Tacitus says, "Sed faeminarum
illustrium, senatorumque filiorum plures per arenam faedati
sunt," "But many sons of Senators, and even Matrons of the first
Rank, exposed themselves in this vile exercise." The execrable
custom of sacrificing captives or slaves at the tombs of their
masters and great men, which is still preserved among the negroes
of Africa, obtained also among the antients, Greeks as well as
Romans. I could never, without horror and indignation, read that
passage in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, which describes
twelve valiant Trojan captives sacrificed by the inhuman Achilles
at the tomb of his friend Patroclus.
Dodeka men Troon megathumon uias eathlous
Tous ama pantas pur eathiei.
Twelve generous Trojans slaughtered in their Bloom,
With thy lov'd Corse the Fire shall now consume.
Even Virgil makes his pious Hero sacrifice eight Italian youths
to the manes of Pallas. It is not at all clear to me, that a
people is the more brave, the more they are accustomed to
bloodshed in their public entertainments. True bravery is not
savage but humane. Some of this sanguinary spirit is inherited by
the inhabitants of a certain island that shall be nameless - but,
mum for that. You will naturally suppose that the Coliseo was
ruined by the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome:
