Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Close Reading of Plutarch's Crassus


Plutarch Crassus

8. The insurrection of the gladiators and the devastation of Italy, commonly called the war of Spartacus, began upon this occasion. One Lentulus Batiates trained up a great many gladiators in Capua, most of them Gauls and Thracians, who, not for any fault by them committed, but simply through the cruelty of their master, were kept in confinement for this object of fighting one with another. Two hundred of these formed a plan to escape, but being discovered, those of them who became aware of it in time to anticipate their master, being seventy-eight, got out of a cook's shop chopping-knives and spits, and made their way through the city, and lighting by the way on several wagons that were carrying gladiators' arms to another city, they seized upon them and armed themselves. And seizing upon a defensible place, they chose three captains, of whom Spartacus was chief, a Thracian of one of the nomad tribes, and a man not only of high spirit and valiant, but in understanding, also, and in gentleness superior to his condition, and more of a Grecian than the people of his country usually are. When he first came to be sold at Rome, they say a snake coiled itself upon his face as he lay asleep, and his wife, who at this latter time also accompanied him in his flight, his country- woman, a kind of prophetess, and one of those possessed with the bacchanal frenzy, declared that it was a sign portending great and formidable power to him with no happy event.

This passage by Plutarch begins to paint a picture of the Roman perception of Spartacus.  It is special in the sense that it, in contrast to the subtle undertones Suetonious makes towards Spartacus, represents him in seemingly positive light.  It may just represent flattery in a relative sense, ie relative to other Thracians, but regardless of this, Plutarch’s comment on Spartacus’ degree of “Grecian” is flattering and much different in nature than the fierce machismo portrayal that Suetonious attests to in The Life of Augustus.  This raises some questions about Rome’s general consensus of Spartacus.  Was it one of ferocity and ruthlessness?  Or one of wit and intellect common in a Grecian?  In reality, I would imagine it to be a mixture of both.  An opening scene of the film Spartacus makes a claim that Spartacus, even before his time as leader of the slave rebellion, showed signs alluding to future greatness.  Not dissimilarly, Plutarch speaks of a telling sign of Spartacus’ future:

When he first came to be sold at Rome, they say a snake coiled itself upon his face as he lay asleep, and his wife, who at this latter time also accompanied him in his flight, his country- woman, a kind of prophetess, and one of those possessed with the bacchanal frenzy, declared that it was a sign portending great and formidable power to him with no happy event.

This foreshadowing of Spartacus’ future bears a striking resemblance to that as depicted in the film.  After all the reading of other primary and secondary sources I have done for this blog, the contradiction Plutarch creates here with the portrayal by other ancient historians is extremely interesting and important in forming a comprehensive answer to the question of the public perception’s view of Spartacus in antiquity.

No comments:

Post a Comment