CHAPTER XI. Bears Sports and Combats in the Circus and Amphitheatre; in which So general was the passion for these diversions, that scarcely any camp or military station was without them. The people chose rather to live on bread and water in Rome, than lose these sights. Every savage animal that could be procured in the forests of Asia or Africa, was brought to be hunted: no cost was spared to fetch them. The shows were designed for the honour of Diana†. "All that with potent teeth command the plain, All that run horrid with erected mane; Or proud of stately horns or bristling hair, At once the forest's ornament and fear; * Spelt also oryx, oryges. † Rees's "Amph." See Kennett, Part II. B. V. Ch. II. from which severa of these extracts are taken. CHAP. XI. |