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Seraphin Posted 18 years ago
Vocabulary
christian vs. lion
What's the origin of this sentence ?
Context: a group of Harvard Law School Profs in discussion of the legal education at Harvard.
Sentence (by one of the profs)
"Are we the Christians here, gentlemen, or the lions ?"
What was the prof referring to? Christian = savior, lion = human killer ??????
Thanks
Context: a group of Harvard Law School Profs in discussion of the legal education at Harvard.
Sentence (by one of the profs)
"Are we the Christians here, gentlemen, or the lions ?"
What was the prof referring to? Christian = savior, lion = human killer ??????
Thanks
Top answer
I'm not sure if there's actually a biblical reference (not to be confused with Daniel entering the lion's den), but during the period of the Roman gladiators, when huge crowds were entertained at the coliseum by mortal combat, and the Christians were out of favor with the government, the story goes that Christians were thrown to the lions as part of the entertainment. I have no idea if it's historically accurate, but the allusion is often made in the case of a very one-sided conflict between the good and the bad. - A.
- I'm not sure if there's actually a biblical reference (not to be confused with Daniel entering the lion's den), but during the period of the Roman gladiators, when huge crowds were entertained at the coliseum by mortal combat, and the Christians were out of favor with the government, the story goes that Christians were thrown to the lions as part of the entertainment.
- I have no idea if it's historically accurate, but the allusion is often made in the case of a very one-sided conflict between the good and the bad.
- - A.
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3 Answers
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I'm not sure if there's actually a biblical reference (not to be confused with Daniel entering the lion's den), but during the period of the Roman gladiators, when huge crowds were entertained at the coliseum by mortal combat, and the Christians were out of favor with the government, the story goes that Christians were thrown to the lions as part of the entertainment. I have no idea if it's his
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Avangi is correct. There's no biblical reference to it, but there is some historical evidence.
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SeraphinChristian = savior, lion = human killer ??No. Not really.
It's equivalent to
Are we the prey, gentlemen, or the predators?
(which is also a metaphoric question. The context is needed for a fuller analysis.)
CJ
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