SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS
AT CAPUA
A monologue by E.
Kellogg
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from One Hundred Choice Selections. Ed. Phineas Garrett.
Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Co., 1897. |
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- SPARTACUS: Ye call me chief; and ye do well to call
him chief who for twelve long years has met upon the arena every
shape of man or beast the broad Empire of Rome could furnish,
and who never yet lowered his arm. If there be one among you
who can say that ever, in public fight or private brawl, my actions
did belie my tongue, let him stand forth and say it. If there
be three in all your company dare face me on the bloody sands,
let them come on. And yet I was not always thus,--a hired butcher,
a savage chief of still more savage men. My ancestors came from
old Sparta, and settled among the vine-clad rocks and citron
groves of Syrasella. My early life ran quiet as the brooks by
which I sported; and when, at noon, I gathered the sheep beneath
the shade, and played upon the shepherd's flute, there was a
friend, the son of a neighbor, to join me in the pastime. We
led our flocks to the same pasture, and partook together our
rustic meal. One evening, after the sheep were folded, and we
were all seated beneath the myrtle which shaded our cottage,
my grandsire, an old man, was telling of Marathon and Leuctra;
and how, in ancient times, a little band of Spartans, in a defile
of the mountains, had withstood a whole army. I did not then
know what war was; but my cheeks burned, I know not why, and
I clasped the knees of that venerable man, until my mother, parting
the hair from off my forehead, kissed my throbbing temples, and
bade me go to rest, and think no more of those old tales and
savage wars. That very night the Romans landed on our coast.
I saw the breast that had nourished me trampled by the hoof of
the war-horse,--the bleeding body of my father flung amidst the
blazing rafters of our dwelling! To-day I killed a man in the
arena; and, when I broke his helmet-clasps, behold! he was my
friend. He knew me, smiled faintly, gasped, and died;--the same
sweet smile upon his lips that I had marked, when, in adventurous
boyhood, we scaled the lofty cliff to pluck the first ripe grapes,
and bear them home in childish triumph! I told the prætor
that the dead man had been my friend, generous and brave; and
I begged that I might bear away the body, to burn it on a funeral
pile, and mourn over its ashes. Ay! upon my knees, amid the dust
and blood of the arena, I begged that poor boon, while all the
assembled maids and matrons, and the holy virgins they call Vestals,
and the rabble, shouted in derision, deeming it rare sport, forsooth,
to see Rome's fiercest gladiator turn pale and tremble at the
sight of that piece of bleeding clay! And the prætor drew
back as I were pollution, and sternly said, "Let the carrion
rot; there are no noble men but Romans." And so, fellow-gladiators,
must you, and so must I, die like dogs. O Rome! Rome! thou hast
been a tender nurse to me. Ay! thou hast given to that poor,
gentle, timid shepherd lad, who never knew a harsher tone than
a flute-note, muscles of iron and a heart of flint; taught him
to drive the sword through plaited mail and links of rugged brass,
and warm it in the marrow of his foe;--to gaze into the glaring
eyeballs of the fierce Numidian lion, even as a boy upon a laughing
girl! And he shall pay thee back, until the yellow Tiber is red
as frothing wine, and in its deepest ooze thy life-blood lies
curdled! Ye stand her now like giants, as ye are! The strength
of brass is in your toughened sinews, but to-morrow some Roman
Adonis, breathing sweet perfume from his curly locks, shall with
his lily fingers pat your red brawn, and bet his sesterces upon
your blood. Hark! hear ye yon lion roaring in his den? 'Tis three
days since he has tasted flesh; but to-morrow he shall break
his fast upon yours,--and a dainty meal for him ye will be! If
ye are beasts, then stand here like fat oxen, waiting for the
butcher's knife! If ye are men, follow me! Strike down yon guard,
gain the mountain passes, and there do bloody work, as did your
sires at old Thermopylæ! Is Sparta dead? Is the old Grecian
spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower like
a belabored hound beneath his master's lash? O comrades! warriors!
Thracians! if we must fight, let us fight for ourselves! If we
must slaughter, let us slaughter our oppressors! If we must die,
let it be under the clear sky, by the bright waters, in noble,
honorable battle!
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY E. KELLOGG |
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