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Habit demanded something more exciting; and the ready tragedy of a fish-pond filled with ravenous eels fed upon human flesh furnished the needed excitement. For men blasé with the spectacles of lions and tigers lacerating the bestiarii. It was much more exciting to witness a swarm of sea-eels tearing to pieces an awkward or rebellious slave.
Three bestiarii had thrust in their lances and held the lion back; others opened a gate and removed the dying gladiator. Herod, leaning over, beckoned to the master of the games. "A noble lion!" said he, his voice trembling. "Save him for the battle of the pit."
He had seen in circuses the terrible urus, brought from wildernesses of the north, against which the most daring bestiarii went with dread, and which yielded only to elephants in size and strength. "Hast thou tried to take such beasts by the horns?" inquired he, with astonishment. "Till the twentieth winter passed over me, I was afraid," answered Ursus; "but after that it happened."
Presently the arena was cleared, the sand reraked and the Bestiarii advanced Sarmatians, nourished on mares' milk; Sicambrians, their hair done up in chignons; horsemen from Thessaly, Ethiopian warriors, Parthian archers, huntsmen from the steppes, their different idioms uniting in a single cry "Caesar, we salute you."
The stoutest bestiarii declare they are willing enough to fight a boar or a bull; but as for a lion or a tiger, they think the game too much in earnest. 'They are worthy of a mitre, replied Julia, in disdain. 'Oh! have you seen the new house of Fulvius, the dear poet? said Pansa's wife. 'No: is it handsome? 'Very! such good taste. But they say, my dear, that he has such improper pictures!
From above descended the caresses of flutes; the air was sweet with perfumes, alive with multicolored motes; the terraces were parterres of blending hues, and into that splendor a hundred lions, their tasselled tails sweeping the sand, entered obliquely. The mob of the Bestiarii had gone.
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