Page 9 - Cause & Effect: Ancient Rome

the escapees started training other runaway slaves to fi ght. Th e group
went on to defeat several small Roman armies sent to stop them. Even
the two consuls then in offi ce—Gellius and Lentulus—failed to stop
Spartacus.
Th e Senate then tried to deal with what had become a full-blown
crisis. Seeing the consuls as useless and knowing that Pompey was
away on a military expedition in Spain, the senators worriedly debated
what to do. Crassus viewed this as an opening for him to acquire per-
sonal glory and off ered to lead an army against Spartacus. Perhaps be-
cause he had many friends among the senators, they accepted his off er.
For various reasons, however, Crassus and his soldiers initial-
ly made little headway against the slaves. As a result, the Senate
begged Pompey to hurry home from Spain and aid in the eff ort to
stop Spartacus, a move that alarmed Crassus. Th e latter knew, Plu-
tarch wrote, “that the credit for the success would be likely to go not

In French artist Jean Gerome’s famous 1872 painting Pollice Verso
(“Thumbs Down”), a victorious gladiator prepares to slay his fallen
opponent. The slave Spartacus was training for such work when he
escaped and began threatening Rome.