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34 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995, 4.2508.
35 See M. Junkelmann, Die Legionen des Augustus: Der roemische Soldat im archaeologischen Experiment, Mainz: Zabern, 2003, especially p. 106.
36 Suetonius, Tiberius, in Lives of the Emperors, 34.
37 Ibid., 45; Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 66.15; Suetonius, Domitian, in Lives of the Caesars, 4. Marcus Aurelius, Meditationes, LCL 1915, 1.6, 6.46, and 10.8; Zosismus, The History of Count Zosismus, London: General Books, 2010 [1814], 11.3.11.4–5.
38 Frontinus, Stratagems, LCL, 1925, 4.2.2 .
39 Vegetius, Epitome of Military Science, Liverpool University Press, 1997 , passim.
40 Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, 2.3.2.
41 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 51.7.
42 Tacitus, Annales, 13.25.
43 Inscriptiones Graecae, I. Delamarre, ed., Berlin: Reimer, 1908 , pt. 12, sect. 8, no. 547.
44 See M. Grant, Gladiators, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967, p. 89.
45 Vitruvius, On Architecture, LCL, 1931, 5.1.1–2 .
46 CIL, l.4, no. 3884. The translation is by F. Meijer.
47 Scriptores Historiae Augustae, LCL, 1921, Claudius Gothicus, 5.5.
48 Pliny, Natural History, 35.2.
49 Epictetus, Discourses, LCL, 1925, 3 .15.6.
50 Tacitus, Annales, 14.17.
51 Suetonius, Julius Caesar, in Lives of the Emperors, 39.
52 Livy, History of Rome, 41.20; Polybius, The Histories, LCL, 1923, 30.25.1.
53 See, for this subject, G. Ville’s magisterial La gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien, Rome: École française, 1981.
54 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, LCL, 1930, 15.8.1.
55 Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, LCL, 1912, 4.22.
56 A list of all known amphitheaters in the West is found in Futrell, Blood in the Arena, pp. 217–21.
57 J. S. Nye, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
58 B. Levick, The Ancient Historian and his Materials, Farnborough: Gregg, 1975, pp. 155–65 ; H. S. Robinson, “Chiron at Corinth,” American Journal of Archaeology, 73, 1969, pp. 193–7.
59 M. J. Carter, “Gladiators and Monomachia: Greek Attitudes to Roman ‘Cultural Performance,’” International Journal of the History of Sport, 26, 2, February 2009, pp. 298–322.
60 Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Antoninus Pius, 21.8.7.
61 Cicero, Epistolae ad Familiares, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, 2.3 .
62 Juvenal, Satires, LCL, 1924,10.81.
63 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 73.19.5.
64 Suetonius, Caligula, in Lives of the Emperors, 29.1; A. A. Barrett, Caligula: The Corruption of Power, London: Batsford, 1989, p. 43.
65 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 73.21.
66 See, for the political uses of the games, O. Hekster, Commodus: An Emperor at the Crossroads, Amsterdam: Brill, 2002, pp. 128–9 , 138–50.
67 J. C. Edmondson, “Dynamic Arenas: Gladiatorial Presentations in the City of Rome and the Construction of Roman Society during the Early Empire,” in W. J. Slater, ed., Roman Theater and Society, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996, p. 111.
68 Cicero, Pro Sestio, LCL, 1958, 125.
69 Livy, History of Rome, 28.1.10.
70 Suetonius, Caligula, in Lives of the Emperors, 14; for Commodus’ deeds and misdeeds in the arena see Hekster, Commodus, pp. 137–62.
71 Seneca, Epistles, LCL, 1925, 37.1–2.
72 Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, LCL, 1927, 2.17.41 .
73 Pliny, Letters, LCL, 1969, 6.34.
74 Meijer, Gladiators, p. 19.
75 Seneca, On Providence, in Moral Essays, LCL, 1929, 3.4 ; On Tranquility, ibid., 11.1–6; De Constantia sapientis, ibid., 16.2.
76 Suetonius, Claudius, in Lives of the Emperors, 14. The question as to whether this cry was uttered every time or just on the one occasion it is mentioned in the sources has been the subject of some scholarly debate. Here I follow Grant, Gladiators, p. 64, and R. Auguet, Cruelty and Civilization: The Roman Games, London: Routledge, 1972, p. 43.
77 Tacitus, Annales, 12.65.
78 Petronius, Satyricon, LCL, 1975 , ch. 45; Suetonius, Caligula, in Lives of the Emperors, p. 30.
79 Juvenal, Satires, 8.208–10.
80 G. L. Gregori, Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell’occidente romano, Rome: Quasar, 1989, p. 68.
81 See Carter, “Gladiators and Monomachia,” p. 307.
82 See on this Futrell, Blood in the Arena, pp. 110–20; also M. B. Hornum, Nemesis: The Roman State and the Games, Leiden: Brill, 1993, pp. 55–6.
83 Ville, La gladiature en occident, pp. 318–25; Junkelmann, “Familia Gladiatoria,” pp. 142–3; see for this entire subject also T. Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators, London: Routledge, 1992, pp. 120–2.
84 Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, H. Dessau, ed., Nabu, 2010 [1892–], no. 5115.
85 Suetonius, Tiberius, in Lives of the Emperors, 7.
86 Ville, La gladiature, p. 255.
87 Cyprian, Ad Donatum, in Opuscoli, Turin: Internazionale, 1935, p. 7 .
88 See C. Edwards, “Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome,” in J. P. Hallett and M. B. Skinner, eds., Roman Sexualities, Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 66–98 ; and Tabula Italica, line 7, in Corpus Inscriptiones Latinarum, T. Mommsen, ed., Berlin: Reimer, 1869, vol. II, no. 6278 .
89 See e.g. Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 61.3.
90 According to Tacitus, Annales, 14.20–1.
91 Suetonius, Caesar, 26.3.
92 See, for the evidence, Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators, p. 117.
93 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 43.23 and 48.43.
94 Ibid., 44.2 See, on the various unsuccessful prohibitions, B. Levick, “The Senatus Consultum from Larinum,” Journal of Roman Studies, 73, 1983, pp. 97–115.
95 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 55.27.
96 Tacitus, Annales, 12.56.3.
97 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 57.13.
98 Ibid., 59.10.
99 Ibid., 76.8.
100 T. Mommsen, Roemische Geschichte, Munich: Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, 1976 [1888], vol. V, p. 188 . I am grateful to Professor Elisabeth Erdmann of Erlangen University for bringing this passage to my attention.
101 Seneca, Letter to Lucilius, in Epistles, LCL, 1925, no. 7 .
102 Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators, p. 117.
103 Pliny, Natural History, 26.135.
104 Medicorum graecorum opera quae extant, vol. XIII: Claudii Galeni opera omnia, C. G. Kuehn, ed., Hildesheim: Oms, 1965 [1827], p. 600.
105 All the following quotes from Tertullian are from De Spectaculis, M. Menghi, ed., Milan: Mondadori, 1995 , chs. 12 and 22.
106 See Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators, p. 24.
107 Seneca, Controversiae, in Moral Essays, 1.4.18; Nicolas quoted in Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, 4.49. On the potlatch aspects of Roman life, see P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses, London: Allen Lane, 1990, pp. xvi , xxi, 19.
108 P. Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, New York: Viking, 1987, especially pp. 536–40.
109 Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 59.5.
110 See M. Carter, “Gladiatorial Ranking and the SC De Pretiis Gladiatorum Minuendis,” Phoenix, 57, 1/2, Spring−Summer 2003, pp. 83–114 .
111 Epictetus, Encheiridon, LCL, 1925, 33.2.
112 Cicero to M. Marius, September 55 BC, in Epistolae ad Familiares, 7.1.
113 Seneca, Letter to Lucilius.
114 Lucian, Demonax, LCL, 1913, 28.7.
115 M. Minucius Felix, Octavius, G. W. Clarke, ed., New York: Newman, 1974, 37.11.
116 Tacitus, Annales, 1.76.3.
117 Ulpian as quoted in T. Mommsen, Corpus Iuris Civilis, Nabu, 2010 [1895]; 11.7.4; also T. Mommsen, Roemische Strafrecht, Berlin: Akademieverlag, 1899, p. 953.
118 See on this M. Carter, “Gladiatorial Combat with ‘Sharp
’ Weapons,” Zeitschrift fuer Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 155, 2006, pp. 161–75.
119 Virgil, Aeneid, LCL, 2001, vol. II, 9.603–13.
120 Horace, Odes, LCL, 2004, 3.2.
121 Auguet, Cruelty and Civilization, p. 198.
122 Seneca, De Ira, in Moral Essays, 1.2.4.
123 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 19.7.5.
124 Gittin, 46b−47a. See on this episode M. Z. Brettler and M. Poliakoff, “Rabi Simeon Ben Lakish and the Gladiatorial Banquet: Observations on the Roman Arena,” Harvard Theological Review, 83, 1, January 1990, pp. 93–8.
125 See M. Poliakoff, “Jacob, Job, and Other Wrestlers: Reception of Greek Athletics by Jews and Christians in Antiquity,” Journal of Sport History, 11, 7, Summer 1984, pp. 53–4.
126 Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, Leipzig: Heinrichs, 1905, 3.11.77.
127 Theodosian Code, C. Pharr, trans., The Lawbook Exchange, 2001, 15.12.1 .
128 Apuleius, Metamorphoses, LCL, 1989, 9.12.
129 Theodosian Code, 9.18.1.
130 Julius Firmicus Maternus, Matheseos, Stuttgart: Teubner, 1968, 3. 4.23, 7.8.7, 8.7.5–10.4, 23.4, and 24.7. There is an English translation by Jean Rhys Bram entitled Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice, Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press, 1975.
131 See on him Poliakoff, “Jacob, Job and Other Wrestlers,” p. 55.
132 Libanius, Selected Orations, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977 , Oratio 1.5.
133 For everything pertaining to Symmachus, see S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire, London: Macmillan, 1899, pp. 150–1.
134 Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 2005, 70.1.
135 Augustine, Confessions, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961, 6.8.
136 The story is told in Theodoret of Syria, Ecclesiastical History, Kessinger, 2004, 5.26.
137 See, for the President’s remarks: www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/20284a.htm.
138 That, at any rate, is the view of Meijer, Gladiators, pp. 205–6.
139 Hypsiboas rosenbergi, at: www.wildherps.com/species/H.rosenbergi.html.
140 See www.gamesolo.com/flash-game/gladiator.html and Chainscheap US, http://chain-armor.chainscheap.us/.
141 See, for the Colosseum’s subsequent history, Meijer, Gladiators, pp. 208–19.
142 H. James, Daisy Miller, New York: Harper, 1879, p. 57.
143 See Junkelmann, Gladiatoren, pp. 145–65.
144 See Meijer, Gladiators, pp. 220–31; also A. Ward, “The Movie Gladiator in Historical Perspective,” University of Connecticut, 2001, available at: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wardgladiator1.html.
145 See, for reviews of some works, J. E. Lendon, “Gladiators,” The Classical Journal, 95, 4, 2000, pp. 399–406.
146 J. Lipsius, Saturnalium sermonum libri II, qui de gladiatoribus, Amsterdam: Brill, 2011 [1582] , vol. I, 12, 38, vol. II, 25, 116; A. F. de Sade, Schriften aus der Revolutionszeit, G. R. Lind, ed., Frankfurt/Main: Insel, 1969 [1788–95], p. 10.
147 E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London: Caddell, 1837 [1788], p. 484.
148 Dill, Roman Society, p. 53; W. Warde Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero, London: Macmillan, 1963, p. 303.
149 Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” reprinted in Daedalus, 134, 4, Fall 2005, pp. 56–86.
3 Trials by combat, tournaments, and duels
A certain kind of justice
As a look at the literature will show, the line between trial by combat on one hand and single combat and combat of champions on the other has always been rather vague. As long ago as the Middle Ages, various authors referred to the same episodes by different terms or used the same terms when referring to very different episodes.1 In all three cases the fight, rather than being an integral part of ongoing hostilities, is clearly separated from them by means of challenge and response as well as the fact that it took place in a location specially set apart for the purpose. Often it is supposed to act as a substitute for those hostilities or to put an end to them, albeit that in most cases things did not work out as planned, the terms of the preliminary agreement were violated, and hostilities opened or resumed. In all three cases the fight is carefully stage-managed, the objective being to enable as many people as possible to watch it. In all three cases, the fighting serves as an ordeal and is intended to prove a point – either that God is on one’s side, or that one’s cause is just, or simply that one trusts in one’s prowess and stands ready to take on any enemy who dares to present himself. What sets trial by combat apart from the other two is a unique characteristic which justifies treating it separately: namely the fact that, in this case, the fight is neither an exhibition nor a contest but part of a formal judiciary process. As such it takes place at the behest of a judge, or judges, who commands both sides and presides over the proceedings.
Single combat and combat of champions may be found in many different cultures from pre-classical Greece to early modern Japan. Not so trial by combat, which seems to be a uniquely European custom deeply rooted in old Celtic and Germanic law. Quite often it is linked to ordeals by iron, water or fire, and indeed too many modern writers treat the two things as if they were one. Livy, the Roman historian whom we have met many times, describes a dispute between two Iberian chieftains, Corbis and his nephew Orsua, both of whom wanted to rule a city by the name of Ibis. Refusing the offer of the Roman representative on the spot, Scipio (later called Africanus) to mediate, they declared that only the war-god Mars could judge between them. With Scipio presiding, a single combat was arranged from which Corbis, as the older and more experienced of the two, emerged victorious. The year was 206 BC or thereabout.2 A similar story comes from Livy’s slightly younger contemporary, the historian Velleius Paterculus. He tells us that the Germans of his own day practiced the custom and that the Roman commander on the spot, Quintilius Varus, sought to suppress it but failed.3 This was the same Varus who in AD 9, led three legions into the Teutoburg Forest, not far from modern Wuerzburg, and was defeated and killed.
Our next reference is a decree issued by the Burgundian King Gundobald in 501. In it he reconfirmed the custom, assuming it had ever been abandoned. The relevant passage reads as follows:4
We know that many of our people have become depraved through the failure of litigation and through an instinct of cupidity, to the extent that they do not hesitate to offer oaths in uncertain matters and to perjure themselves over known facts. In order to undermine this criminal habit we decree by the present law that whenever a case arises among our people, and he who is accused denies on oath that the thing in question should be sought from him or that he is responsible for the crime, then . . . license to fight will not be denied . . . since it is right that if anyone says that he knows the truth of the matter without doubt and offers to take the oath, he should not refuse to fight . . . [all in order] that men may delight more in truth than perjury.
Clearly this was not simply a piece of barbaric stupidity on the king’s part. Rather, the decree seems to have served two distinct objectives. First, the declared intention was to put an end to, or at any rate reduce, the number of false accusations by making both parties in a dispute back up their claims with their lives.5 This in turn rested on the idea, characteristic of the Middle Ages, that law was not simply a system arbitrarily made by men but reflected God’s will; thus understood, trial by combat was simply a way of discovering what that will was. Second, trial by battle, a formal occasion if ever there was one, was meant to replace the feuding that was part of tribal life and, going on almost without interruption, was always threatening to get out of hand. To that extent it served to limit violence and subject it to a well-defined set of rules. It may, indeed, be seen as a step towards a more centralized system of government.
In an age when near-universal illiteracy made written proof of anything hard to get, other peoples, too, practiced the custom. It is found among the Fra
nks, the Saxons, and the Frisians. Like the Burgundians, all these tribes originated in northern Germany and Scandinavia. Some migrated into lands that had previously formed part of the Roman Empire, whereas others remained behind. Among the latter were the Danes: Saxo Grammaticus, the late twelfth-century Danish chronicler, quotes the (legendary) King of Denmark, Frothi III as saying that, in adjudicating a dispute, swords were more trustworthy than words.6 In sharp contrast to some early modern duels, the fights were neither standardized nor genteel. To the contrary, they were good occasions for berserkers to go into a fury, real or pretend, bellowing, hitting out in all directions, even biting. Perhaps the most deadly of them was the so-called “girth fight” in which the combatants, strapped together, were literally compelled to fight to the death.7