There were
gladiatorial combats, executions of criminals, and many other kinds of
cruel and barbarous amusements. When the Colosseum was inaugurated,
five thousand wild beasts were put to death, and afterwards, at the
celebration of a great victory, eleven thousand animals perished.
Under the ground, in two vast basement stories, the beasts were kept
in cages until they were brought up to destroy human life or to be
butchered themselves.
For six hundred years these barbarous games were celebrated in the
Colosseum, but it afterwards became a fortress, and it was used at one
time for a hospital. When it began to decay, many of the inhabitants
of Rome carried away portions of its materials to build houses for
themselves, but such depredations have long been forbidden and now the
Colosseum stands, useless and ruined, a silent memento of the
wickedness of man. People are bad enough in our age, but the day is
past, when ninety thousand men, women, and children could be gathered
together to see other men, women, and children torn and devoured by
lions and tigers. Let us hope, that by the time the Colosseum has
entirely crumbled away, men will no longer meet in thousands to kill
and mangle each other on the battle-field.
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