CHAPTER XVIII
"So I gave them up unto their own heart's lust: and they walkedin their own counsels."--PSALMS LXXXI. 12.
In the meanwhile the stage-hands, the smiths and carpenters had beenbusily at work, setting the scene for the coming drama.
Huge gnarled tree-trunks were dragged into the arena, and so disposed asto afford shelter either for man or beast. By a mechanical device astream of water some six foot wide was made to wind its course along thesands, and groups of tall reeds and other aquatic plants were skilfullyarranged beside the banks of this improvised stream.
Soon the whole aspect of the arena was thus transformed into an openpiece of country with trees here and there, and tufts of grass, moundsand monticules, with a stream and a reed-covered shore. The wholebeautifully arranged and with due regard for realism.
The people watched, highly pleased; now that the Emperor's pet pantherhad appeared they were satisfied that a spectacle such as they loved wasabout to be unfolded before them.
But soon the workmen were engaged on other work, the purport of whichcould not at first be guessed. To understand it at all a vivid pictureof the huge arena must appear before the mind.
Down below there was the artificial landscape, the trees, the stream,the sand and grass, and all around the massive marble walls rose to aheight of some twelve feet to the lowest tier of the tribunes, beyondwhich sat row upon row in precipitous gradients two hundred thousandspectators.
At about four feet from the ground a narrow ledge--formed by theelaborate carving in the solid marble--ran right along the walls, andbetween this ledge and the top of the wall there was a low colonnadedarcade with deep niches set between the fluted columns.
From these niches the workmen now suspended short ladders of twistedcrimson silk, of sufficient strength to bear the weight of a man. Theyaffixed these to heavy steel rings imbedded in the bases of the columns,and when the ladders were in position, they hung down low enough, that aman--standing on the ledge below--could just contrive to seize the endsand to swing himself aloft, up into the niche.
The public watched these preparations with breathless interest, for soontheir objects became evident. It was clear that those who were to beexposed to an encounter with the panther would be given a fair chance ofescape. It was to be an even fight between man and beast.
A man hotly pursued by the brute could--if he were sufficientlyagile--leap upon the narrow ledge, seize the rope-ladder and climb up ituntil he reached the safe haven of the niche, and could draw the ladderin after him. And fear of death doth lend a man wondrous agility.
It looked in fact as if the coming struggle were all to be in favour ofthe man and not of the beast, for the smooth surface of the walls andthe narrow ledge above the carvings could not afford foothold to anenraged four-footed creature with sharp claws that would glance off thepolished marble.
The public--realising this--waxed impatient. The novel spectacle didnot, after all, promise to be to its liking. The panther would make buta sorry show if it was not given a helpless victim or two to devour.
Murmurs of dissatisfaction rose from every side as the work proceeded,and anon when all round the walls of the arena, the twelve ladders ofsafety were firmly fixed, seeming mutely to deride the excitement of thepeople, the murmur broke into angry cries.
But Caligula did not seem to heed either the murmur or those loudexpressions of discontent which, at other times, would probably havemaddened him with rage. He had watched the preparations with eagerinterest and had himself once or twice shouted directions to theworkmen.
Now, when everything appeared complete, he turned to the tribune whichwas next to his own, and his small bloodshot eyes wandered over theassembly of patricians, of knights and of senators who were seatedthere.
He called my lord Hortensius Martius to him and appeared to be pointingout to him the advantages of the rope-ladders with obvious pride in theingenuity of the device. Young Escanes too was bidden to admire thecontrivance, which--it soon became evident--was the invention of theCaesar himself.
The public--still feeling dissatisfied--watched desultorily for a whilethe doings in the imperial tribune. Then general interest was once morearoused, when the workmen--slaves and legionaries--having finished theirpreparations, hurried helter-skelter out of the arena.
The sliding doors of the panther's cage were being slowly drawn away.
For a few seconds the powerful brute remained wary, silent and cowering,then with one mighty, savage snarl it bounded into the arena.
Supple, graceful and splendid it walked round in solemn majesty, itsflat head kept low to the ground, its sinuous body curving and windingas it walked, like that of a snake.
The public watched it, fascinated by the perfect grace of its movementsand by the cruel ferocity of its tiny eyes.
Now at the eastern end of the Amphitheatre a small iron gate slowlyswung upon its hinges, and in the dark recess beyond it a couple of menappeared. For a moment they stood there immovable, a closely huddledmass, shoulder to shoulder, with round open eyes dilated with fear and acry of nameless terror still hovering unuttered on their lips.
They were hugely built men, with massive torso and legs bare, andtow-coloured hair brought straight up to the crown of the head andknotted there with a black band.
There was much shouting from the recess whence they had emerged, andanon some vigorous prodding and pushing from behind. But they dug theirbare feet into the sand, refusing to move; arm against arm they made ofthemselves a wall which fear of death kept rigid and horror madeunbreakable.
The public greeted them with mock applause. In them they had quicklyrecognised the German barbarians whom the Caesar had brought back fromhis last expedition as prisoners of war; in truth they were hardenedmalefactors who had been offered a chance of life in exchange for thepitiable masquerade. But this the public did not know. To the twohundred thousand holiday-makers, craning their necks to see themiserable wretches, they were but the living proofs of the Caesar'sprowess in the field. With ironical cheers they were bidden to advance,even whilst at no great distance from them the black panther sitting onits haunches was surveying them with lazy curiosity, licking its mightyjaws.
Then the public grew impatient, and from the recess behind the two menpersuasion became more vigorous. Through the darkness behind the gatesthere appeared the red glow of a brazier, there was a quick hissingsound, an awful double howl of pain and the smell of burnt flesh filledthe air. The next moment the two men fell scrambling forward into thearena, and the iron gate closed behind them with a thud.