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The Ediles at first superintended these cruel sports; after. wards the Prætors, and Commodus at length, assigned this care to the Quæstors.

The Emperors, either for the sake of pleasure, or in order to gain the friendship of the people, exhibited such shews on their birth-days, at the dedications of public edifices, at triumphs, before they set out upon any warlike expedition, after a victory, and upon other solemn occasions. Suetonius relates, that Tiberius gave two combats of gladiators, one in honour of his father, and the other in honour of Drusus.

Some time before the day appointed for the combat, those who presided over the games, gave notice to the people, by bills posted up in certain places, in which were mentioned the kind of gladiators who were to be exhibited, their names, and the marks by which they might be distinguished; for each assumed a certain mark, such as the feathers of the pea cock, or of other birds. They specified, also the duration of the spectacle, and how many pairs of gladiators there would be, because they were always coupled. All this was some times represented in paintings exposed in public.

On the day appointed for the spectacle, two kinds of arms were brought up to the arena; one of which were knotty cudgels, or wooden files named rudes, but the other were real arms, such as swords, poignards, cutlasses &c. The first kind were called arma lusoria, sporting weapons: and the second, arma decretoria, arms decreed, because they were given by a decree of the Prætor, or of the person who defrayed the expence of the spectacle. The gladiators began by fencing with the first weapons, which were, as it were, a kind of prelude; after which, they took the second, and fought either naked, or in a sort of jackets. The first kind of combat was called præludere, to sport; the second, care at certum, to fight in earnest. As soon as the blood began to flow from the gladiator, the people cried out "he is wounded;" and if at that moment the combatant laid down his arms, it was concluded that he acknowledged himself to be vanquished; his life, however, depended upon the spectators, or the person who presided over the games; but if the Emperor entered at that instant, he saved him, either simply, or on condition that, if he recovered of his wounds, he should not be exempted from fighting again.

In the ordinary course of things, the people decided concerning the life and death of the wounded gladiator: if he displayed great courage and address, they always saved him; but if he behaved cowardly, and shewed timidity, he was generally devoted to destruction. When the people intendad to save the life of a gladiator, they held up their hands,

with the thumb bent down under the fingers; and when they pronounced his sentence of death, it was sufficient to shew their hands with the thumb raised up, and directed towards the unhappy victim. The wounded gladiators knew so well this last signal, that they were accustomed to present their throats as soon as they saw it, to receive the mortal stab. After they have expired, their bodies were dragged away from the arena, that such hideous objects might be concealed from the view of the spectators.

The fondness of the Romans for these brutal amusements, was carried at length to such a height, that Cicero introduced a law, that no person should exhibit a shew of gladiators within two years before he stood candidate for any public office. Julius Cæsar ordered, that only such a number of men of this profession should be in Rome at a time. Augus tus decreed, that only two shews of gladiators should be presented in a year, and never above sixty pair of combatants in a shew; and Tiberius provided, by an order of the Senate, that no person should have privilege of gratifying the people with such an entertainment, unless he was worth four hundred thousand sesterces. But the inclination of several emperors for this sanguinary sport, ruined the state, by increasing so barbarous a practice. Nero, according to Suetonius, made several Roman Knights and Senators appear in these tragical seenes, obliging them either to fight with one another, or against wild beasts. Dion assures us that there were people base enough to offer to fight among the gladiators, in order to please the prince: even princes themselves exercised this infamous profession; for we are told that the Emperor Commodus assumed the office of a gladiator, and fought with wild beasts.

We ought not to be surprised so much at the length of time which these sports continued, as at the degree of refinement to which they were carried. The gladiators were not only instructed in their art with the greatest care, and die in a graceful posture, but different kinds of murdering weapons were invented, with which these wretches destroyed one another; and in these, such a combination was sought, as might render their combats slower and more terrible. But what may appear still more astonishing is, they were even fed with barley cakes, and other kinds of food, proper for rendering them corpulent, in order that the blood might flow more slowly from the wounds they received, which gave the spectators an opportunity of enjoying their agony longer.

OF THE POWER OF CUSTOM.

Custom is not ill defined to be another Nature, and certainly there is not any thing so much mistress of our inclinations and manners, or that hath so long a being with mankind. Therefore it is with so much difficulty persons change their notions of policy or religion, which have been established in their minds from their early infancy; their opinions, however wrong, seem true, and the pleasing familiarity with them takes off all those deformities which another may behold. From hence it is that almost every nation censures the laws, customs, and doctrines of every other as strange and unjust; but are confirmed in their own follies beyond a possibility of conviction. The difference of customs and laws of nations is so prodigious, that it may not be unpleasant to instance some, which are esteemed by those who are educated in them as entirely consistent with justice, humanity and politeness. There are a people who account it the greatest act of tenderness, piety, and religion to kill their parents when they come to such an age, and then eat them. There are kingdoms where children have no right to inheritance, and brothers and nephews are accounted the next heirs; where chastity in unmarried women is in no esteem; they may lawfully, and without loss of reputation, be prostitutes, yet, when married, they are miracles of chastity and fidelity to their husbands. Where they never have any marriages, and therefore children only own their mothers, not being able to guess at the father. Where women are looked on with such contempt, that they kill all the native women and purchase wives of their neighbours to supply their use. Where it is the fashion to turn their backs on him they salute, and never look upon the man they intend to honour. Where the greatest beaus stink most, and instead of a ribband they wear cross their shoulders as a badge of honour, the guts of a sheep. It would be endless to quote all the absurdities which Custom in different places warrants to be reasonable. By these instances we see the grossest follies are accounted sacred if customary, and the fashion handsome and agreeable, though never so shocking to an unbiassed spectator.

As custom and education have such strong prevalency over the minds of men, how careful should parents be in giving their children not a narrow confined method, but a generous and noble way of thinking; to teach them even from their

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youth, that there are errors, and that when, with an impartial inquiry, they find them, they should know how to retract them, and not to let the false step they made at their first setting out keep them in a wrong path through the whole journey of life afterwards; for too often, as Mr. Dryden tells us,

By education most men are misled,

We so believe, because we so were bred;
The priest continues what the nurse began,
And thus the child imposes on the man.

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The tythe he took scarce press'd his planched floor
He gave up all for comforts to the poor,
The rich approv'd him tho' he flattered not
But censured all where justice was forgot
Beside the church he kept a little school,
And every truant trembled at his rule,
The village children (for he lov'd them well)
Forgot their play when Goodwin left his cell,
Forgot to con rude rhymes upon the tomb
Or hunt the painted fly from bloom to bloom,
Nor pluck'd the butterflow'rs with cups of brass,
Nor pick'd the daisies-pi'd, from out the grass,
At his approach they drop'd their gigs and toys
And check'd the current of their wanton joys,
Marshall'd in rank the church-way path along
And lost in gravity the puerile song.
Respectful stood to do his rev'rence grace
And serap'd the foot, and bow'd the shining face,
Nor pass'd their loves unnoticed by the seer
To this a plumb he gave, to that a pear,
And yet severe he dealt the chast'ning birch
To those who talk'd too loud, or slept in church,
Where modest spinsters were on Sundays seen
.With mits and bibs as silver penny's clean,
To these he taught to shun the ways of strife
And learn the duties of the village wife,

While many a rustic from his pious tongue
Forgot to rove and toil'd to rear his young,
Nor spent by pot-house fire his labour's price
Like lazy sots the slaves of rags and vice,
In brief he liv'd so all the world might see
What heav'n approves, and ev'ry priest should be
Till bent with age his silver hairs no more
Could grace the scene his tongue had bless'd before,
Adown he sunk, unlike the sons of guile,
Squar'd with the world and left it with a smile:
He's gone they cry, the idol of the heart,
Who brake his loaf and gave the pilgrim part.
Our pastor's gone-and like the peaceful snail
Has left behind a long and shining trail:

Where spreading Yew-bows bend a sombre screen
These modest lines upon his stone are seen.

FINIRE VITAM,

Perhaps, hereafter when the turf below
Eternal silence wraps me in her vest,
Some kindred tongue may kindly ask to know
What mode of faith inspired a parent's breast.
These humble lines may serve in full to show,

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With Atheist infidel I never trod

Nor dealt the fires fanatic tongues bestow,

Nor smil'd concurrent to the sceptic's nod,
But charm'd with nature's laws,
Ador'd the great first cause,

* Look'd grateful round the world, and bless'd its God !

Still as if nature fear'd the spot should fade
Her brightest bounties are around display'd,
Unnumber'd daises when the spring appears
Dress his green sods, and shed their vernal tears,
And when the summer darts a burning ray
The stronger plants their broader leaves display:
The ample flow'r that loves the morning light
Here meets the sun and moans his loss at night,
The sacred holy-oak the demon's dread
Rears to'ard the village spire its bloomy head,
Mingles its beauties 'midst the funeral gloom
And sheds a fragrance round the good man's tomb,
Where sings the redbreast thro' the circling year
His tranquil requium 'till the stars appear.

Such was our priest, and still the rustic's tell
He can't be wrong who lives! and dies! so well.

T. N.

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