Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

GERRIIA.

194

GLADIATOB.ES.

Hyllean tribe, must have belonged to the
royal house of the Heracleids. No one 'was
eligible to the council till he was sixty years
of age, and the additional qualifications were
strictly of an aristocratic nature. We are
told, for instance, that the office of a coun-
cillor was the reward and prize of virtue, and
that it was confined to men of distinguished
character and station. The election was de-
termined by vote, and the mode of conducting
it was remarkable for its old-fashioned sim-
plicity. The competitors presented them-
selves one after another to the assembly of
electors ; the latter testified their esteem by
acclamations, which varied in intensity ac-
cording to the popularity of the candidates
for whom they were given. These manifes-
tations of esteem were noted by persons in
an adjoining building, who could judge of
the shouting, but could not tell in whose
favour it was given. The person whom
these judges thought to have been most ap-
plauded was declared the successful candi-
date. The office lasted for life. The functions
of the councillors were partly deliberative,
partly judicial, and partly executive. In the
discharge of the first, they prepared measures
and passed preliminary decrees, which were
to bo laid before the popular assembly, so
that the important privilege of initiating all
changes in the government or laws was vested
in them. As a criminal court, they could
punish with death and civil degradation
(a-ri+ua). They also appear to have exercised,
like the Areiopagus at Athens, a general su-
perintendence and inspection over the lives
and manners of the citizens, and probably
were allowed a kind of patriarchal authority,
to enforce the observance of ancient usage
and discipline. It is not, however, easy to
define with exactness the original extent of
their functions, especially as respects the last-
mentioned duty, since the ephors not only
encroached upon the prerogatives of the king
and council, but also possessed, in very earl}7
times, a censorial power, and were not likely
to permit any diminution of its extent.

GEP-RIIA (ye'ppa), in Latin, Gerrae, pro-
perly signified any thing made of wicker-
work, and was especially used as the name of
the Persian shields, which were made of
wicker-work, and were smaller and shorter
than the Greek shields.

GLADIATORES (■xorafiaxoi) were men who
fought with swords in the amphitheatre and
other places, for the amusement of the Ro-
man people. They are said to have been first
exhibited by the Etrurians, and to have had
their origin from the custom of killing slaves
and captives at the funeral pyres of the
deceased. [Bustum ; Ftjnus.] A show of

gladiators was called mumis, and the person
who exhibited (edebat) it, editor, numerator,
or dominus, who was honoured during the
day of exhibition, if a private person, with
the official signs of a magistrate. Gladiators
were first exhibited at Rome in b.c. 2G4, in
the Forum Boarium, by Marcus and Decimus
Brutus, at the funeral of their father. They
were at first confined to public funerals, but
afterwards fought at the funerals of most
persons of consequence, and even at those of
women. Combats of gladiators were also
exhibited at entertainments, and especially at
public festivals by the aediles and other ma-
gistrates, who sometimes exhibited immense
numbers, with the view of pleasing the
people. Under the empire the passion of the
Romans for this amusement rose to its great-
est height, and the number of gladiators who
fought on some occasions appears almost in-
credible. After Trajan's triumph over the
Dacians, there were more than 10,000 exhi-
bited. Gladiators consisted either of captives,
slaves, and condemned malefactors, or of
freeborn citizens who fought voluntarily.
Freemen, who became gladiators for hire,
were called auctorati, and their hire auctora-
mentum or yladiatorium. Even under the
republic, free-born citizens fought as gladia-
tors, but they appear to have belonged only
to the lower orders. L'nder the empire,
however, both knights and senators fought in
the arena, and even women.—Gladiators were
kept in schools (ludi), where they were trained
by persons called lanistae. The whole body
of gladiators under one lanista was fre-
quently called familia. They sometimes
were the property of the lanistae, who let
them out to persons who wished to exhibit a
show of gladiators ; but at other times they
belonged to citizens, who kept them for the
purpose of exhibition, and engaged lanistae
to instruct them. Thus we read of the ludus
Aemilius at Rome, and of Caesar's ludus at
Capua. The gladiators fought in these ludi
with wooden swords, called rudes. , Great
attention was paid to their diet, in order to
increase the strength of their bodies.—Gladia-
tors were sometimes exhibited at the funeral
pyre, and sometimes in the forum, but more
frequently in the amphitheatre. [Amphi-
theatrum. ]—The person who was to exhibit
a show of gladiators, published some days
before the exhibition bills (libe/li), containing
the number and frequently the names of
those who were to fight. "When the day
came, they were led along the arena in pro-
cession, and matched by pairs ; and their
swords were examined by the editor to see if
they were sufficiently sharp. At first there
was a kind of sham battle, called praelmio,