My answer

Submitted by Debanjan Banerjee (India), Nov 2, 2011 at 23:30

"Romans never forced anybody to become a Roman Citizen"

My Answer >>> I guess you are omitting the simple fact here. Romans never forced anybody to become a Roman citizen simply because no Roman citizens could be made a slave and put into gladiatorship. You understand about the class differences in Petricians and Plebians in the Roman society. Then you should understand that as an empire Rome survived and thrived based upon her ability to conquer more and more territories and incorporate as many slaves as possible into her economic system. As a result , Rome could not afford to offer citizenship to any other conquered peoples. Period.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".