Cruelty as popular entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, genocide for convenience, torture and mutilation as routine forms of punishment, execution for trivial crimes, assassination as a means of political succession, pogroms as an outlet for frustration and homicide as the major means of conflict resolution — all were unexceptionable features of life for most of human history. Yet today they are rare in the West, less common elsewhere than they used to be and widely condemned when they do occur.

Most people, sickened by the headlines and the bloody history of the 20th century, find this claim incredible. Yet as far as I know, every systematic attempt to document the prevalence of violence over centuries and millenniums (and for that matter, the last 50 years), particularly in the West, has shown that the overall trend is downward (though of course with many zigzags).

Anyone who doubts this by pointing to residues of force in the U.S. — capital punishment in Texas, Abu Ghraib, sex slavery in immigrant groups and so on — misses two key points. One is that, statistically, the prevalence of these practices is almost certainly a tiny fraction of what it was in centuries past. The other is that these practices are, to varying degrees, hidden, illegal, condemned or, at the very least, as in the case of capital punishment, intensely controversial. In the past, they were no big deal.

I’m not sure if violence has declined in absolute terms - certainly not during the 20th century, at any rate - but the idea that it’s all good fun has certainly gone by the by. Which is one of the reasons why reading Martial’s De Spectaculis is like being hit over the head with a spanner. People used to get off on this stuff.

Here’s an excerpt:

In 16th century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted above a stage and then was slowly lowered into a fire. According to historian Norman Davies, “the spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted and finally carbonized.” As horrific as present-day events are, such sadism would be unthinkable in most of the world. This is just one example of the most important and underappreciated trend in the history of our species: the decline of violence.

On a lighter note, I found the Teach Yourself Latin by Gavin Betts very helpful but dense (helps if you like grammar!). Otherwise Peter Jones did a very accessible series with quaint illustrations originally published in the Daily Telegraph (UK), now known as “Learn Latin”. He also did “Learn Ancient Greek” which is also a lot of fun.

Might I suggest that you are a “cunning linguist?”

No private jokes here.

What’s the translation.

Except when trying to order still mineral water.

I used to have reasonable Japanese, Ukrainian and German, but they’re all waaaay rusty now. They come back when I go to the country in question, though - I was last in Ukraine and Germany in 99, and both started to come good after a week or so.