Gladiators

Once people were prepared to see Rome as a decadent nation they started to enjoy this decadence. Roman chariot races, christian martyrs and above all the great show in the arena.

The first picture is the most famous by the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). He called it "Pollice Verso" (1872), what means "thumb down". He's glamorizing the bloody spectacle as usual in his paintings.
But nevertheless its a great work and Ridley Scott said that he was convinced by it to make his movie Gladiator.

This painting is called "The Spoliarium" (1884) and it's by the Filipino painter Juan Luna y Novicio (1857–1899). It has not that glorification in Gérôme's style.
Luna didn't want to entertain at first, he wanted to critizize the abuses of the colonial rule in the Philippines.