In NO, both the poem and the gloss have attenari, a variant of arenarii in AUT and the short-commentary MSS.

In the short-commentary alpha MSS (L7, M4), the arenarii are cruel games that men play in the arena. In AUT and NO plus the beta (L4, MT) and gamma (P2) MSS, the arenarii are not games, but rather are the men who play the cruel games. This is, in fact, the correct meaning of the Latin (h)arenarius. (See Lewis & Short, s.v.) The (incorrect) alpha reading concerning the games seems to represent an earlier misunderstanding of the word, while the correct beta-gamma-AUT-NO reading about the contestants themselves reflects a better and quite likely later understanding of the word. Note also that the gloss in NO concludes with a reference to the games being played «sopra la terra». One beta MS (L4) has this reading; AUT and the other MSS have «sopra l'arena».