 The "munus" thus represented an essentially military, self-sacrificial ideal, taken to extreme fulfillment in the gladiator's oath.By the "devotio" of a voluntary oath, a slave might achieve the quality of a Roman ("Romanitas"), become the embodiment of true "virtus" (manliness, or manly virtue), and paradoxically, be granted "missio" while remaining a slave.The gladiator as a specialist fighter, and the ethos and organization of the gladiator schools, would inform the development of the Roman military as the most effective force of its time.