Gallus was carried off
covered with blood; and, to prevent further question, the vote for Caesar
was taken a second time.
The immediate future was thus assured. Time had been obtained for the
completion of the work in Gaul. Pompey dedicated a new theatre, and
delighted the mob with games and races. Five hundred lions were consumed
in five days of combat. As a special novelty eighteen elephants were made
to fight with soldiers; and, as a yet more extraordinary phenomenon, the
sanguinary Roman spectators showed signs of compunction at their
sufferings. The poor beasts were quiet and harmless. When wounded with the
lances, they turned away, threw up their trunks, and trotted round the
circus, crying, as if in protest against wanton cruelty. The story went
that they were half human; that they had been seduced on board the African
transports by a promise that they should not be ill-used, and they were
supposed to be appealing to the gods.[23]Cicero alludes to the scene in
a letter to one of his friends. Mentioning Pompey's exhibitions with
evident contempt, he adds: "There remained the hunts, which lasted five
days. All say that they were very fine. But what pleasure can a sensible
person find in seeing a clumsy performer torn by a wild beast, or a noble
animal pierced with a hunting-spear? The last day was given to the
elephants; not interesting to me, however delightful to the rabble.
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