Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/903

Rh SPARTACUS. The work of Sozomen is one of those abridged and combined in the Hisloria Tripartita of Cassio- dorus. [Cassiodorus, Epiphanius, No. 11.] The Greek text of Sozomen appears to have been first published, with that of Socrates and the other Greek ecclesiastical historians, by Rob. Stephanus, fol. Paris, 1544 ; and was again printed, with the Latin version of John Christopherson, bishop of Chicliester, fol. Geneva, 1612. It was also included with the work of Socrates, in the edition of Va- lesius, both in its original publication and in its several reprints ; and in the edition of Reading [Socrates, Scholastictjs]. There are Latin versions by Musculus and Christopherson, which have been repeatedly printed with their versions of the other ecclesiastical historians [Socrates, ScHOLASTicus]. The version of Christopherson extended only to the first six books of Sozomen ; the needful supplement of a version of the last three having been made by Petrus Suifridus. The abridged English version of the Greek ecclesiastical historians by Parker includes Sozomen, as does also the French version of Cousin, but not the English translation of Meredith Hanmer [So- crates ScHOLASTicus]. (Valesius, De Vitis et Scriptis Socratis et Sozomeni, prefixed to his edition of their works ; Vossius, De Historicis Graecis, lib. ii. c. 20 ; Fabric. Bihlioth. Graec. vol. vii, p. 427 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 439, vol. i. p. 427, ed. Oxford, 1740—1743 ; Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles. vol. iv. or vol. iii. partie ii. p. 80, ed. Mons, 1691 ; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacres, vol. xiii. p. 6i]9 ; Ittigius, De Bibliotliecis Palrum., passim ; Watt, Bihliotlieca Britannica ; Lardner, Credibility, part ii. vol. xi. p. 453 ; Waddington, History of the Church, part ii. ch. vii. ad fin.) Lambecius has confounded Hermeias Sozomen with Hermeias, the author of the Irrisio Gentilium Philosophorum [Hermeias, No. 3], but there is no doubt that they are different persons. ( Fabric. I.e.-} [J. C.M.I SPARGAPISES {^TTapya-Kia-ns), son of To- myris, queen of the Massagetae, was surprised and taken prisoner by Cyrus, when, according to the account of Herodotus, he invaded that territory in B. c. 529. The young prince, overwhelmed by his calamity, put an end to his own life (Herod, i. 211 — 213 ; compare Strab. xi. p. 512 ; Justin, i. 8.) [E. E.] SPARSUS, a friend of the younger Pliny, to whom he addressed two of his letters {Ep. iv. 5, viii. 3), but of whom nothing is known, SPARSUS, FU'LVIUS, a rhetorician, men- tioned both by the elder Seneca (Controv. v. prooem. p. 322, Exc i. p. 382), and by Quintilian (vi. 3. § 100). SPARTA {'SiirdpTa), a daughter of Eurotas by Clete, and wife of Lacedaemon, by whom she became the mother of Amyclas and Eurydice. (ApoUod. iii. 10. § 3). From her the city of Sparta was believed to have derived its name (Pans. iii. 1. § 3 ; Schol. Eurip. Orest. 615). She was represented on a tripod at Amyclae. (Paus. iii. 18. § 5). [L. S.] SPA'RTACUS, the name of several kings of the Cimmerian Bosporus. I. Succeeded the dynasty of the Archeanactidae (Wesseling, ad Died, xil 31) [Archeanactidae] in B. c. 438, and reigned until b. c. 431. He was succeeded by his son Seleucus. (Diod. xii. 31, 36.) SPARTACUS. sn % Began to reign in b. c. 427 and reigned 20 years. He was succeeded in B. c. 407 by his son Satyrus. (Diod. xiv. 93 ; l&wmi.Trapezit. p. 370.) 3. Succeeded his father Leucon iuB. c. 353, and died, leaving his kingdom to his son Parysades, in B.C. 348. (Diod. xvi. 31, 52.) 4. Son of Eumelus, began to reign in b. c. 304, and reigned 20 years. (Diod. xx. 100 ; see Clin- ton, Kings of Bosporus^ in Fast. Hellen. vol. ii. pp. 281—285.) [W.B.D.] SPA'RTACUS, by birth a Thracian, was suc- cessively a shepherd, a soldier, and a chief of ban- ditti. On one of his predatory expeditions he was taken prisoner, and sold to a trainer of gladia- tors. In B. c 73 he was a member of the company of Cn. Lentulus Batiatus. and was detained in his school at Capua, in readiness for the games at Rome. Among his fellow prisoners, principally Gauls and Thracians, were two Gaulish swords- men, Crixus and Oenomaus, who joined with Spar- tacus in urging their comrades rather to die attempting freedom, than to be " butchered for a Roman holiday." Of 200 gladiators about 70 broke out of the school of Lentulus, plundered a cookVshop of its spits and cleavers, and, thus armed, passed through the gates of Capua. On the high road they met some waggons laden with gladiators' armour, and, seizing it, took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius, where a number of runaway slaves joined them. Spartacus was chosen leader ; Crixus and Oenomaus were his lieutenants ; and their ravages soon excited the alarm of the Capuan people. They were blockaded by C. Claudius Pulcher [No. 36], at the head of 3000 men. A wild vine covered the sides of the old and extin- guished crater, and on ladders twisted from its stems, the fugitives descended the least accessible and therefore unguarded side of their place of refuge, attacked their besiegers in the rear, and supplied themselves with better weapons from the slain. Spartacus now proclaimed freedom to slaves, and the numbers that flocked to him proved the impolicy of the Roman land-owners in preferring slave-labour to free, tlie desolation of Sulla's wars, and the weakness and depopulation of Italy. The eruption of a handful of hali-armed men devastated Italy, from the foot of the Alps to the southern- most corner of the peninsula, and was little less dangerous to the empire than the Hannibalic war itself. Spartacus was triumphant for upwards of two years, b. c. 73 — 71. In 73 he defeated Cos- sinius, a legatus of the praetor Varinius Glaber ; next Glaber himself repeatedly, capturing in one action his war-horse, lictors, and fasces. From this time forward Spartacus was attended with the accompaniments of a Roman proconsul. He ra- vaged Campania and sacked Cora, Nuceria, and Nola, and perhaps Compsa, in the territory of the Hirpinians. He was absolute master of Lucanij^ and Bruttium, and placed garrisons and magazines, in Thurii and Metapontum. Spartacus was as discreet as he was valiant. In the midst of his suc- cesses, and with 40,000 men under his command, he saw that in the end Rome would prevail, and he knew that victory, while it swelled, disorganised his bands. His Gaulish followers were jealous of their Thracian comrades, and Crixus and Oenomaus aspired to separate commands. Spartacus, there- fore, proposed to his army to make their way to th^ north of Italy, and, forcing the passes of tiio Alps, to disperse severally to their respective homes.