are done as well as in their own. The inhabitants of Palmyra are as quick
as you could desire them to be, in catching the vices and fashions of the
great metropolis.

'Scipio, Scipio,' cried Gracchus suddenly to his charioteer, 'be not in
too great haste. It is in vain to attempt to pass that wagon, nay, unless
you shall be a little more reserved in your approaches, the paw of that
tawny Numidian will find its way to the neck of our favorite Arab. The
bars of his cage are over far apart.'

'I almost wish they were yet farther apart,' said I, 'and that he might
fairly find his way into the thickest of this foolish crowd, and take a
short revenge upon his civilized tormentors. What a spectacle is
this--more strange and savage, I think, looked upon aright, than that
which we are going to enjoy--of you, Gracchus, a pillar of a great
kingdom; of me, a pillar--a lesser one, indeed, but still a pillar--of a
greater kingdom; and of you, Fausta, a woman, all on our way to see wild
beasts let loose to lacerate and destroy each other, and what is worse,
gladiators, that is, educated murderers, set upon one another, to die for
our entertainment. The best thing I have heard of the Christian
superstition is, that it utterly denounces and prohibits to its disciples
the frequenting of these shows. Nothing to me is plainer than that we may
trace the cruelties of Marius, Sylla, and their worthy imitators through
the long line of our Emperors, to these schools where they had their
early training. Why were Domitian and his fly worse than Gracchus, or
Piso, or Fausta, and their gored elephant, or dying gladiator?'

'You take this custom too seriously,' replied Gracchus. 'I see in it, so
far as the beasts are concerned, but a lawful source of pleasure. If they
tore not one another in pieces for our entertainment, they would still do