Editing Gladiator (section)

===Role in the military===
According to [[Livy]]: "A man who knows how to conquer in war is a man who knows how to arrange a banquet and put on a show."<ref>Livy, 45.32–33.</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=81}}. It was notably fulfilled and celebrated in the battlefield ''devotio'' of two consular [[:Category:Decii|Decii]]; firstly by [[Publius Decius Mus (340 BC)|the father]] and later by his [[Publius Decius Mus (312 BC)|son]].</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Edwards|2007|pp=19–45}}; Livy, 22.51.5–8, has wounded Romans at Cannae stretch out their necks for the death blow by comrades: ''cf'' Cicero's death in Seneca's ''Suasoriae'', 6.17.</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=17}}.</ref> The Senate refused to ransom Hannibal's Roman captives: instead, they consulted the [[Sibylline books]], then made drastic preparations:

<blockquote>
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&nbsp;... 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&nbsp;... 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.<ref>Livy, 22.55–57.</ref>
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[[File:Kourion10.jpg|thumb|190px|Late 3rd century gladiator mosaic from a private residence in [[Kourion]], [[Cyprus]]. All the participants are named. The central figure (Darios) is positioned as a referee but wears a citizen's high-status [[Toga#Varieties|toga or tunic with broad stripes]]]]
The account notes, uncomfortably, the bloodless human sacrifices performed to help turn the tide of the war in Rome's favour. While the Senate mustered their willing slaves, Hannibal offered his dishonoured Roman captives a chance for honourable death, in what Livy describes as something very like the Roman ''munus''. The ''munus'' thus represented an essentially military, self-sacrificial ideal, taken to extreme fulfillment in the gladiator's oath.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> By the ''devotio'' of a voluntary oath, a slave might achieve the quality of a Roman (''[[Romanitas]]''), become the embodiment of true ''virtus'' (manliness, or manly virtue), and paradoxically, be granted ''missio'' while remaining a slave.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> The gladiator as a specialist fighter, and the ethos and organization of the gladiator schools, would inform the development of the Roman military as the most effective force of its time.<ref>{{harvnb|Barton|1993|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=274}}.</ref> Following defeat at the [[Battle of Arausio]] in 105 BC:

<blockquote>
...weapons training was given to soldiers by P. Rutilius, consul with C. Mallis. For he, following the example of no previous general, with teachers summoned from the gladiatorial training school of C. Aurelus Scaurus, implanted in the legions a more sophisticated method of avoiding and dealing a blow and mixed bravery with skill and skill back again with virtue so that skill became stronger by bravery's passion and passion became more wary with the knowledge of this art.<ref name="ReferenceA" />
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The military were great aficionados of the games, and supervised the schools. Many schools and amphitheatres were sited at or near military barracks, and some [[Roman province|provincial]] army units owned gladiator troupes.<ref>{{harvnb|Wiedemann|1992|p=45}}.</ref> As the Republic wore on, the term of military service increased from ten to the sixteen years formalised by Augustus in the Principate. It would rise to twenty, and later, to twenty-five years. Roman military discipline was ferocious; severe enough to provoke mutiny, despite the consequences. A career as a volunteer gladiator may have seemed an attractive option for some.<ref>{{harvnb|Mattern|2002|pp=126–128}}. Mattern is citing Tacitus's ''Annals'', 1.17.</ref>

In AD 69, the [[Year of the Four Emperors]], [[Otho]]'s troops at [[Bedriacum]] included 2000 gladiators. Opposite him on the field, [[Vitellius]]'s army was swollen by levies of slaves, plebs and gladiators.<ref>{{harvnb|Mattern|2002|p=87}}. Mattern is citing Cassius Dio, 72, 73.2.3.</ref> In 167 AD, troop depletions by plague and desertion may have prompted Marcus Aurelius to draft gladiators at his own expense.<ref>{{harvnb|Mattern|2002|p=87}}.</ref> During the Civil Wars that led to the Principate, Octavian (later Augustus) acquired the personal gladiator troop of his erstwhile opponent, Mark Antony. They had served their late master with exemplary loyalty but thereafter, they disappear from the record.<ref name="Futrell, 129: citing Dio" />