They even had bad refs way back when

[skiguy]

Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul

"After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately," reads the epitaph. "Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me."

The summa rudis is a referee, who may have had past experience as a gladiator.

[Phidippides]

I came across a site a few weeks back which had inscription found around Pompeii.  Many of them were quite crude, the kind that wouldn't be out of place in a seedy bathroom stall today.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[donroc]

Google the poet Catullus for some rough poetry and character assassination.

[scout1067]

Cicero has some pretty rough parts too.  Tacitus did not pull any punches in his history.  The ancients were people just like we are, it always amazes me when people expect them to have been different.  The modern world does not have a monopoly on petty thought or actions.

[donroc]

Thanks to Shakespeare and cinema, many people believe the Romans spoke like educated Brits.