The native American., 1838-01-06

81 Between this new Hannibal, as he was called
/, and the Alps, there were only now the two Ro
: man armies, ten thousand strong each, under tn,
) command of en- Manlius, the Prator, and +. Cas-
} lsius, Proconsul This force occupied the roa'
| to the Alps which traverses Modena. The OBJ
stacle it opposed to the march of Spartacus wa
overcome by another victory. Master now of al
the open country Of Italy, and having subdued st
many formidable armies, he changed his plan ant
-ldecided to march upon Rome. The road was
free to him. His own force had increased to more
than hundred and twenty thousand picked sold
rliers. Multtudes who offered to enlist themselves
! under his banners were sent away. None but
chosen men, robust, courageous, and intelligent,
were suffered to follow his standard. In order to
accelerate his advance, all superfuous baggage
/ was burnt, the prisoners massacred, and all the
beasts Of burden that could be dispensed with,
killed.
! The Senate and people Of Rome, in the utmost
Transformation, sent Arrius, who had commanded
the rear guard Of Gellius army, TO arrest the pro-
gress of Spartacus. Arrius Had under him a
force at least sixty Thousand strong, besides what
remained of the legons of the two consus. He
was encountered by Spartacus at Picenum, not
far from Ancona. And here another battle took
| place, of the details of which Roman historians
give no infornation; but its result was the utter
destruction ofthe Roman army.
1t is surprising that after this victory Spartacus
abandoned his project upon Rome, though he
might, at the moment Of panic, have executed it
almost without impediment. 1t had, however,
never been one from which he had hoped the re-
alization of complete success, and transient
triumph, however brilliant was not what he aim
ed at Just at this juncture, he received intelli-
gence that he might effect his passage into Sicily
by engaging the pirates who nfest the Italian and
Sicilian coasts, to furnish him with boats. That
island was then governed by Verres, rendered i'm
mortally infamous by the eloquence of Cicero;
its inhabitants were all ripe for insurrecton; Spar
tacus foresaw that if he could once reach this re-
fnge, he might be able to establish there perma-
nent government, and place himself at its head.
He would have the means too of organizing al
powerful fleet, and thus have become a thousand
| times more formidable to Rome, and more inde
pendent secure, great, and free for the execution
| Of whatever ambitious designs he might contem-
plate than he ever could be at the head of wild,
unmanageable multitudes, who depended upon
daily victories for existence, and whose defeat, IN
a single instance, would have been utter destruc-
ton, nothing being realizable between the two al
ternatives.
The change of the enemy's plans gave the Sc
nate of Rome time to recover from their conster-
nation. Crassus, then the richest and most pow
full man of the republic, was sent with an army
about two hundred thousand strong against the
terrible foe He began his expedition by shock
ing act of severity. Attrbutng the repeated dis
comfitures of the Roman legions to the luxurious
habits and effeminacy introduced among them by
Sylla he revived an old law of the sternest cruel
|ty, by which every man who showed the least va
i cillation of courage in action was condemned to
] be beaten to death with bludgeons; and his lieu
tenant having few days previously been routed
ivici buS mn Sand
Of his men perished by the sentence of aacJurt
martial in this way, and the rest, deprived of their
arms and uniforms, were made the scavengers of
the camp.
Meantime, Spartacus had advanced within sight
of the coast of Sicily, but he found himself de-
ceived by the pirates; they had taken his money,
and thought not Of fulfilling their engagements.
His army was encamped by the forest Of Sia; and
here Crassus found him. The hostile forces
were in sight of each other, but neither was in
clned to risk an action During the long
pense of fortune which took place, Crassus deter
| mined to employ his vast army, whom he feared
to leave idle, in one of those gigantic works, which
are peculiar to Roman genius. He resolved to
surround the encmy's position on the land side
by profound dtches walls, and plt-holes, so that
| he should be completely shut in; whilst by sea
| the Roman fleet would shortly cut him off from
all resources. The stupendous work, occupying
an extensive circuit, and employing daily near an
| hundred thousand hands, was nearly completed
| before it's design was discovered Spartacus be-
came aware of his danger only when he found
himself in the net, and his extrication most diff
ficult. By dint, however, of constantly harassing
the Roman troops, and drawing their attention to-
wards pointthe farthest from that through which
he was bent upon opening passage for his army,
| he at last succeeded. He marched one night
with the greater part Of his force out Of the
camp, and reached the Roman works at spot
where they were not finished. So impossible
were the bitches which had been dug, from their
depth and breadth, that it appeared vain to attempt
to advance further. Fortunately, the night was
stormy, and heavy fall Of snow prevented the
tread of feet being heard. The movements of
Spartacus and his men were consequently undis-
covered. They began by endeavoring to fill the
bitches with earth and snow, and heavy bundles
of wood; but of these, not having enough, they
/ flung in all the dead bodies that could be found,
and killed beasts of burden to throw in likewise.
By this means they at last marched over carcass
es into the free country; those whom they had left
behind them in the camp, followed them gradu-
ally, and Crassus, when in the morning he found
r,o,o olarmed he dpS-