(1) Slavery is an institution of the common law of peoples (ius gentium) by which a person is put into the ownership (dominium) of somebody else, contrary to the natural order.(2) Slaves (servi) are so called because commanders generally sell the people they capture and thereby save (servare) them instead of killing them.(3) The word for property in slaves (mancipia) is derived from the fact that they are capture

A fascinating comment by Bradley demonstrates the reality of the situation for gladiatorial slaves in that the scenes and dangers they faced as gladiators put them in an no win situation and revolt might have seemed like a viable resolution to their situation. As an aside the motivation for thousands of other rebels to join their cause may have been in response to the general violent ethos of the age that according to Bradley permeated so much of the culture. Some proof of this violent ethos can ironically be seen in the existence of the gladiatorial trials themselves.

By this point one historian Appian puts the number of rebels at near 70,000 in total in the several localities where they were stronghold.

According to Bradley and other experts the war broadened during the winter that fell between 73-72 BC and began to attract even more followers as the Roman defeats in other areas became common knowledge among rebels and other slaves who joined the revolt thereafter. (Bradley 95)

...to engage in revolt was a dangerous enterprise, and the intrinsic risks may well have deterred many slaves from even contemplating such drastic behavior. But in their careers, gladiators confronted the likelihood of physical harm every time they fought, and Cicero's rationalization that gladiatorial combat was praiseworthy for the training it gave in withstanding pain can hardly have been of much comfort to them. (Nor did it prevent Cicero from commenting on the essential barbarism of the sport.) However, when gladiatorial contests by their very nature thrust slaves into situations where their lives were threatened, revolt may well have seemed to many no less hazardous an alternative... But the possibility of contrived involvement in civil unrest was just as strong, and all sense of stability in their lives was lacking. Above all, their existence was fully permeated by the violent ethos of the age. That ethos affected the lives of many other slaves too, which helps to explain the participation in the Spartacan war of the thousands of rebels who followed the gladiators' lead. (Bradley 89)

The popular idea of the individual who says, with heart that "any enemy of Rome is a friend of mine, and any friend of Rome is an enemy of mine" with all its connotations, is an expression or a sentiment widely used to describe the manner in which slaves often felt about the circumstances of their lives. This is also true of many individuals, not necessarily held as slaves but held as colonists of the Roman Empire, long into its growth period in its many locations of control.

In the winter of 72-71 B.C. the rebel forces found themselves trapped near Rhegium in the peninsula of Bruttium, where Spartacus had withdrawn after considering (again in reactive fashion) but abandoning the idea of an evacuation to Sicily. Crassus installed fortifications and besieged the rebels, whose deep southern position became increasingly perilous through the winter months. (Bradley 97)

The Lex Aelia Sentia requires that any slaves who had been put in chains as a punishment by their masters or had been branded or interrogated under torture about some crime of which they were found to be guilty; and any who had been handed over to fight as gladiators or with wild beasts, or had belonged to a troupe of gladiators or had been imprisoned; should, if the same owner or any subsequent owner manumits them, become free men of the same status as subject foreigners (peregrini dediticii).(14) 'Subject foreigners' is the name given to those who had once fought a regular war against the Roman People, were defeated, and gave themselves up.(15) We will never accept that slaves who have suffered a disgrace of this kind can become either Roman citizens or Latins (whatever the procedure of manumission and whatever their age at the time, even if they were in their masters' full ownership); we consider that they should always be held to have the status of subjects. (Wiedemann 24)

Though

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Roman Empire, BC Rome, Bradley Prologue, Spartacan War, Rome Sicilian, Plutarch Appian, Roman People, Spartacus Bradley, Enna Twenty, Greeks Romans, roman empire, civil unrest, slave population, slave wars, petty crime, servile wars, generation slaves, slave society, slave revolt, bradley 84, roman slave wars, slavery roman world, violent ethos age, bc 70 bc, 140 bc 70,
Approximate Word count = 6863
Approximate Pages = 27 (250 words per page double spaced)