The strongest and fittest men were often selected to become gladiators, and they would be specially trained to fight in amphitheatres like the Colosseum.
They bring in a piano player and opera singers who perform on a purpose built stage in a kind of natural amphitheatre in the middle of the rows of grapes.
The people came together only in the amphitheatre or at the circus to indulge in more or less brutal pastimes, but certainly not to discuss public issues.