Spartacus

War in the Mountains
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X-TOT-FOOT on the track of Varinus, Cossinus
■"■■was sent up from Rome with a further half¬
legion to reinforce the praetor. The latter he found
encamped over against the mountain-range which hid
the dark countryside dominated by the slaves. From
out that tract amidst the mountains came rumours
and refugees without end.
Both bore tales of horror. In their camp the
Gladiators had elected as their leader a savage Thracian,
who tortured his captives and had virgins brought to
his tent in order that he might violate them publicly.
Also, he ate horses. Metapontum had been looted
and fired at his orders; and he designed to increase
the slave-host until he might make his way to the coast,
seize on a fleet of ships, and so cross into Greece and
conquer it.
Woven of such fabric grew the legend of Spartacus.
Up and down the lands of the great Republic of the
Masters the tale of the rebellion rode the winds.
And to some it was a tale of horror and to some a tale
of hope. From towns and farms, mines and plantations
the slaves slipped away by twos and threes and made
their way southwards to join the host of the horse¬
eating Thracian whose standards bore the insignia of
a Snake.
Burning homesteads and looted orchards marked
the passage of such bands. Even the companies of
brigands who preyed on the roads and had done so
from time immemorial abandoned their routes and
marched to join the slaves with the hope of greater
plunder. Meantime the light troops of Varinus,
scouting beyond the mountains, brought back strange
and contradictory reports. One day it appeared that