Beyond was a troop of Thessalians. For a moment the bulls snorted,
pawing the sand with their fore-feet, as though trying to realize
what they were doing there. Yet instantly they seemed to know, and
with lowered heads, they plunged on the point of spears. But no
matter, horses went down by the hundred; and as the bulls tired of
gorging the dead, they fought each other; fought rancorously,
fought until weariness overtook them, and the surviving
Thessalians leaped on their backs, twisted their horns, and threw
them down, a sword through their throbbing throats.
Successively the arena was occupied by bears, by panthers, by dogs
trained for the chase, by hunters and hunted. But the episode of
the morning was a dash of wild elephants, attacked on either side;
a moment of sheer delight, in which the hunters were tossed up on
the terraces, tossed back again by the spectators, and trampled to
death.
With that for bouquet the first part of the performance was at an
end. By way of interlude, the ring was peopled with acrobats, who
flew up in the air like birds, formed pyramids together, on the
top of which little boys swung and smiled. There was a troop of
trained lions, their manes gilded, that walked on tight-ropes,
wrote obscenities in Greek, and danced to cymbals which one of
them played. There were geese-fights, wonderful combats between
dwarfs and women; a chariot race, in which bulls, painted white,
held the reins, standing upright while drawn at full speed; a
chase of ostriches, and feats of haute ecole on zebras from
Madagascar.
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