Some

 ancient  writers  on  gladiatorial  games:  

 
Seneca  (b.4  BC/1  CE-­‐d.  65  CE):  
I  turned  in  to  the  games  one  mid-­‐day  hoping  for  a  little  wit  and  humor  there.  I  was  bitterly  disappointed.  It  was  
really  mere  butchery.  The  morning's  show  was  merciful  compared  to  it.  Then  men  were  thrown  to  lions  and  to  
bears:  but  at  midday  to  the  audience.  There  was  no  escape  for  them.  The  slayer  was  kept  fighting  until  he  could  
be  slain.  "Kill  him!  flog  him!  burn  him  alive"  was  the  cry:  "Why  is  he  such  a  coward?  Why  won't  he  rush  on  the  
steel?  Why  does  he  fall  so  meekly?  Why  won't  he  die  willingly?"  Unhappy  that  I  am,  how  have  I  deserved  that  I  
must  look  on  such  a  scene  as  this?  Do  not,  my  Lucilius,  attend  the  games,  I  pray  you.  Either  you  will  be  corrupted  
by  the  multitude,  or,  if  you  show  disgust,  be  hated  by  them.  So  stay  away.  
 
Cicero,  Letter  to  Atticus  (Returning  from  Epirus)  Antium,  April,  56  BCE  
It  will  be  delightful  if  you  come  to  see  us  here.  You  will  find  that  Tyrannio  has  made  a  wonderfully  good  
arrangement  of  my  books,  the  remains  of  which  are  better  than  I  had  expected.  Still,  I  wish  you  would  send  me  a  
couple  of  your  library  slaves  for  Tyrannio  to  employ  as  gluers,  and  in  other  subordinate  work,  and  tell  them  to  
get  some  fine  parchment  to  make  title  pieces,  which  you  Greeks,  I  think,  call  "sillybi."  But  all  this  is  only  if  not  
inconvenient  to  you.  In  any  case,  be  sure  you  come  yourself,  if  you  can  halt  for  a  while  in  such  a  place,  and  can  
persuade  Pilia  to  accompany  you.  For  that  is  only  fair,  and  Tulia  is  anxious  that  she  should  come.  My  word!  You  
have  purchased  a  fine  troop!  Your  gladiators,  I  am  told,  fight  superbly.  If  you  had  chosen  to  let  them  out  you  
would  have  cleared  your  expenses  by  the  last  two  spectacles.  But  we  will  talk  about  this  later  on.  Be  sure  to  
come,  and,  as  you  love  me,  see  about  the  library  slaves.  
 
Dio  Cassius  (late  2nd/early  3rdc.  CE)  39.38.1-­‐4    
[translations  from  E.Cary,  Dio's  Roman  History  (Loeb  (1914)]  
 
During  these  same  days  Pompey  dedicated  the  theatre  in  which  we  take  pride  even  at  the  present  time.  In  it  he  
provided  an  entertainment  consisting  of  music  and  gymnastic  contests,  and  in  the  Circus  a  horse-­‐race  and  the  
slaughter  of  many  wild  beasts  of  all  kinds.  Indeed,  five  hundred  lions  were  used  up  in  five  days,  and  eighteen  
elephants  fought  against  men  in  heavy  armour.  Some  of  these  beasts  were  killed  at  the  time  and  others  a  little  
later.  For  some  of  them,  contrary  to  Pompey's  wish,  were  pitied  by  the  people  when,  after  being  wounded  and  
ceasing  to  fight,  they  walked  about  with  their  trunks  raised  toward  heaven,  lamenting  so  bitterly  as  to  give  rise  
to  the  report  that  they  did  so  not  by  mere  chance,  but  were  crying  out  against  the  oaths  in  which  they  had  
trusted  when  they  crossed  over  from  Africa,  and  were  calling  on  Heaven  to  avenge  them.  For  it  is  said  that  they  
would  not  set  foot  upon  the  ships  before  they  received  a  pledge  under  oath  from  their  drivers  that  they  should  
suffer  no  harm.  Whether  this  is  really  so  or  not  I  do  not  know;....  
   
 [22]  So  after  completing  the  new  forum  and  the  temple  to  Venus,  as  the  founder  of  his  family,  he  [Julius  Caesar]  
dedicated  them  at  this  very  time  and  in  their  honour  instituted  many  contests  of  all  kinds.  He  built  a  kind  of  
hunting-­‐theatre  of  wood,  which  was  called  an  amphitheatre  from  the  fact  that  it  had  seats  all  around  without  
any  stage.  In  honour  of  this  and  of  his  daughter  he  exhibited  combats  of  wild  beats  and  gladiators;  but  anyone  
who  cared  to  record  their  number  would  find  his  task  a  burden  without  being  able,  in  all  probability,  to  present  
the  truth;  for  all  such  matters  are  regularly  exaggerated  in  a  spirit  of  boastfulness.  I  shall  accordingly  pass  over  
this  and  other  like  events.....  
 
[23]...As  for  the  men,  he  not  only  pitted  them  one  against  another  singly  in  the  Forum,  as  was  customary,  but  he  
also  made  them  fight  together  in  companies  in  the  Circus,  horsemen  against  horsemen,  men  on  foot  against  
others  on  foot,  and  sometimes  both  kinds  together  in  equal  numbers.  There  was  even  a  fight  between  men  
seated  on  elephants,  forty  in  number.  Finally  he  produced  a  naval  battle;  not  on  the  sea  nor  on  a  lake,  but  on  
land;  for  he  hollowed  out  a  certain  tract  on  the  Campus  Martius  and  after  flooding  it  introduced  ships  into  it.  In  
all  the  contests  the  captives  and  those  condemned  to  die  took  part;  yet  some  even  of  the  knights,  and,  not  to  
mention  others,  the  son  of  one  who  had  been  praetor  fought  in  single  combat.  Indeed  a  senator  named  Fulvius  
Sepinus  desired  to  contend  in  full  armour,  but  he  was  prevented;  for  Caesar  deprecated  that  spectacle  at  any  
time,  though  he  did  permit  the  knights  to  contend.  The  patrician  boys  went  through  the  equestrian  exercise  
called  "Troy"  according  to  ancient  custom,  and  the  young  men  of  the  same  rank,  contended  in  chariots.  
 
[24]He  was  blamed,  indeed,  for  the  great  number  of  those  slain,  on  the  ground  that  he  himself  had  not  become  
sated  with  bloodshed  and  was  further  exhibiting  to  the  populace  symbols  of  their  own  miseries;  but  much  more  
faith  was  found  because  he  had  expended  countless  sums  on  all  that  array....In  order  that  the  sun  might  not  
annoy  any  of  the  spectators,  he  had  curtains  stretched  over  them  made  of  silk,  according  to  some  accounts.  
 
Dio  on  Titus  
1.  Most  that  he  did  was  not  characterized  by  anything  noteworthy,  but  in  dedicating  the  hunting  theatre  [The  
Amphiteatrum  Flavium,  later  known  as  the  Colosseum]  and  the  baths  that  that  bear  his  name  he  produced  many  
remarkable  spectacles.  There  was  a  battle  between  cranes  and  also  between  four  elephants;  animals  both  tame  
and  wild  were  slain  to  the  number  of  nine  thousand;  and  women  (not  those  of  any  prominence,  however)  took  
part  in  despatching  them.  
 
2.  As  for  the  men,  several  fought  in  single  combat  and  several  groups  contended  together  both  in  infantry  and  
naval  battles.  For  Titus  suddenly  filled  this  same  theatre  with  water  and  brought  in  horses  and  bulls  and  some  
other  domesticated  animals  that  had  been  taught  to  behave  in  the  liquid  element  just  as  on  land.  
 
3.  He  also  brought  in  people  on  ships,  who  engaged  in  a  sea-­‐fight  there,  impersonating  the  Corcyreans  and  
Corinthians;  and  others  gave  a  similar  exhibition  from  outside  the  city  in  the  grove  of  Gaius  and  Lucius,  a  place  
which  Augustus  had  once  excavated  for  this  very  purpose.  There,  too,  on  the  first  day,  there  was  a  gladiatorial  
exhibition  and  wild-­‐beast  hunt,  the  lake  in  front  of  the  images  having  first  been  covered  over  with  a  platform  of  
planks  and  wooden  stands  erected  around  it.  
 
4.  On  the  second  day  there  was  a  horse-­‐race,  and  on  the  third  day  a  naval  battle  between  three  thousand  men,  
followed  by  an  infantry  battle.  The  "Athenians"  conquered  the  "Syracusans"  (these  were  the  names  the  
combatants  used),  made  a  landing  on  the  islet  [i.e.,  Ortygia]  and  assaulted  and  captured  a  wall  that  had  been  
constructed  around  the  monument.  These  were  the  spectacles  that  were  offered,  and  they  continued  for  a  
hundred  days;  but  Titus  also  furnished  some  things  that  were  of  practical  use  to  the  people.  
 
5.  He  would  throw  down  into  the  theatre  from  aloft  little  wooden  balls  variously  inscribed,  one  designating  
some  article  of  food,  another  clothing,  another  a  silver  vessel  or  perhaps  a  gold  one,  or  again  horses,  pack-­‐
animals,  cattle  or  slaves.  Those  who  seized  them  were  to  carry  them  to  the  dispensers  of  the  bounty,  from  
whom  they  would  receive  the  article  named.  
 
Ausonius  (4thc.  CE)  
ECL.  23.33-­‐7  =  Athenaeus,  4.153f-­‐154a,  Loeb  trans  [quoting  Nicolaus  of  Damascus,  FGrH  90,  F78  =  FHG  iii.265]  
The  Romans  staged  spectacles  of  fighting  gladiators  not  merely  at  their  festivals  and  in  their  theatres,  borrowing  
the  custom  from  the  Etruscans,  but  also  at  their  banquets...some  would  invite  their  friends  to  dinner...that  they  
might  witness  two  or  three  pairs  of  contestants  in  gladiatorial  combat...when  sated  with  dining  and  drink,  they  
called  in  the  gladiators.  No  sooner  did  one  have  his  throat  cut  than  the  masters  applauded  with  delight  at  this  
fight.