teachingwasimplacablyopposedtogladiatorialcombats.The
gladiatorwhosurvivedbykillinghisopponentwasregarded
asa murderer.Mereattendance atthesecombatsmadethe
Christianliabletoexcommunication,andbytheendofthe
fourth century combats between human beings had been
suppressedaltogether.Ontheotherhand,themoralstatusof
killing or torturing any nonhuman remained unchanged.
CombatswithwildanimalscontinuedintotheChristianera,
and apparentlydeclined only because thedeclining wealth
andextentoftheempiremadewildanimalsmoredifficultto
obtain.Indeed,thesecombatsmaystillbeseen,inthemodern
form of the bullfight, in Spain and Latin America.
WhatistrueoftheRomangamesisalsotruemoregenerally.
Christianityleftnonhumansasdecidedlyoutsidethepaleof
sympathyastheyeverwereinRomantimes.Consequently,
whileattitudestohumanbeingsweresoftenedandimproved
beyond recognition,attitudes to otheranimals remained as
callousandbrutalastheywereinRomantimes.Indeed,not
only did Christianity fail to temper the worst of Roman
attitudestowardotheranimals;itunfortunatelysucceededin
extinguishing for a long, long time the spark of a wider
compassionthat hadbeenkeptalight by atinynumber of
more gentle people.
There had been just a few Romans who had shown
compassionforsuffering, whateverthebeingwhosuffered,
and repulsion at
theuseofsentientcreaturesforhumanpleasure,whetherat
thegourmet’stableorinthearena.Ovid,Seneca,Porphyry,
andPlutarchallwrotealongtheselines,Plutarchhavingthe
honor, according to Lecky, of being the first to advocate
strongly the kind treatment of animals on the ground of