BOOK III



THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION




CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION



THE death of a Vestal, except from old age, was always regarded
by the Roman populace as a sign of the gods' disfavor. The death
of a young Vestal, sudden, unexpected and unexplained, could not
but cause great uneasiness throughout all classes of the population.

Moreover, gladiatorial exhibitions were part of the Roman public
worship, which largely proceeded on the naive assumption that the
gods liked just about what men liked and that, the best way to please
the gods and win their favor was to delight them with such spectacles
as men enjoyed, acrobatic exhibitions, dramas, beast-fights, fights
of beasts with men or of men with men, chariot-races and similar
exciting displays, and so put the gods in a good humor. This
underlying theory of diverting spectacles as a species of prayer
and as the most effective kind of prayer was not so much definitely
expressed by the Romans, as tacitly and unconsciously assumed.
It was, nevertheless, entirely real and all Romans felt every public
show as an act of public worship, as a hallowed function.