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THE SPOLIARIUM 339
CHAPTER XL
THE SPOLIARIUM
1
Sanguinem quoque gladiatorum bibunt, ut viveutibus poculis, coraitiales
morbi ... At hercule illi ex homine ipso sorbere efficacissimum putant
calidurn spirautemque, et una ipsam animam ex osculo vulnerum.' PLINY,
N. H. xxviii. 2.
A FEW days before the scene described in the last chapter
there had been gladness in the bright but humble home of
Pudens. He had risen to the rank of a priinipilar centurion,
and was now in a position to ask the British king Caradoc for
the hand of his lovely Claudia. He had only delayed his
nuptials until he felt himself able to give his bride a secure
and fitting home. Everything was fresh and beautiful in
the adornments of the house. The atrium was full of
flowers and statues, the door was hung with garlands, the
frescoes in the tablinum and triclinium were all new. No
mythological scene had been admitted, but the walls of the
triclinium were painted with festoons of fruit and flowers
and trellises of roses, among which little
winged genii held
their sports ;
and the tablinum with scenes of street life and
the toils of agriculture, and purple vineyards, as perfect
as the pencil of Dorotheus could make them. One little
corner of the fresco was universally admired as a masterpiece.
Pudens had asked the painter to imitate one of the
vases of iridescent glass which were then in fashion, and,
in honour of Claudia, to till it with lilies. Pudens had
greatly admired a similar painting on the wall of the house
of Germanicus on the Palatine (where it may be seen to
this day), and in reproducing it Dorotheus had surpassed
himself.
The betrothal had taken place some time before, and on that
occasion Pudens had given to his future bride a golden necklace
of old Etrurian workmanship, with pendants of amethyst.