 and 84: De Providentia untouched, I shall u
Page 85 and 86: " Why De Providentia gence and
Page 87 and 88: De Providentia may gain real streng
Page 89 and 90: De Providentia enough for the immor
Page 91 and 92: De Providentia down his arms forthw
Page 93 and 94: De Providentia well-known exemplar
Page 95 and 96: De Providentia prove by these thing
Page 97 and 98: De Provldenda to thee when thou wer
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<J5 De Providentia ingly the
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De Providentia V. Add, now, that it
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De Providentia nor am I God s slave
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" " Good De Providentia I
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" " count what others lon
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" For De Providentia found in
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De Providentia "The first whic
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Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
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" Plutarch and the Greece of H
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eformer. Plutarch and the Greece of
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" " The Delay of the Deit
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" To The Delay of the Deity wi
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The Delay of the Deity vices, He ad
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The Delay of the Deity nature, to h
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The Delay of the Deity may turn to
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" " " The Delay of t
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The Delay of the Deity Sikyonians a
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" We The Delay of the Deity ag
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The Delay of the Deity are allowed
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The Delay of the Deity 11. If then
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The Delay of the Deity wished might
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The Delay of the Deity to what is p
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The Delay of the Deity son from his
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" You " Do " "
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The Delay of the Deity conjured up
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Pindar says? 197 The Delay of the D
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The Delay of the Deity to be a vill
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The Delay of the Deity distances fr
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The Delay of the Deity the souls of
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The Delay of the Deity cation and p
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The Delay of the Deity the white. H
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The Delay of the Deity offer suppli
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The Delay of the Deityfalling into
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The Delay of the Deity is intrinsic
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Appendix VOLUME III. De E apud Delp
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Appendix cited by their Latin title
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