It provided services and entertainment to a teeming population of about one million inhabitants from all over the world. What does the crowd want Maximus to do when he defeats him? If a gladiator wanted to be the champion, he could not let his focus waver. But even the Christians had to acknowledge the power the gladiatorial games held over the mobs of . Life as a slave. Seneca, in full Lucius Annaeus Seneca, byname Seneca the Younger, (born c. 4 bce, Corduba (now Crdoba), Spaindied 65 ce, Rome [Italy]), Roman philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian. I love this one because it's about as bold a one-line refutation of fatalism as you can imagine. In that uncongenial milieu he studied natural science and philosophy and wrote the three treatises entitled Consolationes (Consolations). Female gladiators were extremely rare and they seem to have been considered exotic, but they did exist. | The History Guide |