Introduction
The well-known story of Androcles and the lion goes back to an eyewitness account written down by Apion (?30 BC - AD ?48), a learned Egyptian whose works are, sadly, entirely lost. Fortunately, passages survive in the work of Aulus Gellius (AD ?125–?180+), and what follows here is based on his ‘Attic Nights’.
AT the time when Christ was born in Bethlehem, it was the custom in the Circus Maximus at Rome to execute criminals and runaway slaves by pitting them against savage beasts, as public entertainment.*
Apion, an Egyptian writer, recalled one lion of breathtaking size which leapt into the arena with a deep-throated roar. All eyes were on his lithe body, his streaming mane; the spectators barely noticed the miserable knot of the condemned shuffling in behind him.
The great lion noticed them. He whisked round, and then stopped, as if in amazement. He peered intently at one, a runaway slave, and then padded towards him, lashing his tail excitedly. The poor wretch swooned, but when he felt something licking his hands he opened his eyes; and kindled in them, said Apion, was the last thing anyone expected: recognition.
At this point, Gaius Caesar, Emperor Augustus’s grandson, who was presiding, gestured impatiently.* The lack of sport displeased him, and he demanded an explanation.
Slaves were private property, guaranteed by law, and runaways faced the death penalty. That is why St Paul persuaded the runaway slave Onesimus to go back to Philemon, and Philemon to forgive him — not because he was acknowledging, let alone blessing, the institution of slavery. See Paul’s letter to Philemon.
Gaius Caesar (20 BC – AD 4) was the son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, daughter of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. These events presumably took place during the year of his consulship, AD 1. Augustus raised Gaius and his brother Lucius as his own sons and intended them for his heirs, but Lucius died in AD 2 and Gaius in AD 4, the result of a wound suffered in Armenia, and a debilitating depression. On Augustus’s death in AD 4, the imperial crown passed to his stepson Tiberius, son of Augustus’s second wife Livia Drusilla.
Précis
At the turn of the first century, the Roman Empire despatched criminals by setting wild animals on them, before a paying public. On one such occasion, a large and ferocious lion surprised everyone, and disappointed the presiding official, Gaius Caesar, the Emperor’s grandson, by frisking up to one of the condemned men like a pet dog. (56 / 60 words)
At the turn of the first century, the Roman Empire despatched criminals by setting wild animals on them, before a paying public. On one such occasion, a large and ferocious lion surprised everyone, and disappointed the presiding official, Gaius Caesar, the Emperor’s grandson, by frisking up to one of the condemned men like a pet dog.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, if, must, not, until, whereas, whether, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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