Читать книгу The Warrior's Manifesto. Ideals for Those Who Protect and Defend онлайн

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The Romans clung to the orthodoxy that they were unassailable, that the slave rebellion was but a nuisance. Rome continued to underestimate the will and determination of the rebels—and the leadership and savvy of Spartacus. Its haughtiness was paid in blood. Spartacus defeated legions commanded by Lentulus and Gellius in turn. Each triumph shattered the prevailing dogma that Rome was ineluctable master of the world. Here was a ragtag clutch of disorganized slaves, largely untrained, thought inferior by birth but trim in heart and sharp in will, defying the mightiest power of the day, fighting finally for themselves rather than for the pleasure of others. Other slaves saw it. Rome shuddered in due course.

Finally, when Spartacus choked Rome with its illusions and showed that greatness is not a function of place or birth or class or position, the Senate hurled the full might of Rome against him. Marcus Licinius Crassus, rich, ambitious, and cruel, undertook command of eight battle-hardened legions to defeat the rebellion. To turn in battle under his command meant death. The weight of resources, numbers, and organization was crushing.