The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, November 23, 2021

“Seneca reflects on watching gladiatorial games, after hundreds of criminals were driven into an arena to be mutually slaughtered to a crowd’s amusement: “I come home more greedy, more cruel and inhuman, because I have been among human beings. By chance I attended a midday exhibition, expecting some fun, wit, and relaxation . . . whereby men’s eyes may have respite from the slaughter of their fellow men. But it was quite the contrary. . . . These noon fighters are sent out with no armor of any kind; they are exposed to blows at all points, and no one ever strikes in vain. . . . In the morning they throw men to the lions; at noon they throw them to the spectators. The crowd demands that the victor who has slain his opponent shall face the man who will slay him in turn; and the last conqueror is reserved for another butchering. . . . This sort of thing goes on while the stands are nearly empty. . . . Man, a sacred thing to man, is killed for sport and merriment.”

–From Seneca’s letters, after witnessing gladiatorial fights in Rome.