Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
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Seneca: His Character <strong>and</strong> Environment<br />
if<br />
they were not permitted to descend into the arena,<br />
scorning to fight except with<br />
the most powerful antagonists,<br />
laughing<br />
aloud at their wounds when<br />
dressed, <strong>and</strong> at last, when prostrate in the dust, calmly<br />
turning their throats to the sword <strong>of</strong> the conqueror.<br />
The enthusiasm that gathered round them was so in<br />
tense that special laws were found necessary, <strong>and</strong><br />
were sometime insufficient, to prevent patricians from<br />
enlisting in their ranks, while the tranquil courage<br />
with which they never failed to die. supplied the<br />
philosopher with his most striking examples. The<br />
severe continence that was required before the com<br />
bat, contrasting vividly with the licentiousness <strong>of</strong><br />
Roman life, had even invested them with something<br />
<strong>of</strong> a moral dignity; <strong>and</strong> it is a singularly suggestive<br />
fact, that, <strong>of</strong> all<br />
pagan characters, the gladiator was<br />
selected by the fathers as the closest approximation<br />
to a Christian model. St. Augustine tells us how<br />
one <strong>of</strong> his friends, being drawn to the spectacle, en<br />
deavored by closing his eyes to guard against a fasci<br />
nation that he knew to be sinful. A sudden cry<br />
caused him to break his resolution, <strong>and</strong> he never<br />
could withdraw his gaze again."<br />
The Roman people clung with amazing tenacity<br />
to this gruesome sport. Nero instituted, in a private<br />
way, games after the Grecian model, <strong>and</strong> Hadrian<br />
made a similar effort on a larger scale; but the publictook<br />
litttle interest in them while sturdy Romans<br />
protested against these Hellenic corruptions.<br />
I have dwelt somewhat at length on this singular