They won their huge empire by discipline and control. Public executions were a gruesome reminder to non-combatants, fellow-citizens or subjects, that vengeance would be exacted if they betrayed their country, rebelled or were convicted of serious crimes. .
It was un-Roman and unpatriotic to shy away from such displays of bloodshed. Watching the gladiators fight was simply a form of entertainment, no different than modern audiences going out to see a movie or a sporting event. In fact, from a modern perspective can we really say that we do not enjoy the same kind of violence? Although no one actually dies, watching a boxing match or a gory horror movie can be almost as violent as watching a gladiator slay his opponent.
Just as athletes today are trained by their coaches, gladiators were trained in special gladiator schools, or ludi, such as the training facility found in Pompeii (see Fig. 2). Most gladiators did not willingly go to these schools, as they were slaves sold into a familia gladitoria, the Latin name for a troupe of gladiators. Although most of the gladiators were slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war, there were many free Roman citizens who decided to give up their freedom and status in order to join the familia gladitoria. These men were considered slaves and had no more rights than the other gladiators. All the gladiators swore an oath "to endure branding, chains, flogging or death by the sword, to follow their master's orders without question and to pay for the food and drink they received with their blood." It is hard to imagine why a free man would give up so much for what is an almost certain violent death, but some men thrived on the excitement and thrill of the arena, and perhaps a chance to gain fame and glory. Also, the gladiators were guaranteed three meals a day, received good medical care and were paid for appearing in the arena. For desperate men, being a gladiator might not have been such a horrible option.
