The ancient world, from the earliest times to 800 AD . of combat. Thousands of menfought at once in hostile armies. Sea fights were imitated on artificiallakes. Distant regions were scoured for new varieties of beasts to slayand be slain. Women entered the arena as gladiators, and dwarfs en-gaged one another in deadly combat. The wealthy aristocrats laid wagersupon the skill of their favorite gladiators, as with us at the prize ring. 630. The Danger of Exaggeration.^ — Yet it is certain that apicture from such materials alone is grossly misleading. There 1 Capes Early Empire, 223-227, has a wh
The ancient world, from the earliest times to 800 AD . of combat. Thousands of menfought at once in hostile armies. Sea fights were imitated on artificiallakes. Distant regions were scoured for new varieties of beasts to slayand be slain. Women entered the arena as gladiators, and dwarfs en-gaged one another in deadly combat. The wealthy aristocrats laid wagersupon the skill of their favorite gladiators, as with us at the prize ring. 630. The Danger of Exaggeration.^ — Yet it is certain that apicture from such materials alone is grossly misleading. There 1 Capes Early Empire, 223-227, has a wholesome statement about the dan*ger of exaggerating the evils. §630] MORALS 517 was much good, though it made less noise than the evil. Someold, rude virtues were going out of fashion; but new, gentlervirtues were coming in. The unexhausted populations of NorthItaly and of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, and the great middleclass over all the empire, remained essentially sound in like Juvenal (§ 628) or moralists like Tacitus (§ 628). The Way of Tombs at Pompeii. The higher stones, at the edge of the pavement, are * burial stones, each withits inscription. The inscriptions quoted on page 518 and in § 634 comemainly from these stones. are no more to be accepted as authority, without correction, thanracy wits and scolding preachers for our own day. On the whole, the first two centuries show a steady gain, evenif we look only at pagan society. The Letters of Pliny reveal, inthe court circle itself, a society high-minded, refined, and vir-tuous. Pliny is a type of the finest gentleman of to-day, in del-icacy of feeling, sensitive honor, genial and thoughtful courtesy.^ 1 There is a charming essay, A Roman Gentleman under the Empire (Pliny).by Harriet Walters Preston, in The Atlantic for June. 1886. Thomas Roman 518 THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 31 [§ 631 Marcus Aureiius and his father illustrate like qualities on thethrone. Epictetus (§ 627) shows them in slave
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