On the perils of fighting wild beasts at public entertainments

TO prevent this pursuit from straying still farther among vast wildernesses and foreign examples I must quote the words of the poet from Mantua: ‘Who could describe the various forms of crime? Who could recount the names of every punishment?’ ¹ He might have been saying that in a combat with wild animals everything is full of danger, just as one anticipates wounds in a fierce war.