t the
games were at first connected with funerals, and that the theater was a
temple of Venus, under cover of which the games won a footing. That
would mean, then, that they were at first under a convention of time,
place, occasion, and religion. Correctly understood, therefore, what
happened at Rome was that the convention was broken over and the
exceptional rite was made the everyday usage, the religious sentiment
being disregarded and the sensual entertainment alone being valued. When
we have reached this point we can understand the original place of the
games within the intellectual horizon of the nation, and also the deep
demoralization which they caused in later times. They were consonant
with early Roman mores which were warlike. Cicero thought them an
excellent school to teach contempt for pain and death. He cited
gladiators as examples of bodily exercise, courage, and discipline. He
seems to have known that some disapproved of the exhibitions, and he was
disposed to agree with them if the gladiators were others than criminals
condemned to death.[2016] A usage which is consonant with the tastes,
mores, and world philosophy of a people need work no corruption on them,
for it is under taboos and conventions; but if all the restraints are
taken away it enters into their life for just what it is in its
character,--sensual, cruel, bloody, obscene, etc. What had been savage
and bloodthirsty when the Romans were warriors became base and cowardly
when they never risked their own blood in any way. Condemned criminals
were compelled to take roles in which they suffered torture and a
frightful death, in order to entertain the Roman crowd. Such roles were
Prometheus, Daedalus, Orpheus, Hercules, and Attys; Pasiphae and the
bull, and Leda and the swan were also enacted. In Martial's _Epigrams_,
Book I, the cases are mentioned where a woman fought with a lion;
Laureolus, a robber, was crucified and torn, as he hung on the cross, by
a bear; Daedalus, when his wing broke, was precipitated amongst bears who
tore him to pieces; and Orpheus was torn by a bear. These exhibitions
were recognized as indecencies.[2017] Later the exhibitions had no
limit.[2018] "From father to son, for nearly seven centuries, the Roman
character became more and more indurated under the influence of licensed
cruelty. The spectacle was also surrounded by the emperors, even the
greatest and best, for politic reasons, with ever growing
splendor."[2019] "It