_Of this Edition of Whyte‐Melville’s Works One Thousand and Fifty Copies only have been printed by Morrison and Gibb Limited, Edinburgh, who have distributed the type_ THE WORKS OF G. J. WHYTE‐MELVILLE EDITED BY SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART. VOLUME XXII. THE GLADIATORS [Illustration: Monogram] [Illustration: ‘The Briton watching his opportunity seized the bit in his powerful grasp.’] THE GLADIATORS A TALE OF ROME AND JUDÆA BY G. J. WHYTE‐MELVILLE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRINGTON BIRD LONDON W. THACKER & CO., 2 CREED LANE, E.C. CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK & CO. 1901 _All rights reserved_ CONTENTS EROS CHAP. PAGE I. THE IVORY GATE 1 II. THE MARBLE PORCH 6 III. HERMES 15 IV. APHRODITÉ 20 V. ROME 28 VI. THE WORSHIP OF ISIS 36 VII. TRUTH 46 VIII. THE JEW 55 IX. THE ROMAN 61 X. A TRIBUNE OF THE LEGIONS 71 XI. STOLEN WATERS 81 XII. MYRRHINA 86 XIII. NOLENS—VOLENS 95 XIV. CÆSAR 100 XV. RED FALERNIAN 108 XVI. THE TRAINING‐SCHOOL 117 XVII. A VEILED HEART 125 XVIII. WINGED WORDS 135 XIX. THE ARENA 144 XX. THE TRIDENT AND THE NET 155