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BY THE FI I {ESI DE.
A ROMAN SLAVE.
In the old time, when a man was
taken prisoner in war, he was put to
death or sold into slavery.
The Romans were continually
reaching out for more land and for
more wealth and more power, and
hence it was that slaves became more
numerous in the Roman country than
the free citizens. For they were ever
successful in their wars and brought
home great numbers of slaves from
every part of the world. They were
» put to all sorts of service.
Some of them had hard tasks, oth
ers easy ones. Some worked in the
house and some in the fields.
The only crime these slaves had
committed was that they loved their
own homes well enough to fight for
them, and had been defeated.
In the eyes of the world it was
then, as now, a bad thing to fail.
Many a man has been hung for try
ing to do just what George Wash
ington succeeded in doing.
I remember to have read some
where about the way to tell those
mushrooms which are good to eat,
from those which are a deadly pois
on. It was this: ts the mushroom
you eat makes you feel good all over
and whets your appetite for more,
it’s all right. But if, on the other
hand, you are seized with mortal
pains and ingloriously die, then you
may reasonably conclude that you
got hold of the wrong mushroom. It
takes this sort of a test to prove the
difference, because, otherwise, the
two kinds are just alike.
Its the same way with men. You
never can tell whether a Reformer
is a Patriot or a Traitor till you see
whether he succeeds or fails: wheth
er his fellow mortals crown his head
with wreaths, or w’hether they whirl
in and chop it off with an axe.
If the Reformer succeeds and gets
his crown, as Washington did, then
History says he was a Patriot.
If he fails and gets a gallows, as
Emmett did, he is called a Traitor.
Yet they both tried to do the very
same thing.
One of the tasks the Roman Slaves
were made to do was to fight each
other. Their Masters loved to see
blood flow:—especially the blood of
the people. So the strongest of the
Slaves were trained to fight with
knives and swords, so that their
lordly Masters might have the pleas
ure of seeing them kill each other
according to strict scientific princi
ples.
Sometimes a Roman grandee died
and his sons took it into their heads
that it would please the departed to
see some good fighting going on at
his funeral. So they would bring
a ffew dozen of the male Slaves, arm
them with swords, and compel them
to cut one another to pieces.
In those days the body of the dead
was placed on a large pile of wood,
and, after everything had been done
which custom required, they would
set fire to the wood and burn up the
whole business, corpse and all. Then
they would gather up a handful or
two of the ashes, put them in a large
mouthed jug (which they called urns),
neatly label it with the name of “Un
cle Cato ” or “ Cousin Pompey ” or
“Aunt Silvia” as the case may be,
and there was an end of it. The
jug was put off to one side, on a con
venient shelf, and if there was ever
any demand for the remains of Un
cle Cato or Aunt Silvia, there they
were in the jug. There was no great
undertaker’s bill for burial expenses
to take up half of the estate. The
ancient heathens were a slow people
in some respects, and it was left to
us modern Christians to invent that
form of robbery.
Well, as I said, these poor Slaves
W’ere frequently forced to fight and
mangle each other, and to die a pit
iable death around the funeral fire,
in order that their Master might have
a departure fitting his rank. His
sons thought they owed him this lit
tle attention, and they had an idea
that it soothed him and made him
rest easier to have a few men killed
while he was being burnt.
Another and a more general way
in which these combats were had was
in the theatre. It was called the
amphi-theatre. The building usually
consisted of a huge circle of stone
work, with seats rising one above
the other on the inside, and in the
centre was the open space it en
closed, called the arena. On those
seats eat the Romans while the Slaves,
trained to fight (gladiators they were
called), hewed and hacked and pierc
ed each other with swords in the
arena. It was a most horrible prac
tice and lasted many hundreds of
pears.
In one of their raids on their
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1892.
neighbors, the Romans captured a
Thracian shepherd-boy, named Spar
tacus. He was large, splendidly
formed, active and strong. So they
decided to make him a gladiator.
He was their slave, and this, they
thought, was the best work they could
put him at. They felt convinced
that a man of his build, when prop
erly trained, would furnish them lots
of sport killing other men. He was
trained accordingly. He was taught
all the skill of the Roman soldier.
He was made to exercise it in due
time. Many a combat, to the death,
did he have with men who had done
him no wrong. He was helpless, and
so were they. He was compelled to
fight them and they were compelled
to fight him. It is said that he
had to fight his own brother, not
knowing who it was till after the hel
met was taken off the dying man.
Then he saw it was his younger
brother whom he had killed to furn
ish sport for his masters !
Is it any wonder his soul burst into
flame and that he made a dash for
freedom ?
He did so. He organized his fel
low-gladiators, watched his chance,
and one night he and seventy-seven
of them fought their way out of the
city and took refuge in the crater of
Mount Vesuvius.
A small band of soldiers were sent
against them. Spartacus stole upon
them in the night, cut them to pieces,
seized all their weapons and went
back to the mountain.
The news of this victory spread
like wildfire. The thousands of
slaves all over the country began to
breathe the breath of hope. Hun
dreds of them threw down their tools
and hurried to join Spartacus. His
little band swelled into an army.
Three thousand Roman soldiers
were sent against him. He sprang
upon them with all the spirit of Na
poleon and routed them utterly.
The Roman historians have told
us as little as possible about this
struggle of the Slaves for freedom.
The details are few and the facts
disputed. But we can gather enough
to arrive at the conclusion that this
second victory of Spartacus shook
the Roman world like an earthquake.
It is worth our while to study the
state of things then existing.
In the story of the Gracchi I have
told you how a few great landlords
gobbled up all the public lands which
belonged rightfully to all the citizens
equally. The small farmers were
crowded out.
This, of course, bred dissatisfac
tion. The people who had been un
justly deprived of their homes only
wanted a leader and the opportunity.
They were in the mood to fight.
Then, again, these large landlords
worked the public lands with slave
labor. It got to the point in Rome,
just as it did in our country thirty
years ago, that a poor freeman who
owned no Slaves was sometimes
worse off than the Slaves.
. This was a second cause for dis
satisfaction. Then, again, the capi
talists advanced the rates of interest
to a ruinous figure and the price of
money steadily advanced, crushing
the life from thousands of farms and
from thousands of shops every year.
The rich grew richer and the poor
grew poorer.
Those who suffered from this usury
were of course unhappy and the
greed of capitalists, unchecked by
law, was a third source of dissatis
faction.
Then came the question of eman
cipation. All the Slaves wanted
freedom. Their lot was, at least, a
hard one. Generally they were not
allowed to have wives. They could
hold no property. No law could
protect them from the cruelty of hard
Masters. They were chained to
gether in gangs and made to labor in
the fields, the mines, the quarries and
the shops.
Some were trained to fight wild
beasts for the amusement of elegant
audiences of “high society.”
Some were trained to fight each
other and to make the theatre run
with human blood, in order that the
strong muscles of the rude Slaves
might furnish sport for the refined
brutes who owned them.
Occasionally a very great noble
would give a feast and invite all the
big bugs, male and female, to come.
He wmuld spread himself to make it
a tip-top affair. Every good thing
to eat from a wild boar to a spring
chicken was laid on the Table.
Everything on earth that was good
to drink (except milk and -water) was
made ready. Then they all filed in,
and the most perfect, Tariff-Reform-
Club way, they began to stuff them
selves.
When it was over they felt the
need of something lively. They
were dull. The man who makes
speeches at the dinner table had not
then been invented, and these be
nighted heathen did not know what
to do with themselves.
So the giver of the feast would
fetch in a band of Gladiators and
set them to cutting each other with
swords. The well stuffed guests
would range themselves around in
easy, high bred attitudes and watch
the murders which were being com
mitted for their amusement. It
stimulated digestion. They would
make bets on the different Gladia
tors as you now see some forlorn
people do on a chicken fight.
By the time the sight grew a little
tiresome to the lookers on and it was
stopped, about half the slaves would
be dead and the other half gashed
and bleeding from numerous wounds.
Then the dead were carted out
like so much carrion and thrown
into the River while the survivors
were carried back to their chains and
cells—to be cured of their hurts and
to be ready to fight again.
Such were only a few of the hor
rors of the Roman Slave System.
They believed that a Slave had no
more rights than a horse. They had
no conception that men were born
free and equal.
The Slaves, therefore, were ripe
for revolt. All they wanted was
leadership and organization. To
them, death under the open skies,
fighting for freedom, was better
than death in the arena, fighting for
the sport of cruel masters.
So when Spartacus won his second
victory, putting to flight an army of
3000 men, all these dissatisfied classes
began to rally to him. He soon
had a large force of well armed
troops. He drilled them carefully
and constantly. He was a great
general and he knew he had a fear
ful struggle before him.
He did just what Abraham Lin
coln did. He issued an Emancipa
tion Proclamation.
The Slaves everywhere looked
upon him as their liberator. Herds
men, cattle-drivers, shepherds, free
laborers and the farmers who had
been pushed off the public lands,
composed his army which now con
sisted of 10,000 men.
Another Roman army was sent
against Spartacus. In marching up
on him it divided into two columns.
He saw his chance as quickly as
Napoleon would have seen it. Dash
ing on the weakest division, he
crushed it. Then rushing on the
other, he swept it from the field.
The army of Spartacus rapidly
grew. It soon consisted of 70,000.
The Roman General, Varius, ral
lied his broken forces, gathered in
reinforcements and confronted Spar
tacus with numbers still greater than
his own.
Varinius was annihilated.
Spartacus simply destroyed him
and from that day to this we hear
no more of Varinius. He knew
when he had enough.
Spartacus was now the master of
the situation in all that part of the
Roman Country. A band of mere
Slaves, mere rag-tag and bob-tail,
had cleaned up everything in sight.
Don’t you know the Romans were
mad I
He overran all the Country, round
about, took many cities, supplied his
soldiers with all they wanted and
then went into winter quarters just
like a regular general, and not at all
like a slave.
At this time the Roman Senate
was trying to put down the Labor
Unions that existed among the free
laborers of the cities and towns and
country. These unions were secret
societies for the benefit of the la
borers and the Roman Senate was
very much opposed to them. The
Unions did not wish to be crushed
out and the supposition is that Spar
tacus got much help from them in
his war for Freedom.
Many of their members are known
to have been in his army.
In a speech which Cicero made
some time after this war, he was de
nouncing the Labor Unions, and he
stated that many new labor societies
had been formed by a Gladiator, in
addition to the old ones.
It is thought that he was alluding
to Spartacus. If so it shows that
this heroic man grasped the truth
that the cause of Labor, whether free
or slave, was, at bottom, the same.
So he was battling both for the one
and the other.
While his army was in Winter
Quarters he enforced strict disci
pline. He allowed no acts of bru
tality. He allowed no use of intoxi
cating liquors. He was kind to
Prisoners. His camp was a scene of
law and order.
He himself was such a good hus
band to his noble wife, so gallant a
soldier, so generous a victor, so hon-
est a man that his very enemies had
to praise him—after they had killed
him.
When Spartacus marched out of
his winter quarters in the spring of
the year 73 before Christ, he was
at the head of 100,000 men. This
shows what a tremendous Revolution
was going on in the heart of the
Roman Republic.
Already, however, the evil spirit
was at work in his army. One of his
generals, named Crixus, grew jealous
and created a division.
Three Roman armies were on the
move against the Rebels.
Crixus, like a fool, separated from
Spartacus and set out to get some
glory on his own hook. One of the
Roman armies fell in with him, gave
battle, routed him and killed him.
That settled his hash.
Another of the lieutenants of
Spartacus tried the same game with
the same results. After that, the
officers were content to let the Chief
plan the campaign.
He retreated before the Roman
armies for some time but at length
saw his opportunity—held one of
the Roman Generals in check with a
small force while he attacked the
other in earnest. The contest raged
all day. It was one of the fiercest
battles ever fought. Spartacus won.
He had captured a number of the
most distinguished Roman Nobles
and he decided to give Crixus some
grand funeral games after the Ro
man fashion. These funeral games
were supposed to be highly gratify
ing to a dead man. So Spartacus
gave Crixus a big blow out, and in
order that the affair should be in the
strictest good taste and in the
highest propriety he made his noble
prisoners fight one another, to the
death, as a part of the ceremonies.
This was retaliation.
With one accord all Christian
nations condemn Retaliation —in
others.
The Roman armies combined their
forces and the great battle of Pice
num was fought. Not less than
250,000 men were engaged.
The Romans were shamefully
beaten.
The army of Spartacus was now
so large, it was difficult to control.
He was forced to alter his plans
from time to time. He wanted to
march into his home Country of
Thrace, where the friendly shelter of
the mountains and of his brave, free
people would aid him in his great
struggle. His troops wished other
wise. They wanted to plunder the
rich cities of Italy.
So Spartacus had to stay. He
gained another victory over a Ro
man general, named Mummius, and
then retired into winter quarters.
At Rome great fear existed.
They realized that unless this rising
of the Slaves was put down the old
order of things, where one man lived
in idleness off the work of others,
would end. This was a change too
dreadful to contemplate with any
peace of mind. So they made ex
tra efforts to raise new armies to
quell the Rebellion.
Crassus was sent out with a great
force. One of his lieutenants met
Spartacus, joined battle and was
destroyed.
This made the Romans more cau
tious. They decided to quit fighting
Spartacus and to try the plan of starv
ing him out.
He had now an army of 300,000
men. This shows that he was no
mere hot-headed Rebel, but one of
the greatest Leaders, Organizers and
Soldiers the world ever saw.
As his troops would not let him go
into Thrace, he marched to the Sea
and tried to get shipping for the
Island of Sicily, which also belonged
to Rome and where there were so
many Slaves and so many disaffected
laborers that he knew he would be
safe.
He bargained with the Pirates to
carry him and his forces. He paid
them the money. They then sailed
away and left him blockaded by his
enemies. He was on a narrow strip
of land; his troops were suffering for
food; the Romans had thrown up a
line of entrenchments between him
and the open country, and things
looked squally.
Spartacus was equal to the Crisis.
One dark wintry night while a storm
was raging, and the Romans were
snoozing comfortably in their tents,
he gathered up his men, dashed at
the intrenchments, scaled them, cut
down all op>osition and escaped into
the open country.
The failure of Spartacus to reach
Sicily caused a revolt to take place
in his own ranks. 50,000 of his sol
diers left him under the command of
Grannicus and Castus. They called
Spartacus a coward for retreating.
They wanted him to fight. He had
sense enough to know when to fight
and when to run, and hence they dis
trusted him. These new Leaders led
the angry troops to meet the Romans
and they got all the fighting they will
ever want in this world. 35,000 of
them were killed on the spot —in_
eluding (I am pleased to say) the two
Leaders who pulled away from
Spartacus.
Notone of these foolish men would
have escaped had not Spartacus ar
rived and put an end to the butchery.
Soon after this he gained another
victory over one of the Roman de
tachments. It was unfortunate that
he did so. It again puffed his sol
diers up so that he could not control
them. They were -willing to fight
but not to retreat.
Now Spartacus knew that he could
not risk a general engagemen. The
enemy was too large. He knew that
Pompey the Great was coming from
Spain -with a fresh army; that Lu
cullus and his army had been recalled
from Asia and were then landing
close by; and that therefore he was
in danger of being hemmed in by
three great Armies.
Like a good general he wished to
withdraw while there was yet time,
and to get into the mountains or out
into that part of the open country
where he could not be trapped in be
tween the three Armies.
But his troops could not be checked.
They brought on the general engage
ment. It was called the battle of
Silarius. It commenced almost by
accident in a squabble between a
handful of skirmishers. Few bloodier
battles have ever been fought. Few
ever had so many men engaged.
Spartacus still had some 300,000
according to the best information we
can get.
Those of his enemies, immediately
in action, numbered 400,000.
. Just think of it! Nearly a million
human beings standing up all day
long slashing each other with swords!
It was a fearful day. Some say that
1 260,000 were killed, —enough to
carry the carry the cry of grief around
the world and send it down the
centuries!
Spartacus was defeated as he fore
saw he would be. Before going into
battle his horse was brought him.
He slew it with one stroke of his
sword and stepped into the harvest
of death on foot. His path through
the carnage was marked by the heaps
of slain who fell by his hand. At
last he fell—cut all to pieces.
No grander death can any man
die than when he lays down his life
for the liberty of himself and his fel
low man.
Few of the Rebels escaped. Nearly
all died in battle or in the retreat.
Only 6,000 prisoners were taken.
The Romans crucified them. A double
row of crosses was put up along the
public road from Rome to Capua—
one row on each side of the road.
On each of these crosses was nailed >
while yet alive, one of these 6,000
prisoners. There they remained in
helpless agony till kind, white-winged
death bore their souls away. Just
70 years later these Romans crucified
Christ in the same way !
For months afterwards the bodies
hung on the crosses by the way side ;
and it is related that their Roman
Masters used to enjoy the sight as
they rode down the horrible avenue
of dead men, in their handsome turn
outs.
What crime had these poor slaves
committed ?
They had loved the Freedom which
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Rome took away from them and had
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And they had failed.*
So they were crucified along the
High Road, and their dead bodies
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of the travelers —the most dreadful
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on this wild and wicked earth.
T. E. W.
The Lesson of Years.
For years I’ve toiled among my books,
And having read them all I find
That every thought I have has been
The product of some other mind.
—Life.
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