BESTIA´RII
BESTIA´RII (
θηριομάχοι), persons who fought with wild beasts in the games of
the circus. They were either persons who fought for the sake of pay
(
auctoramentum), and who were allowed arms,
or they were criminals, who were usually permitted to have no means of
defence against the wild beasts. (Cic.
pro
Sest. 64; Sen.
de Benef. 2.19,
Ep.
70. 17; Tertull.
Apol. 9.) The former class, who were more
correctly called
venatores, and of whom there
were great numbers in the latter days of the republic and under the empire,
are always spoken of as distinct from and inferior to the gladiators, who
fought with one another. (
Cic. in
Vatin. 17;
ad Qu. Fr. 2.6.5.) There were
schools in Rome for their training (
scholae
bestiarum or
bestiariorum, Tertull.
Apol. 35). Such were called
ludi
matutini, from the fact that in the public games the combats
with beasts always preceded the fights of the gladiators. (Cf.
Friedländer,
Sittengesch. vol. ii.3, pp. 366 ff.)
[
W.S] [
A.S.W]
