The Gavelyte, December 1910

The Gavelyte. VOL. V. DECEMBER 1910. NO. 10. The Roar of The Lion. "MARJORIE DREW." "Oh Bacchus! May this cup be my last"! said Coriolanus, "though it is the best wine I have drunk at Rome." "Bring hither the amphora," said Flavius, · "and read its date and its characters.'' The slave hastened to inform the party that the scroll fastened to the cork betokened its age as fifty years. "When is the next wild beast fight?" said Sallust. "It stands fixed for the ninth instant of August" answered Glaucus. - "We have a monstrous thirsty lion for the occasion." "By Hercules !" exclaimed Coriolanus, how ye Romans talk! Had ye witnessed what I have witnessed ye would sicken with fear when a wild beast fight is even mentioned.'' Covering his eyes with his hand he moaned, "Oh Shades of Pindar, how the fires of the avenging Vulcan bursts forth against the witnesses of that fight, how the great arena trembled and the earth rumbled beneath our feet! Oh Jupiter and the fates! may my eyesight be taken from me forever, if again these eyes witness a wild beast fight." The fe~.sters looking at one another exclaimed, ''Bacchus, pray do not take away his reason." • Coriolanus then opened his eyes and _seeing the men looking at him strangely said: "Whenever a wild beast fight is mentioned I can see the angry clouds of fire coming from Vesuvius and hear the roar of the thunder and the shrieks of men ~nd women.'' "Hear me, most noble men, while I relate what has more than once driven Somnus from my weary eyes. I was in Pompeii, in the arena witnessing a fight between a lion and a Nazerine. The fight was fine how the li_on, licking his hungry jaws, tortured the Nazerine, until at last the man was almost exhausted; then suddenly the earth began to tremble and a rumbling voice was heard. There was a dead silence– through which there suddenly broke the roar of the frightened lion which was