For the plebeians of the society, it was their right to attend these games as they were free to all and the sponsor often handed out grain here, although there was little need for incentive. These people thrived at the games and were never likely to oppose the free entertainment which was a break from their hum drum life of work and toil. The common people appeared to revel in the barbarity and bloodlust of the games and after years of watching the munera, it seems likely that the Romans became somewhat desensitised to the bloodshed. .
Although it is a fictional account, a character from Petronius" Satyricon gives us an account of a member of the lower class, Echion who presents himself as an unsympathetic, unfeeling man. He expects "a grand show", a "do or die" affair with "bloody butcher's meat" for the audience to "feast their eyes on". In this account he also mentions a previous poor show put on by a man named Norbanus who presented a "rickety lot" of gladiators. .
Yet there was evidence that the crowds could occasionally be moved to compassion. Pompey hosted very elaborate games in 55 BC, with an exhibit of 20 elephants and hired bowmen to kill them. However, the elephants first tried to escape and when they realised this was impossible they raised their trunks and bellowed, which the crowd took to be a sign of supplication. When Pompey had them slaughtered nonetheless the crowd were said to have cursed him. Cicero's contemporary account says of the audience; "there followed certain sympathy that this beast had a certain partnership with the human race". .
Particularly during the empire, politics was an incentive for the common people to attend the games. This may seem extraordinary as during this time these people lost the right to vote. The amphitheatre became a political arena where the people had a chance to voice their feelings, support and also hostility directly to the Emperor, who usually attended the games.
