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Show H: AMltM lltli: IKlllf.S. B Till) origin ot prize lights rauit l BJJJJJt' 1 wight fsr back lu larbanus an. BJJJJB tlijulty. It was n cmtom among BJBJB' ancient nations to ttcilflce prliouers BBBB t of war In honor of fallen heroes. It BJBJB was art of the funeral ciremonlesuf BJBJB I 1 a time wliou tho torture of human BBB I lelugswas looked upon as Kgltlmate BBBBJl ' BBBBJ ' Ah time vtent on, the prisoners were BBBBJ 1 made to fight for their llvtt, and the BBBBJ tacrlflcet took the form of mar- BBBBI lal combats In the pretence of BBBBI thousands of cluton. In an BBBBJ; lent Home tho combatants wrro BBBBM known as gladlaton. They wire BBBBt , either prisoners of war or slaves, mid BBBBJ wero especially trulntd for tho purpose, BBBBS ' To "IU collclut'Ied tlave the rlld wtt BBBBB j generally distb, unktt tho tptilators BBBBJj 7 extended mercy to him and allowed BBBBm J ' 1 Mm to live for another tight. The BBBBJj, lit oirquerorwasuwardadnndsomctlmea BJJJJB ij' , given hit Ilberl. BBB 'jj ji. This kind of amusement became BBH Ir'iB p N nommou. Thoptoileficoked to the BB ll BBBB' "-'"r ''TBjW. forum to enjoy the tpectacle ol gladl atorlal exhibitions, and soon publlu ofllcers and particularly randldatea for tho tilllrage of tho cllltent, sought to capture the votes of the poojla by giving them, free of charge, admission to these sanguinary encounters. The emperors arrnt vast sums of money for this purpoic. It la recorded that Julius Crcsor gavo a thow of S20 fight. InH cou Its. Tltut arranged an exhibition exhibi-tion of gladlalort, wild beasts and naval battles that lasted for one hundred hun-dred dtyt. Trnjsn gave a show In which two thousand men fought with each other or with wild Units. This was witnessed by 70,00(1 silatort of all clours, Including many arlitocratla ladles of Home. Ho numerous wtro the slaves ket and trained for this barbarout urpose that they ware finally considered a menacing menac-ing danger to the nommonwealth. When the perarcutlous et the Chris-tlsus Chris-tlsus wero commenced, many of thim wcro sculcncid to fight In the arena, but they erilntently refuted re-futed olther to fight or defend them-telvet, them-telvet, preferring to die without blood stains on their hauJs. The sped, ators wero not entirely satli fled with this kind of exhibition. Tho Christians Chris-tians v. ire, therefore, uiuslly thrown lefore the wild beasts, which, as a general rule, ended their sufferings In a short time. Constantino was tho first imperor who prohibited prise fights In his empire. em-pire. He taw ilearly that this kind of amuuinent wat anla gonlttlo to the principles of tho Christians, who formed a majority of hit subjects. This emperor, em-peror, although not much of a Christian hiniielf, was anxious to gsln the affections of the Chrlsllsn Jiortlon of the icoj'lo and did nil he could to sustain them. He legnllztd their custom of celebrating the Lords da), extended their privileges as citizens and even tried to act as arbitrator In acme of their doctrinal disputes. Out of n gard for their sentiment., the'liar-barout the'liar-barout gladiatorial fights wi re rohltlt-id. rohltlt-id. It took a long tlmo though, before the iiitlon as a whole had been educated edu-cated to detest this kind of amusement. amuse-ment. Hut this feeling aim gradually. gradu-ally. In the rilgn of Honorlua history states .that onu Tvlemachut lioldly entered thenronato stop a fight, but tho spectators stoned him. The emperor heodorlo In tho sixth century of our era, finally, abolished the barbar-uus barbar-uus exhibitions. A question which confronts this country now Is, When will the American Ameri-can people bo sufllolently Chtlstlau-Ued Chtlstlau-Ued to abolish tho brutal prize fights that aro a blot iin our civilization; They constitute one of the lowest relics of barbarism. Thu fact thit1hcy are Intensely popular and roado occaalona of abtorblug publlo Interest Indicates that In some resfects wo are not fsr r moved from the condition of the people of the third and fourth ccuturlis of the Christian era. Instead of throwing off tho barbarism exhibited by them, we simply manifest tho same lnstlncta In a modified degree. |