"His entertainments were always on a truly noble scale. It's no use trying to describe the lavish preparations made; I couldn't possibly do the man justice. At any rate he had got together a company of gladiators famous for their wrist-play, and another of net-and-trident fighters equally famous for their foot-work, not to mention a gang of criminals who had forfeited the right to live at large and were being fattened up as food for the wild beasts. Then there were great timber structures on wheels, with towers and platforms and pictures painted on their sides, used as movable cages for the extraordinary collection of wild beasts that he had got together. Many of these were specially imported from overseas; living graves for the criminals, but what handsome ones!"
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, (2nd Century A.D.)
[translated by Robert Graves].
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