Gladiators consisted either of captives, slaves and condemned malefactors, or of free born citizens who fought voluntarily. Of those who were condemned, some were said to be condemned ad gladium, in which case they were obliged to be killed within a year, and others ad ludum, who might obtain their discharge at the end of three years. Freemen, who became gladiators for hire, were called auctorati. Even under the republic, free born citizens fought as gladiators, but they appear to have belonged only to the lower orders. Under the empire, however, both equites and senators fought in the arena; and even women, which was at length forbidden in the time of Severus. Gladiators were kept in schools, where they were trained by persons called lanist. They sometimes were the property of the lanistæ, who let them out to persons who wished to exhibit a show of gladiators; but at other times belonged to citizens, who kept them for the purpose of exhibition, and engaged lanistæ to instruct them. The superintendence of the schools which belonged to the emperors, was intrusted to a person of high rank, called curator or procurator. The gladiators fought in these schools with wooden swords. Great attention was paid to their diet, in order to increase the strength of their bodies. They were fed with nourishing food; and a great number were trained at Ravenna on account of the salubrity of the place.
The person who was to exhibit a show of gladiators, published bills containing the numbers and sometimes the names of those who were to fight. When the day came, they were led along the arena in procession, and matched by pairs; and their swords were examined by the exhibitor to see if they were sufficiently sharp. At first there was a kind of sham battle, called prelusio, in which they fought with wooden swords; and afterwards, at the sound of the trumpet, the real battle began. When a gladiator was wounded, the people called out habet, or hoc habet; and the one who was vanquished, lowered his arms in token of submission. His fate, however, depended upon the audience, who pressed down their thumbs if they wished him to be saved, and turned them up if they wished him to be killed, and ordered him to receive the fatal sword, which they usually did with the greatest firmness. If the life of a vanquished gladiator was spared, he obtained his discharge for that day. In some exhibitions, the lives of the conquered were never spared; but this kind was forbidden by Augustus.
Palms were given to the victorious; money was also sometimes given. Old gladiators, and sometimes those who had fought only for a short time, were discharged from the service by the editor at the request of the people, who presented each of them with a wooden sword. If a person was free before he entered the school, he became free again on his discharge; if he was a slave, he became a slave again. A man, however, who had voluntarily become a gladiator, was always considered to have disgraced himself; and consequently it appears he could not attain the equestrian ranks, if he afterwards acquired sufficient property to entitle him to it.
Shows of gladiators were abolished by Constantine, but appear, notwith-
