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575

-OL API A TORES.

(Dion Cass. Ixviii. 3 ; Suet. Tit. 9 ; Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tac. Ann. iii. 37.) At first there was a kind of sham battle, called praelusio, in which they fought with wooden swords, or the like (Cic. da Orat. ii. 78, 80 ; Ovid, Ars Amat. iii. 515 ; Senec. Epist. 117), and afterwards at the sound of the trumpet the real battle began. When a gladi­ator was wounded, the people called out habet or lioc habet; and the one who was vanquished low­ered his arms in token of submission. His fate, however, depended upon the people, who pressed down their thumbs if they wished him to be saved, but turned them up if they wished him to be killed (Hor. Ep. i. 18. 66 ; Juv. iii. 36), and ordered him to receive the sword (ferrum reci-pere), which gladiators usually did with the greatest firmness. (Cic. Tusc. ii. 17, pro Sext. 37, pro Mil. 34.) If the life of a vanquished gladiator was spared, he obtained his discharge for that day, which was called missio (Mart. xii. 29. 7) ; and hence in an exhibition of gladiators sine missione (Liv. xli. 20), the lives of the conquered were never spared. This kind of exhibition, however, was forbidden by Augustus. (Suet. Aug. 45.)

Palms were usually given to the victorious gladiators (Suet. Cal. 32) ; and hence, a gladiator, who had frequently conquered, is called " pluri-marum palmarum gladiator" (Cic. pro Rose. Amer. 6) ; money also was sometimes given. (Juv. vii. 243 ; Suet. Claud. 21.) Old gladiators, and some­times those who had only fought for a short time, were discharged from the service by the editor at the request of the people, who presented each of them with a rudis or wooden sword ; whence those who were discharged were called Rudiarii. (Cic. Philip, ii. 29 ; Hor. Ep. i. 1, 2 ; Suet. Tib. 7 ; Quint. 1. c.) If a person was free before he entered the Indus, he became on his discharge free again ; a,nd if he had been a slave, he returned to the same condition again. A man, however, who had been a gladiator was always considered to have disgraced himself, and consequently it ap­pears that he could not obtain the equestrian rank if he afterwards acquired sufficient property to entitle him to it (Quint. I. c.) ; and a slave who had been sent into a ludus and there manumitted either by his then owner or another owner, merely acquired the status of a peregrinus dediticius. (Gains, i. 13.) [dediticil]

Shows of gladiators were abolished by Cdristan-tine (Cod. 11. tit. 43), but appear notwithstanding to have been generally exhibited till the time of Honorius, by whom they were finally suppressed. (Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. v. 20.)

Gladiators were divided into different classes, according to their arms and different mode of fighting, or other circumstances. The names of the most important of these classes is given in alphabetical order: —

Andabatae (Cic. act Fain. vii. 10)^ wore helmets without any aperture for the eyes, so that they were obliged to fight blindfold, and thus excited the mirth of the spectators* Some modern wf iters say that they fought on horseback, but this is denied by Orelli. (Inscr. 2577.)

Catervarii was the name given to gladiators when they did not fight in pairs, but when several fought together. (Suet. Aug. 45 ; gregatim dimi-cantes* Cal. 30.)

.Dimacheri appear to have been so called, be-

GLADIATORES.

cause they fought with two swords. (Artemiocl. ii. 32 ; Orelli, Inscr. 2584.)

Equites were those who fought on horseback. (Orelli, 2569. 2577.)

Essedarii fought from chariots like the Gauls and Britons. [EssEDA.] They are frequently men­tioned in inscriptions. (Orelli, 2566. 2584, &c.)

Fiscales were those under the empire, who were trained and supported from the fiscus. (Capitol. Gord. 33.)

Hoplomaclii appear to have been those who fought in a complete suit of armour. (Suet. Cal. 35 ; Martial, viii. 74 ; Orelli, 2566.) Lipsius con­siders them to have been the same with the Sam« nites, and that this name was disused tinder the emperors, and hoplomachi substituted for it.

Laqueatores were those who used a noose to catch their adversaries. (Isiod. xviii. 56.)

Meridiani were those who fought in the middle of the day, after combats with wild beasts had taken place in the morning. These gladiators were very slightly armed. (Senec. Epist* 7; Suet. Claud. 34 ; Orelli, 2587.)

Mirmillones are said to have been so called from their having the image of a fish (inormyr, yitop-/iivpos") on their helmets. (Festus, s. v. Retiario.} Their arms were like those of the Gauls, whence we find that they were also called Galli. They were usually matched with the retiarii or Thracians. (Cic. Phil. iii. 12, vii. 6 ; Juv. viii. 200 ; Suet. Cal. 32 ; Orelli, 2566, 2580.)

Ordinarii was the name applied to all the regular gladiators, who fought in pairs, in the ordinary way. (Senec. Epist. 7; Suet. Aug. 45, Cal. 26.)

Postidaticii were such as were demanded by the people from the editor, in addition to those who were exhibited. (Senec. I. c.}

Provocatores fought with the Samnites (Cic. pro Sext. 64), but we do not know any thing respect­ing them except their name. They are mentioned in inscriptions. (Orelli, 2566.) The Trpo€oKaTup mentioned by Artemiodorus (ii. 32) appears to be the same as the provocator.

Retiarii carried only a three-pointed lance, called tridensoffnseina [FusciNA],anda net (retewhich they endeavoured to throw over their adversaries, and then to attack them with the fuscina while they were entangled. The retiarius was dressed in a short tiinic} and wore nothing on his head. If he missed his aim in throwing the net, he betook himself to flight^ and endeavoured to prepare his net for a second castj while his adversary followed him round the arena in order to kill him before he could maka a second attempt. His adversary was usually a secutor or a mirmillo. (Juv. ii. 143, viii. 203 ; Suet, Cal 30 ; Claud. 34 ; Orelli, 2578.) In the follow­ing woodcut, taken from Winckelmann (Monum*