Just at the nick of time the right sort of fellow pops up nobody knows whence, a lanista with hair like curling helichryse, as Theocritus has it, and a small army of gladiators, whom, out of devotion to the Emperor, he offers to exhibit for nothing.

"Master," said the Goth, addressing the lanista, "I had rather fight ten armed men than this unarmed one.

" A roar of disapprobation broke out from the spectators, which seemed not to produce the slightest effect on the lanista.