ce than past forms of recreation, for example gladiatorial games or public hangings. Plato viewed human life as a pilgrimage from the appearance to reality. He also believed that a piece of art had to be strictly censored when they depicted any form of evil and cruelty. When an artist imitated what was bad, they add to the sum of badness in the world. Both Plato and Aristotle pointed out that we as humans do find delight in representations of objects and emotions that would consider different from real life; most of us agree with Aristotle in refusing to believe that they are corrupt (Bok 3, !
             41). The Romans remain the prototype for violent entertainment at its most extreme. It was a culture, which sanctioned tradition, foreign conquest was a domestic culture, and weapons were easily available. The treatment of newborns and slaves within the home extended to crucifixions and other brutal punishments. Though on a whole the Romans did not criticize their choice of entertainment, one philosopher, Seneca, did.
             To exhibit the slaughter of eighteen elephants in the Circus, pitting criminals against them in a mimic battle [and] thought it a notable kind of spectacle to kill human beings after a new fashion. Do they fight to the death? That is not enough! Are they torn to pieces? That is not enough! Let them be crushed by animals of monstrous bulk!
             Such entertainment was so popular that most military encampments had their own amphitheaters, and hundreds of others were built for the public around the Empire. No people before or after were so centered around displays of mortal combat as were the Romans. The only difference between today's society and that of the one during the last two centuries B.C., other than the degree of violence, is the openness of debates. Our institut
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