a name by which certain gladiators were distinguished, who fought upon moveable scaffolds called pegmatia, which were sometimes unexpectedly raised, and by this means surprised the people with gladiators in hot contention. These scaffolds were sometimes lifted up so suddenly as to throw the combatants into the air; and sometimes they were let down into dark and deep holes, and then set on fire, thus becoming the funeral piles of those miserable wretches, and roasting them alive to divert the brutal populace.