We also find in Suetonius another instance of sportive lashings or slappings among the Ancients; and these, too, practiced upon no less a person than a Roman Emperor. The Emperor here alluded to, was the Emperor Claudius. ‘When he happened (says Suetonius) to fall asleep after his dinner, which was a customary thing with him, they threw stones of olives or of dates at him, in order to awaken him; or sometimes the Court Buffoons would rouse him, by striking him, in a jocular way, with a strap or a scourge[40].’ In fine, I shall conclude this Chapter with an instance of voluntary flagellation among the Ancients, which was not only free either from the superstition or wantonness above-mentioned, but was moreover produced by rational, and, we may say, laudable motives. The instance I mean, is that of the flagellations bestowed upon himself by a certain Philosopher, mentioned by Suidas. The Philosopher’s name was _Superanus_: he was a Disciple of Lascaris; though past the age of thirty years, he had taken a strong resolution of applying himself to Science, and began at that time to read the works of the most famous Orators. So earnest was he in his design of succeeding in those studies which he had undertaken, that ‘he never grudged himself either the rod or sharp lectures, in order to learn all that Schoolmasters and Tutors teach their Pupils. He even was more than once seen, in the public Baths, to inflict upon himself the severest corrections[41].’ [Illustration: (end of chapter mark)] FOOTNOTES: [28] Pag. 1002. Litt. C. μαντικὸς ἦν μαρτύρομαι δὲ, ἦ μὴν καὶ ἱερέας αὐτῶ αποδειχθήσεσθαι μαστίγων ἢ καυτηρίων. [29] Pag. 158. Edit. Rig. _Namque hodie apud Lacedæmonas solemnitas maxima est_ διαμαστίγωσις, _id est, flagellatio. Non latet in quo Sacro ante aram nobiles quique adolescentes flagellis afficiantur, adstantibus parentibus atque propinquis, & uti perseverarint adhortantibus._ [30] In Euterpe, Lib. II. Cap. 42. pag. 113. Ἐφ’ ὅτω δὲ τύπτονται, οὐ μοι ὅσιόν ἐστι λέγειν. [31] Whether those Priests whipped themselves in earnest, or only made a feint so to do, as Beroaldus suspects, is difficult to determine; but with respect to the incisions which they pretended to make in their own flesh, there is just ground to think that they only imposed upon their spectators, since a law was made by the Emperor Commodus, which Dr. Middleton has quoted in his _Letter from Rome_, by which it was ordered that those Priests should be made really to suffer the amputations which they pretended they made on themselves. _Bellonæ servientes brachia verè exsecare præcepit._ Lamprid. in Com.