152

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap, blance, and styled himself (as we still read on hisIV ' _ medals' 1 ) the Roman Hercules. The club andthe lion’s hide were placed by the side of thethrone, amongst the ensigns of sovereignty; andstatues were erected, in which Commodus wasrepresented in the character, and with the attri-butes of the god, whose valour and dexterity heendeavoured to emulate in the daily course ofhis ferocious amusements . 1

Commodus Elated with these praises, which graduallyextinguished the innate sense of shame, Com-theatre Phi ’ moc ^ us resolved to exhibit, before the eyes ofthe Roman people, those exercises, which tillthen he had decently confined within the wallsof his palace, and to the presence of a few fa-vourites. On the appointed day, the variousmotives of flattery, fear, and curiosity, attractedto the amphitheatre an innumerable multitudeof spectators; and some degree of applause wasdeservedly bestowed on the uncommon skill ofthe imperial performer. Whether he aimed atthe head or heart of the animal, the wound wasalike certain and mortal. With arrows whosepoint was shaped into the form of a crescent,Commodus often intercepted the rapid career,and cut asunder the long bony neck of the os-trich . 15 A panther was let loose; and the archerwaited till he had leaped upon a trembling ma-lefactor. In the same instant the shaft flew, thebeast dropt dead, and the man remained unhurt.

” Spanheim deNumismat. Dissertat. xii, tom. ii, p. 493.

‘ Dion, 1. lxxii, p. 1210. Hist. August, p. 49.

k Tile ostrich’s neck is three feet long, and composed of seventeenvertebra:. See Button, Hist. Naturelle.