SERVILIA: This is another example of Shakespeare’s referencing customs from his own time and projecting them into ancient Rome. The reference here is to the practice of bear-baiting.

RALPH: This was a popular form of Elizabethan entertainment in which a bear was tied to a stake in the center of an arena. Then a pack of hunting dogs were let loose and the bear had to fight until only the bear or some dogs were left standing.

SERVILIA: As bloody and cruel as bear baiting seems to us today, it wasn’t nearly as monstrous as the blood sports practiced in ancient Rome, which featured gladiator fights and wild animals killing people. Over the course of several centuries, hundreds of thousands of men and women perished in this way in order to provide entertainment for the Roman masses.