Explanation: Just a parody of those innumerable “THIS is GOOD and UNPOPULAR, this is BAD and POPULAR” Facebook Boomer-level posts, but for R O M E. The top image is of a gladiator, and gladiators were really the star athletes of the Roman Empire - down to endorsing businesses/products!

The bottom image is a depiction of Marcus Atilius Regulus, who was captured by Carthage and returned to Rome under guard to present Carthaginian peace terms. Supposedly, he told the Senate to refuse the peace terms, and then, because he was such an honorable man who had given his word, returned with his Carthaginian captors, who subsequently tortured him to death. The story is… not likely to be true, but it was one the Romans themselves were fond of.

Against who?