 Scipio Aemilianus had been the first to execute criminals in this way when he had deserters from his army exposed to wild beasts in 146 BC.These executions often took the form of the re-creation of some tragic scene from history or mythology with the criminal cast in the role of the victim killed by wild beasts.Martial records one such execution, a version of the mime "Laureolus" by Catullus, in which a notorious bandit was executed by crucifixion.