Marcus Quintus Lucanus S.P.D. Tito Annaco Plauto
Salve! How are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a very long time. Have you been to the gladiatorial games lately? Some say they are the most entertaining of all but they are usually too violent with all the clashing of metal against armor, roars of the crowd’s cheering and the anxiety level of the spectators wanting to know who will win. The gladiator who wins always brings home the fame and glory, but not all gladiators who survived the arenas are happy. Have you ever heard of the gladiator named Spartacus? He was a very amazing Thracian gladiator.
I just recently heard that he wasn’t always a slave but might have been part of the auxiliary in the Roman army in Macedonia before he deserted.
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The numbers rose to around 30,000 slaves by the end of the rebellion. Did you hear about this news? I heard from our neighbors that Spartacus had two other co-leaders during this time. They were gladiators from Gaul named Crixus and Oenomaus. When the rebellion first started, the gladiators only had kitchen knives and a few carts of weapons. Just think about that! They must be very skilled to have been able to overpower the Roman army for so long. The first battle began and the consul’s legions needed more people so my father decided to join to help stop the rebellion from becoming too strong. It was so sad to see him leave. In the letter he wrote to me, he said Spartacus had about 70,000 slaves with him at the time. The Gauls and Germans, lead by Crixus wanted to stay in Rome to plunder but Spartacus wanted to lead the slaves across the Alps and escape from Italy. As a result of the disagreeance, they separated into two groups and went their own ways. The senate sent two consuls and legions after Spartacus and his cohorts. Spartacus defeated the consul that went after him, but the other consul killed Crixus. At this time I heard at the forum that Pompey was being called back from Spain to help with the revolt. Spartacus continued