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  .., 2026.



Raffaello Giovagnoli  

Spartacus 

Chapter I  I

The Generosity of Sulla  

At dawn on the fourth day before the Ides of November (November 10) in the year 675 of the Roman era, during the consulate of Publius Servilius Vatius Isauricus and Appius Claudius Pulcher, Rome was swarming with people who were pouring from all parts of the city to the Circus Maximus.        (10 ) 675   ,          ,   ,         .

From the narrow, crooked and crowded streets of Esquiline and Suburra, inhabited mainly by common people, the crowd, ever growing, rushed and seethed along the main streets - Tabernola, Goncharnaya, Novaya and others, heading in one direction - to the circus.  ,       ,    , ,  ,        , ,   ,       .

Citizens, workers, capite censi, freedmen, old, crippled and scarred gladiators, beggars and crippled veterans of the proud legions - the victors of Asia, Africa and the Cimbri, commoners, jesters and buffoons, dancers and crowds of frisky, jumping children made up an endless procession of people. , , capite censi,, ,     ,         ,   , ,   ,    ,      . Joyful faces, cheerful looks, carefree speeches and light jokes on the lips undoubtedly testified to the fact that the people were going to some favorite spectacle.  ,  ,           ,     -  .

All these numerous, impetuous, talkative crowds filled the streets of the great city with a chaotic, powerful hum, reminiscent of the buzzing of a thousand swarms of bees, and the sad appearance of the sky, completely covered with gloomy grayish clouds, which foreshadowed rain rather than clear weather, seemed unable to confuse the Quirites and darken the joy shining on their faces.   , ,       ,  ,     ,    ,     ,    ,   , ,      ,    .

The morning wind, blowing from the hills of Latium and Tusculum, was fresh and piercing.  ,      ,    . Many of the townspeople walked carefully wrapped in the folds and hoods of their paenula; others covered their heads with petasus or pileus, and everyone tried to wrap themselves up as closely as possible - the men in their abolli and togas, the women in stola and palli.    ,        ;      ,            ,      .

The Circus, built in 138 AD by the Emperor Tarquinius the Elder after the conquest of Apiola, then decorated and expanded by the last king, Tarquinius the Proud, began to be called the Great Circus in 533 AD, when the censor Quintus Flaminius built another circus named after him. ,   138          ,      ,  ,     533    ,       ,   .

The Circus Maximus, situated in the Murcian Valley, between the Palatine and Aventine Hills, had not yet, at the time of the events described in this book, attained the immense size and splendor which Julius Caesar and Octavian Augustus later gave it; nevertheless, it was a vast and majestic building, two thousand one hundred and eighty paces long and nine hundred and ninety-eight paces wide, and capable of accommodating over one hundred and twenty thousand spectators.  ,    ,     ,      ,    ,      ,         ;     ,               ,       .

Almost oval in shape, it was cut off on the west in a straight line, while its eastern side was closed by a roundness.    ,        ,      . In its western part there was a straight oppidum - a building with thirteen arches.            . In the middle of these arches was one of the two main entrances to the circus, called the Front Gate, since through it the procession with the images of the gods entered the arena, the appearance of which served as a signal for the beginning of the games.             ,   ,           ,       . In the remaining twelve arches were located the stables, or "dungeons", where chariots and horses were kept when the circus served as a racetrack, gladiators and wild animals, when bloody competitions were to take place, giving the Roman people the greatest pleasure.       ,  ,     ,     ,    ,      ,     .

From the oppidum, numerous rows of steps ran in complete circles, serving as seats for the spectators; for the purpose of more convenient access to them, they were crossed by passages; the latter gave rise to other, internal passages, which led to the numerous exits of the circus, called vomitoriums.        ,    ;           ;    ,  ,      ,  .

The rows of seats ended in a portico, under arches, where there were seats for noble women.     ,  ,      .

Opposite the Parade Gate were the Triumphal Gates.      . They served as the entrance for victors.     . To the right of the oppidum and closer to the Parade Gate were the Gates of Death.             . Through this ominous door, special circus servants pulled out the mutilated and bloody bodies of slain or dying gladiators using long hooks.                    .

On the platform of the oppidum, special seats were fenced off with barriers, intended for consuls, magistrates, vestals and senators.        ,   , ,   . All the other seats had no barriers and were in no way different from each other.             .

Cutting across the arena, between the oppidum and the Triumphal Gate, there was a low wall, the so-called ridge, stretching for almost five hundred paces.  ,            ,   . It served to determine the distance during the races and had at both ends a group of columns, called metas.                ,  .

In the middle of the ridge rose an obelisk of the sun, and on its sides were towers, columns, altars and statues; between the latter were statues of Ceres and Venus of Mursia.     ,      , ,   ;        .

Around the arena rose a parapet, on which rested the seats of the amphitheater.    ,     . The parapet was eighteen paces high and was called the podium; along it ran a ditch filled with water, called the eurypus, and behind the ditch rose an iron grate: all these barriers served to protect the spectators from possible attacks by wild animals that roared and raged in the arena.         ;    ,  ,  ,      :            ,      .

Such was the appearance of this grandiose building, intended for spectacles in Rome, in the year 675 from the foundation of the city.      ,     ,  675    . And into this enormous building, entirely worthy of the people, whose victorious eagles had already flown around the whole world, endless crowds of common people, and horsemen, patricians and matrons flocked every hour, every minute, filling the circus, in order to carefreely enjoy their favorite and pleasant spectacle.     ,   ,       ,  , ,  ,     ,  ,   ,         .

So, what happened on this day? ,      ? What holiday?  ? What spectacle attracted such a crowd of people to the circus?        ?

Lucius Cornelius Sulla the Fortunate, ruler of Italy, the terror of Rome, perhaps to distract himself from the suffering caused to him by an incurable skin disease that had been tormenting him for two years, ordered a few weeks ago that he would entertain and entertain the Roman people with spectacles for three days in a row.    ,  ,  ,  ,    ,      ,     ,      ,            .

And already on the eve of the spectacles in the circus, the entire Roman rabble sat on the Campus Martius and along the Tiber at tables prepared by order of the formidable dictator.                  ,     . They feasted noisily until nightfall, indulging in an unbridled orgy at the end.       ,     . This feast, organized by the terrible enemy of Gaius Marius, was distinguished by royal luxury and splendor, an unprecedented abundance of food and the finest wines.  ,     ,     ,       . It took place in the triclinium, specially built for this celebration in honor of the Roman people.    ,        .

The generosity of Sulla the Fortunate was such that he donated a tenth of his wealth for these festivals and games held in honor of Hercules.     ,      ,    ,      . Forty-year-old and even older wines were destroyed daily and large quantities of food were thrown into the river.                .

Thus, Sulla with his left hand gave the Romans part of the wealth that he had plundered with his rapacious right, and the sons of Quirinus, who in the depths of their souls mortally hated Lucius Cornelius Sulla, accepted from him with an outwardly cheerful air the spectacles and treats.  ,       ,     ,   ,        ,          .

Day had come.  . Bright rays of the sun, piercing the clouds, began to gild the tops of ten hills, temples, basilicas and the patrician palaces sparkling with the whiteness of precious marble.   ,  ,     , ,        . With their life-giving warmth they warmed the people seated on the benches of the Circus Maximus.      ,     .

Over a hundred thousand citizens awaited the Roman people's favorite spectacle - the fights between gladiators and wild animals.                . Among these hundred thousand people, matrons, patricians, knights, tax collectors, argentarii (bankers) and wealthy foreigners, who flocked from all over Italy and the world to the Eternal City, were shown off in groups in the best places.          , , ,  ,  ()   ,           .

Coming much later than the common people, these favorites of Fortune found suitable and comfortable places for themselves.     ,         . Among the various professions that did not require much labor, which many Romans were engaged in, often without bread and shelter, but never missing an opportunity to proudly exclaim: "Noli me tangere: civis romanus sum", there was also the trade of the Locarii: proud idlers came early in the morning to the building where a public spectacle was to take place, and occupied the best places for rich citizens and patricians.   ,    ,    ,      ,        : Noli me tangere: civis romanus sum,    :       ,      ,         . The latter came to the circus when it was convenient for them, and, having paid two or three sesterces, received places from the Locarii.    ,    , ,     ,    .




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