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e, were made to march on, the savages themselves being divided as to what should be their fate. Some cried out, 'To the Tiber!'--some, 'Crucify them beyond the walls!--others, 'Give 'em the pavements!' But the voice of one more ingenious in cruelty than the rest prevailed.
'To the square by Hanno's with them!'
This proposition filled them with delight.
'To Hanno's! to Hanno's!' resounded on all sides. And away rushed the infuriated mass to their evil sport.
'And who is Hanno?' I asked of one near me.
'Hanno? know you not Hanno? He is brother of Sosia the gladiator, and breeds dogs for the theatres. You shall soon see what a brood he will turn out. There is no such breeder in Rome as he.'
Sick at heart as I was, I still pressed on, resolved to know all that Christian heroism could teach me. We were soon at the square, capable of holding on its borders not only thousands but tens of thousands, to which number it seemed as if the throng had now accumulated. Hanno's extensive buildings and grounds were upon one side of the square, to which the people now rushed, calling out for the great breeder to come forth with his pack.
He was not slow in obeying the summons. He himself appeared, accompanied, as on the day when Piso saw him on the Capitol Hill, by his two dogs Nero and Sylla. After first stipulating with the ringleaders for a sufficient remuneration, he proceeded to order the game. He was at first for separating the victims, but they implored to be permitted to suffer together, and so much mercy was shown them. They were then set together in the centre of the square, while the multitude disposed themselves in an immense circle around--the windows of the buildings and the roofs of all the neighboring dwellings being also thronged with those who both looked on and applauded. Before the hounds were let loose, Hanno approached this little band, standing there in the midst and clinging to one another, and asked them,
'If they had anything to say, or any message t