Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/137

CHAP. IV.
_____the habit and arms of the *secutor,' whose combat with the * retiarius' formed one of the most hvely scenes in the bloody sports of the amphitheatre. The secutor was armed with an helmet, sword, and buckler: his naked antagonist had only a large net and a trident ; with the one he endeavoured to entangle, with the other to despatch, his enemy. If he missed the first throw, he was obhged to fly from the pursuit of the secutor, till he had prepared his net for a second cast^[1]. The emperor fought in this character seven hundred and thirty-five several times. These glorious achievements were carefully recorded in the pubhc acts of the empire ; and that he might omit no circumstance of infamy, he received from the common fund of gladiators, a stipend so exorbitant, that it became a new and most ignominious tax upon the Roman people^[2]. It may be easily supposed, that in these engagements the master of the world was always successful : in the amphitheatre his victories were not often sanguinary; but when he exercised his skill in the school of gladiators, or his own palace, his wretched antagonists were frequently honoured with a mortal wound from the hand of Commodus, and obliged to seal their flattery with their blood^[3]. He now disdained the appellation of His infamy and extravagance.Hercules. The name of Paulus, a celebrated secutor, was the only one which delighted his ear. It was inscribed on his colossal statues, and repeated in the redoubled acclamations^[4] of the mournful and applauding senate^[5]. Claudius Pompeianus, the virtuous husband of Lucilla, was the only senator who asserted the honour of his rank. As a father, he permitted his sons to consult their safety by attending the amphitheatre. As a Roman, he declared, that his own life was in the

1. Lipsius, 1. ii. c. 7, 8. Juvenal, in the eighth satire, gives a picturesque description of this combat.
2. Hist, Aug. p. 60; Dion, 1. Ixxii. p. 1220. He received, for each time, decies, about eight thousand pounds sterling.
3. Victor tells us, that Commodus only allowed his antagonists a leaden weapon, dreading, most probably, the consequences of their despair.
4. They were obliged to repeat six hundred and twenty-six times, " Paulus, first of the secutors," etc.
5. Dion, 1. Ixxii. p. 1221. He speaks of his own baseness and danger.