<P> A man who knows how to conquer in war is a man who knows how to arrange a banquet and put on a show . </P> <P> Rome was essentially a landowning military aristocracy . From the early days of the Republic, ten years of military service were a citizen's duty and a prerequisite for election to public office . Devotio (willingness to sacrifice one's life to the greater good) was central to the Roman military ideal, and was the core of the Roman military oath . It applied from highest to lowest alike in the chain of command . As a soldier committed his life (voluntarily, at least in theory) to the greater cause of Rome's victory, he was not expected to survive defeat . </P> <P> The Punic Wars of the late 3rd century BC--in particular the near - catastrophic defeat of Roman arms at Cannae--had long - lasting effects on the Republic, its citizen armies, and the development of the gladiatorial munera . In the aftermath of Cannae, Scipio Africanus crucified Roman deserters and had non-Roman deserters thrown to the beasts . The Senate refused to ransom Hannibal's Roman captives: instead, they consulted the Sibylline books, then made drastic preparations: </P> <P> In obedience to the Books of Destiny, some strange and unusual sacrifices were made, human sacrifices amongst them . A Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman and a Greek man and a Greek woman were buried alive under the Forum Boarium...They were lowered into a stone vault, which had on a previous occasion also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings . When the gods were believed to be duly propitiated...Armour, weapons, and other things of the kind were ordered to be in readiness, and the ancient spoils gathered from the enemy were taken down from the temples and colonnades . The dearth of freemen necessitated a new kind of enlistment; 8,000 sturdy youths from amongst the slaves were armed at the public cost, after they had each been asked whether they were willing to serve or no . These soldiers were preferred, as there would be an opportunity of ransoming them when taken prisoners at a lower price . </P>

What other types of entertainment were popular in rome