Was it common or even possible for a citizen to get a sentence like "death in the arena", in Republican times?
Somehow it smells like an Emperial thing to me...
Wouldn't a proper legal punishment for a citizen be something permanently fixed like being thrown from Tarpeian rock or something "decent" like that?

Having questioned that matter i have to say that the whole arena scene was amazing!!! I was glued to the screen and had to watch the end of the episode twice in a row, fascinated horrified and amazed down to my bones!