s still far from a close; and
the genius of Sertorius would probably have soon given a very different
aspect to affairs had he not been assassinated by Perperna in B.C. 72.
Perperna had flattered himself that he should succeed to the power of
Sertorius; but he soon found that he had murdered the only man who was
able to save him from ruin. In his first battle with Pompey he was
completely defeated, his principal officers slain, and himself taken
prisoner. Anxious to save his life, he offered to deliver up to Pompey
the papers of Sertorius, containing letters from many of the leading men
at Rome. But Pompey refused to see him, and commanded the letters to be
burnt. The war was now virtually at an end, and the remainder of the
year was employed in subduing the towns which still held out against
Pompey. Metellus had taken no part in the final struggle with Perperna,
and Pompey thus obtained the credit of bringing the war to a conclusion.
The people longed for his return, that he might deliver Italy from
Spartacus and his horde of gladiators, who had defeated the Consuls, and
were in possession of a great part of the peninsula.

A righteous retribution had overtaken the Romans for their love of the
cruel sports of the amphitheatre. The gladiators were generally
prisoners taken in war, and sold to persons who trained them in schools
for the Roman games. There was such a school at Capua, and among the
gladiators was a Thracian of the name of Spartacus, originally a chief
of banditti, who had been taken prisoner by the Romans, and was now
destined to be butchered for their amusement. Having prevailed upon
about 70 of his comrades, he burst out of the school with them,
succeeded in obtaining arms, and took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius,
at that time an extinct volcano (B.C. 73). Here he was soon joined by
large numbers of slaves, who flocked to him from all quarters. He was
soon at the head of a formidable army. The desolation of the Social and
Civil Wars had depopulated Italy, while the employment of slave-labor
furnished Spartacus with an endless supply of soldiers. In addition to
this, the war with Sertorius was not yet finished, and that with
Mithridates, of which we shall speak presently, had already commenced.
For upward of two years Spartacus was master of Italy, which he laid
waste from the foot of the Alps to the southernmost corner of the
peninsula. In B.C. 72 he found himself at the head of 100,000 men, and
defeat