 While the trainers of the rhinoceros may have trembled in fear at the fate that awaited them if their animal failed to perform , and another trainer was savaged by his lion , some were more successful . One trainer was noted for his tigress which , though tame enough to lick his hand , had torn a lion to pieces , " a novelty unknown in any times " . It also appears that the crowd was pleased when a bull ( perhaps ridden by a bestarius ) was hoisted aloft in the arena , but Martial gives little clue as to the nature of this entertainment . 
