The emperors usually assisted at the games of the circus and the Hippodromus. Before the combatants were placed crowns and garments for the vic

tors.

They who ran in the circus knew the name, the pedigree, the country, and the education of the horses, and the victories which they had gained. They often cast their eyes upon the emperor, to see whether he approved their performance, and whether they might hope for the prize: they paid little regard to the applauses of the people. The number of the spectators was so great, that not only the sides of the circus, but the windows and roofs of the neighbouring houses were crouded with them. Many women of no reputation and boys were there to be seen.

In the Hippodromus the racers struggled violently to obtain the prize, and to overturn the chariots which were before them. Our preacher mentions a sad accident at Constantinople in the Hippodromus.

"The disaster of yesterday hath attracted the attention of all the city. The women ran thither in droves, and nothing was to be heard but outcries and lamentations, when the body of the dead youth was carried along. On the next day he was to be married, and all was prepared for the nuptials, when the herald told him that it was his turn to run in the Hippodromus. In the midst of the course, being attacked by his antagonists, he was flung down, and the other chariots ran over him and killed him."

It

appears

The Olympic Games *.

that they were then in vogue, and cele

T

me

P

"

tains

brated

Sent

acted

* I know of no author who hath informed us when the Olympic games, and other games of the same kind ceased.

In these games,

brated after great preparations. when the combatant hath prepared himself during thirty days, in the city, he is carried to the suburbs, and the herald proclaims, Can any one accuse this person of being a slave, or a robber, or a man of an infamous life? If he was even suspected of being a slave, he could not be admitted to the combat.

The Athlete were quite naked, exposed to the beams of the sun. The spectators sat from midnight to the following midnight to know who should be victorious. During the night-time, the herald was very attentive to hinder any of the combatants from stealing away in the dark and disgracing him

self.

The Master of the Games animated the combatants, being himself out of the place of battle. It was not permitted to him to come up to them, or to assist them. any other way than by exhortation. In these combats the wrestler, the boxer, the Pancratiastes who went through all the Gymnic exercises, were engaged many times over; but as soon as they were victors, the herald complimented them on their success.

Sometimes youths, probably boys of quality, were chosen to be Agonothetæ, masters or presidents of the Gymnic combats, or of the musical performances, or Thallophori, so called because they carried branches in

their hands.

The Theatres.

"The theatres were adorned with veils or curtains. Many actors came upon the stage, to represent some fabulous or some ancient history. One acted a philosopher, another a king, &c."

He

He often inveighs against the spectacles of the theatre, and not without reason, not only because the actions represented made young persons soft and effeminate, but because no regard was paid to modesty and to decency.

"You see there a boy, with his hair cast behind, affecting by his looks, his dress, and his gestures, the appearance of a girl. An old man, on the contrary, hath his head close shaved, and casting off all shame along with his hair, holds out his cheeks to every one, to give him slaps on the face, and is ready to say and to do any thing.'

"

Women also appeared bare-headed. Their discourses were incentives to debauchery, and their aim was to destroy modesty and chastity. Add to this the musical instruments accompanying their voice, and the dramatic representations, all concurring to the same vile purpose.

"You see a woman making her appearance on the stage, barefaced and with all imaginable impudence, arrayed with a golden robe, and remarkable by her wanton airs, her obscene songs, and her filthy discourses."

Sometimes these actresses shewed themselves naked; and in the theatre there was a large bath, where they used to swim in the sight of the assembly.

Of the Rope-dancers.

This exercise was very frequent in the east. The ropes were fastened in such an oblique manner, that there was no walking upon them, except by ascending or descending. The least sidecast of the eye, or the smallest inattention, gave the dancers a fall into the orchestra, which cost them their lives. They no

longer

longer observed the precaution of the good emperor Marcus Aurelius, who caused clothes to be spread under the dancers, to save them from harm; nor the practice of hanging up nets, as Capitolinus informis us, for the same humane purpose. In the time of Theodosius there were neither men on horseback, nor elephants walking upon the rope, which had been practised in former times, as some writers affirm.

"Some, says our author, after having walked on the rope, laid themselves down upon it, and pulled off their clothes, as though they had been going to bed, and then put them on again; a spectacle from which some turned away their eyes, and which made others tremble at the sight of so perilous an action."

Other extraordinary performances.

"There were persons, who being drawn up above the Orchestra, made use of their limbs, as of wings, to fly. Others cast naked swords up into the air, and as they fell, caught them by the handle.

Some put a pole on their forehead, which remains erect and steady, as though it were a tree growing in the ground; and 'which is stranger still, on the top of this pole there are little boys who fight together. He who carrieth the pole, useth neither his hands, nor any part of his body to support it, whilst it remains thus immoveable."

What is more difficult, says he, than to play at bowls in the midst of swords? It is not easy to explain the situation of these swords, or wherein the difficulty consisted. But he speaks of it as of an exercise practised in his days, and very dangerous.

At Antioch there were people who kept lions, and made them quite tame. They led them about the city,

and

and shewed them for money, and it was a profitable trade. When it happened that these beasts, as yet untamed, brake loose from their master's house, all the doors were shut up in the neighbourhood, and the walkers in the streets were obliged to run, and trust to their heels.

Enchantments, Divinations, Prestiges, Auguries,

Presages.

It is surprising to find in our author how much the easterns in general, particularly the Antiochians, were addicted to these superstitious follies. Some made use of enchantments and ligatures to cure the diseased. Others, to protect themselves from danger, repeated certain verses, and employed certain bandages. Others tied to their head or to their feet golden medals of Alexander the Great *, hoping that the image of this Pagan prince would be serviceable to them. It may be supposed that this was practised only by those who still continued addicted to Paganism. Alexander, says Elian, wanted to be acknowledged as the thirteenth god; for the Greeks, as well as the Romans, held twelve superior gods. But there were many Christians at Antioch who still had some remains of Paganism.

"As soon as children are born, the women light lamps, and give the infants the name of some longlived person, to procure them the same blessing; and yet it so happens that they often die in their infancy. They put into their hands a sistrum, and rat

tles,

* I suspect that their using as an amulet the medal of Alexander, arose partly from the etymology of the name, which comes from drežew, to assist, to succour.