CHAP. IV.
_____ploits of the same nature, by the defeat of the Nemaean lion, and the slaughter of the wild boar of Erymanthus, the Grecian Hercules had acquired a place among the gods, and an immortal memory among men. They only forgot to observe, that in the first ages of society, when the fiercer animals often dispute with man the possession of an unsettled country, a successful war against those savages is one of the most innocent and beneficial labours of heroism. In the civilized state of the Roman empire, the wild beasts had long since retired from the face of man, and the neighbourhood of populous cities. To surprise them in their solitary haunts, and to transport them to Rome, that they might be slain in pomp by the hand of an emperor, was an enterprise equally ridiculous for the prince, and oppressive for the people[1]. Ignorant of these distinctions, Commodus eagerly embraced the glorious resemblance, and styled himself (as we still read on his medals[2]) the Roman Hercules. The club and the lion's hide were placed by the side of the throne, amongst the ensigns of sovereignty; and statues were erected, in which Commodus was represented in the character, and with the attributes of the god, whose valour and dexterity he endeavoured to emulate in the daily course of his ferocious amusements[3].
- ↑ The African lions, when pressed by hunger, infested the open villages and cultivated country ; and they infested them with impunity. The royal beast was reserved for the pleasures of the emperor and the capital ; and the unfortunate peasant who killed one of them, though in his own defence, incurred a very heavy penalty. This extraordinary game-law was mitigated by Honorius, and finally repealed by Justinian. Codex Theodos. tom. v. p. 92. et Comment. Gothofred.
- ↑ Suanheim de Numismat. Dissert, xii. tom. ii. p. 493.
- ↑ Dion, 1. Ixxii. p. 1216. Hist. August, p. 49.
