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SEMINARI 5 DE CLASSICS UVASEMINARI 5 DE CLASSICS UVA
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Vandiver, 'Classics in British Poetry of the First World War.'
22 de mayo de 2026 22 de mayo de 2026
1 Spartacus in nineteenth-century England: proletarian, Pole and Christ Leanne Hunnings 2007. Bloomsbury Academic. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. The tale of a slave-gladiator who challenged the might of Rome and almost triumphed has captured the Western imagination throughout the centuries with perhaps the best known representation of Spartacus finding expression in Howard Fastʼs controversial novel of 1951. Written during the US McCarthyite era, the novel was subject to blacklist prohibitions on publication but was ultimately transferred to the silver screen at the behest of Kirk Douglas by Universal Studios in 1960, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Fast, in the introduction to his novel, writes: This book … is a story of brave men and women who lived long ago, and whose names have never been forgotten. The heroes of this story cherished freedom and human dignity, and lived nobly and well. I wrote it so that those who read it, my children and others, may take strength for our own troubled future and that they may struggle against oppression and wrong – so that the dream of Spartacus may come to be in our own time.1 These exhortations to future generations to fight against oppression and wrong characterise the role that Spartacus played much earlier in the British cultural psyche of the nineteenth century – the three separate appropriations which this chapter engages with all to some degree find in Spartacus an iconic freedom- fighter for resistance to oppressive regimes or institutions. The terms of oppression vary for each author, and each author indulges in artistic licence so that the gladiator becomes an inspirational figure for their own causes. Yet they are united in their assimilation of an underdog, who, although ultimately crushed by his oppressors, rose up and challenged an incredibly powerful institution, shaking its very foundations. Spartacus was not a common figure for appropriation in Europe until after the mid- eighteenth century, with Rousseau and Voltaireʼs use of the gladiator in their philosophical arguments,2 and Saurinʼs popular Spartacus: tragédie en cinq actes in 1760 s France.3 Spartacus became 1 EBSCO Publishing: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM 640181; Christopher Stray, Lorna Hardwick, Amanda Wrigley, Deborah Roberts, Elizabeth Vandiver, Leanne Hunnings, Ruth Hazel, Sheila Murnaghan, Stephen Harrison; Remaking the Classics : Literature, Genre and Media in Britain 1800 2000 Account:ehost. Remaking the Classics fashionable, particularly in libertarian France in the
resulting resentment felt at the shortcomings of the Act (such as its failure to extend suffrage to the working class) bred instability, growth in the class-consciousness of the proletariat, awareness of labour exploitation, rebellious groupings,13 and a hunger for the political power monopolised by the wealthy. Revolution threatened. At a time of such 2 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. 1. Spartacus in nineteenth-century England uncertainty it is not surprising that the working-class campaigning radicals looked to history to express parallels with the oppressed proletariat. The Chartist Notes to the People Spurred on by the perceived inequities that the 1832 Reform Act had failed to address, the mass working-class campaigners known as the Chartists created their 1838 ‘Peopleʼs Charterʼ containing six main areas of democratic reform for Britain. The Berlin-born Ernest Jones took this movement further into the arena of socialism, founding the extreme left Chartist journal Notes to the People in 1851. Marx and Engels were heavily influential in this publication, contributing both articles and financial assistance.14 It was published until the spring of 1852 when low sales forced its discontinuation.15 Jones was clearly influenced by the ideas of his friend Marx: He had come to hold that the Charter by itself supplied no answer to the social problem … and that only Socialism could meet the real needs of the people … he stressed the irreconcilable antagonism between the interests of Capital and Labour, the increasing tendency for the control of wealth to be centralised in fewer hands, the necessity of political power as a means of destroying the class- monopoly of land and capital alike.16 The new socialist orientation of the Chartist movement under figures such as Jones saw the inequalities experienced by the British working class absorbed into a collective concern for the brotherhood of the proletariat throughout Europe;17 in his speech On Internationalism on 9 December 1854 Jones erases national identity in favour of class division common to all countries: My country is the world, and the nation I belong to is the most numerous of all; the nation of the oppressed. I acknowledge but two nationalities in existence, the tyrant and the slave.18 However, despite Jonesʼ own Europe-encompassing politics, Notes to the People focuses more on Britain. The varied entries include reports of workersʼ grievances and strike action throughout Britain, uplifting or melancholic poems, lyrics, serial entries such as The journal of a democrat, The confessions of a demagogue and The minutes of a spy
[sic]19 and essays entitled Lessons from History. The fiftieth edition of the Notes contains the first nineteenth-century appropriation of Spartacus considered in this chapter, in a Lessons from History tripartite serial The Gladiators of Rome. The serial opens with a 3 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. Remaking the Classics polemical account contrasting the manner in which, in both ancient Rome and modern England, ‘riches are amassed by a few at the expense of the manyʼ,20 through trade, usury or land monopolisation; explicitly constructing a comparison between the ancient and the modern exploitation. The first instalment promises that ‘We will present the reader with a picture of the wealth and luxury of Rome – and then with the profligacy and vices of its aristocracy.ʼ 21 And it certainly does. The article provides historically sourced examples of exorbitant Roman luxury, for example, Neroʼs Golden House, on ‘a part of which only, Otho spent £403,605 16s. 3d.ʼ The currency conversion acts as an explicit pinpoint for the elision of Roman aristocrats with British upper classes.22 The piece highlights the extravagance of slave-owners: ‘In a later age, Athenaeus says very many nobles kept 10,000, aye! and 20,000 slaves for ostentation!ʼ 23 Further examples of excessive luxury are quoted, such as the fashionable Roman example of imbibing pearls in beverages, possibly derived from Suetonius,24 and it is clear that the focus of the first instalment was on the vices and luxuries of the Roman rich as a channel for incorporating a simultaneous attack on British capitalists. The second and third instalments launch into the story of the 73 BCE slave uprising 25 led by the Thracian gladiatorial slave Spartacus. In this (evidently informed by Plutarchʼs Spartacus-sympathetic account in Life of Crassus rather than those of the pro-Roman Appian,26 or Florus,27 the other two main ancient sources for the rebellion), Spartacus is the proletarian hero of the piece, variously described as possessing ‘astonishing celerityʼ,28 valour, magnanimity,30 wisdom,31 heroism,32 and ingenuity;33 a man whose heroic fate was marked by a serpentine omen before his sale as a gladiator; a detail found only in Plutarch.34 The narrative describes the early successes of the (united) gladiators and their fight for liberation, recounting their fortuitous escape from a ‘rock, inaccessible on all parts but one, where a narrow, dangerous path led zigzag up the wall of precipiceʼ,35 presumably owing something to Plutarchʼs description,
would say a word to those poor slaves who advocate peace under any circumstance. Peace is the greatest blessing on earth. I am for peace as much as any man. Would to God there was not another battle to be fought on the earth, nor a human vein to be opened by the sword of murder! But God forbid that another battle should not be fought – or ten hundred battles fought – if liberty cannot be gained in any other way ….49 It is in the analysis of such sentiments as the necessity of violence and of unification that it becomes clear why the belligerent gladiator-trained 5 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. Remaking the Classics Spartacus, who inspired thousands of fellow slaves and who engaged in such an effective military manner with Rome, presents such a useful tool for the socialist Ernest Jones and his Chartist journal. The figure of the Thracian slave is perhaps initially a surprising choice of icon if one considers that there had been an early general Chartist self-distancing from anti-slavery societies: A reader of working menʼs newspapers and journals for the 1820 s and 1830 s might easily conclude that the working classesʼ worst enemies were the members of anti-slavery societies who were dedicated to freeing black slaves in far-off colonies while being blindly insensitive to the exploitation of white workers at home.50 However, the later decades which gave birth to Notes to the People also saw the two movements engaging in more dialectical interaction with each other. Such mutual ideological absorption was visibly evidenced at a meeting about Sadlerʼs Ten Hoursʼ Bill – legally limiting labour in factories to ten hours a day – which saw supporters carrying placards with replicas of the anti-slavery icon of a kneeling slave ‘Am I not a man and a brother?ʼ whilst others were emblazoned with ‘Sadler and the abolition of slavery at home and abroadʼ.51 Ernest Jones himself, ‘understanding … of the connection between national struggles and social emancipationʼ,52 found in slavery a useful rhetoric to describe the fate of the oppressed factory workers, and found in Spartacus a valuable, inspiring and provocative proletarian parallel for the working-class rebellions and uprisings throughout the country. Thus Notes to the People, although ostensibly a Chartist publication preoccupied with the fate of the British proletariat, found that the merging of a prominent historical slave character with the fate of the British working classes allowed for an ideological alignment between the poor British and the state of slavery, simultaneously asserting a model for a
specifically united physical overthrow of the oppressive status quo. Jacob Jonesʼ Spartacus, or, The Roman Gladiator: A Tragedy in Five Acts Another Victorian to use the figure of Spartacus for political purposes was Jacobus Jacob Jones. Born in London in 1799, the son of a surgeon also named Jacob Jones and living in Finsbury, he matriculated in 1815 at Brasenose College, Oxford, although he did not complete his studies.54 He was called to the bar on 3 July 1829 and died in Notting Hill on 12 January 1879.55 His Spartacus was published in the mid-1830s, although in his introductory note to the play he states that it had actually been written ‘more than ten years sinceʼ.56 In this introduction, he writes that he was inspired to publish his play as a consequence of Dr Birdʼs The Gladiator, 57 6 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. 1. Spartacus in nineteenth-century England well-received in American performances in the early 1830 s, although Vance writes: ‘it had a cool reception when Forrest took it to Drury Laneʼ.58 Whereas Dr Birdʼs play provided a focus for Abolitionists in America,59 in England, despite Spartacusʼ servile origins, it was not slavery that Jacob Jonesʼ play explicitly focused on. He, like Ernest Jones, was interested in a different ‘underdogʼ. Vance notes that Jones had written a ‘stirringly libertarian “Gladiatorsʼ Hymn” for Spartacusʼ,60 the chorus of which invoked valour to quell servitude, the second verse championing the heroic slaves against the ‘ignobleʼ Romans: When the Romans fought and won us, ʼTwas ignobly, chains upon us: When we rallied, ʼtwas in thunder, And we snapped those chains asunder - Chorus: Sing in chorus, ʼtwas in thunder,61 When we snapped those chains asunder!62 As Ernest Jones did in Anthem for the People, Jacob Jones has incorporated a reference to breaking chains, though it is interesting to note that in his case this predates the publication of the Communist Manifesto. This similar theme of the breaking of chains, the preoccupation with Crassusʼ wealth, the bravery of the slaves and the expressed unfairness of their position throughout the play seems to indicate that Jacob Jonesʼ appropriation might well have been for the same cause as Ernest Jonesʼ: the plight of the British working class. However, although the Gladiatorʼs Hymn, which was published in 1827 with the tragedy Longinus, had originally been part of the Spartacus five-act tragedy it was ‘subsequently converted into a lyric for the Polish causeʼ.63 In 1795, Russia, Prussia and Austria dismembered Poland, dissolving the co-joined nations of Poland and Lithuania. However,
Jones stresses the arbitrariness of Roman slavery; the manner in which those freeborn could become enslaved and forced to spend lives in servitude to those superior only in wealth. Vance argues that the focus of the play is ‘the contemporary theme of capital and labour in conflictʼ,68 on the grounds that the theme of wealth becomes very important throughout the play: Crassusʼ obscene wealth is highlighted in pseudo-Shakespearian insults such as ‘the gilded Crassusʼ, ‘this heap of wealthʼ, ‘your vain Monopolistʼ (all V.i),69 yet it is the manner of his wealth which is clearly the real issue here; Crassus himself proudly acknowledges that it is his slave- dealing which has made him so rich: Crassus: Slavesʼ flesh has made me rich, and, now, it seems, [talking to himself as he signs] Slavesʼ wickedness conspires to make me great! V.ii 8 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of- use. 1. Spartacus in nineteenth-century England thus serving to reiterate the immorality and the scandal of servitude, a scandal the gladiators wish to avenge: Spartacus: On, on, for Liberty, Revenge, and Fame! Gladiators: Revenge! Revenge! Camilla: And Liberty, and Life! I.i This desire for revenge, an incentive stressed particularly in Florusʼ account,70 affects one of the other main themes of the play: the decision whether to attack Rome or not. Jacob Jonesʼ Spartacusʼ reluctance to attack is one of the main causes of dissension amongst the gladiatorial band, inciting chief gladiators Castus and Cannicius (these names are in Plutarch, Crixus is in Appian and Florus) to betray him.71 There are similarities with the Ernest Jones portrayal as one is reminded of the urges within The Peopleʼs Anthem and the Communist Manifesto for the people to unite. It is a theme which Jacob Jones usurped from Byronʼs Greeksʼ War poem (itself adapted from the French La Marseillaise) for the Poles in his short poem ‘Sons of the Polesʼ, but it is adapted from working-class unity to a desperate urging for international union: Ye nations! Still, in slumbers, Lethargic can ye lie? Awake, and join your numbers With Poland – old ally!72 Jacob Jonesʼ play is written in English and so should perhaps be assumed to be generally directed towards the English-speaking audience of Britain, urging them to take the Polish cause to their hearts, rather than being a socialist attempt to incite the Poles to rise up together. Jonesʼ Sibyl in the tragedy highlights the importance of unity:73 Sibyl: Rome must be savʼd! and what will give her strength So amply as division ʼmidst her foes? Unionʼs the bond of strength; disunion breeds Weakness, distrust, discomfiture, and shame!
III.iii) Jacob Jones seems anxious to project the necessity of assuming the Polish cause as a common goal; this theme of unification continues. Spartacus is worried about how ‘to unite, and how preserve my powersʼ IV.iv and at a crisis point in V.iv tells mutineers that ‘whatever we ordain, by counsel, not compulsion, shall stand firmʼ; thus Jacob Jones, too, wishes to stress how dissent amongst the rebels had a disastrous effect on the Spartacus uprising, reflecting the need for European unification in this Polish fight. While Appian mentions the unsavoury detail that Spartacus sacrificed three hundred of the Roman prisoners,74 it is Florus who notes the 9 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/ 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. Remaking the Classics gladiatorial form which this takes, with the captives fighting at their pyres,75 and a similar scene is described by the treacherous Castus in II.ii: Castus complains that at the Roman prisoner-of-war gladiatorial combats ‘the sorry wretches would not fight like men, but stabbʼd each other, spiritlessly, and died!ʼ and such comments made by both him and Cannicius, the other conspirator, indicate an ideological reverse; it is now the slave-gladiators who show the bloodthirsty enjoyment of the sacrifice, and the Romans who have been captured are kept off stage, forgotten about, like slaves in society. The inclusion of this narrated episode of the prisoner-of-war sacrifice is curious; perhaps warning against allowing personal satisfaction (and individual revenge) to cloud the united cause, and serving to add to the general characterisation of Spartacus, who at II.i is reluctant to agree to hold such displays: Spartacus: There is a vein of nature in my breast, An instinct foreign from inflicting that Which once myself was doomʼd to undergo; But in an act which allows for a weaker characterisation, he gives way to the pressure of the masses. Such weaknesses problematise the role of Spartacus as hero in this play. Spartacus is not the martyr-like figure that he is in Ernest Jonesʼ Gladiators of Rome: he has poor judgement regarding the loyalty of his fellow gladiators, believing that the faithful Crixus is betraying him III.i but being shocked at discovering the treachery of Castus and Cannicius IV.i and, even more significantly, briefly distrusting his faultlessly loyal wife Camilla III.i . Moreover, there are certain points where his leadership appears to have taken on more of a tyrannical aspect, such as when there is dissent in the ranks: Spartacus: Shall I, shall Spartacus, your leader stoop, And condescend to parley on these terms? I
inexpert; The dogʼs a runagate; the dogʼs a slave!ʼ And so the dog is come, before we part, Good Batiatus! Valorous Batiatus! To crave one lesson more – Polish literature of this era uses the word ‘dogʼ or comparison with such a beast in any way as one of the worst insults possible;77 and so Spartacus, constantly referred to by one of the highest insults, paints the Roman Batiatus as uncouth and unscrupulous. 11 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. Remaking the Classics In this Polish reading, the sentiments expressed by the Gladiatorʼs Hymn are fascinatingly attuned to the later Communist declaration of difference from other working-class parties: In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality. 78 Jacob Jones, as a member of a literary network constantly fighting for the Polish cause throughout the oppression by Russia, found Spartacus, as Ernest Jones had before him, an honourable, brave freedom-fighter to represent a cause dear to his own heart, a tool with which to publicise and dramatise the struggles of a different crushed underdog, struggles which had come to represent the fight for democracy the world over. Susannah Stricklandʼs Spartacus: A Roman Story You, glorious Spartacus, to thee belong The deathless story, the immortal song; And long-recording History shall tell The spot where Spartacus and Freedom fell. Thus opens a unique novel of 1822, written by a young woman in a period in which Spartacus is predominantly exploited in political terms.79 Susanna Strickland (later Moodie) had been instructed by her elder sisters as a child and must have been exposed to the classics during this time. This unusually broad education for a female must go a long way to explain this anomalous appropriation of Spartacus, since it truly appears to be unique. The novel is relatively short, just 131 pages long, and the published 1822 edition is minuscule, not much larger than a modern British passport. The plate on the inside cover is by E. Burney, presumably the well-known artist Edward Francisco Burney,80 and depicts, in his typically caricature fashion, a crusading Spartacus astride a white horse in an inspiring pose. The novel itself is no less curious than its author. It is loosely based on Plutarchʼs narrative, to which Strickland refers explicitly on three occasions by ‘vide Plutarchʼ, yet it contains some fascinating interpolations which hint strongly at Homeric influence. There is a strong concern with nature and the natural
world throughout the story, encapsulated in pseudo-Homeric phrases personifying dawn, such as ‘Aurora unbarred the golden gates of the sunʼ.81 Strickland also describes moments of tactical warfare, such as the digging of Crassusʼ ditch 82 and the curious account of the formation of ladders from twisting branches on the mountain where the slaves first take refuge, presumably sourced from the similar account in Frontinus. Moreover, the intensely close relationships between Spartacus and various young men provide a 12 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. 1. Spartacus in nineteenth-century England detectable hint of homoeroticism, with the relationship with Publius perhaps echoing the Achilles/ Patroclus relationship: But to return to the young Roman knight, whose life Spartacus had been the means of preserving. His extreme youth and beauty had deeply interested the Thracian chief in his favour, who devoted most of his leisure hours in attending to his little wants; if on their march the sun poured down upon his litter, Spartacus ordered it to be shaded, and at night the young stranger slept on the cloak of the general.84 Moreover, Publius appears to be in love with Spartacus: ‘Generous stranger, I owe you much; but my parentage I never will reveal whilst I remain a prisoner. My name is Publius; that must suffice you.ʼ There was as much an air of sadness as pride in this reply; but his haughty reserve gradually wore away, and his eyes shone with pleasure whenever Spartacus entered the tent, and when absent from him, every other object became vapid and uninteresting. Stricklandʼs assignation to Spartacus of not only a loving wife Elia (a prophetess as in Plutarch and Jacob Jonesʼ version) but also a baby son Eumenes 86 invokes the tender Hector/ Andromache/ Astyanax scene in Iliad book 6, particularly since Eumenes rejects Spartacusʼ sword in much the same way as Astyanax rejects Hectorʼs war helmet, both taking refuge with a woman: … With the wild capricious laugh of infancy, Eumenes] pushed the glittering weapon from him, and hid his face in the folds of his motherʼs garments. ‘Then thou wilt not be a soldier, my boy,ʼ cried Spartacus, as he snatched him to his heart, ‘but exchange the warriorʼs ensanguined wreath for the fair olive-branch of peace?ʼ 87 A further attribute of the novel which supports its interpretation as influenced by epic is the way Spartacus himself is described; he obtains a status at times explicitly god-like: As he stood upon that fearful height, the last rays of a sinking sun shone upon his steel-clad figure, whose lofty and majestic
almost divine authority in Stricklandʼs novel: The sudden entrance of Spartacus checked his speech and arrested the attention of all present. The greatness and the uncertainty of his enterprise had given a deeper glow to his complexion, and brightened, into a degree of fierceness, the keen glances of his 14 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. 1. Spartacus in nineteenth-century England penetrating dark eyes, as he gazed with fixed sternness on those around him. The manly proportions of his tall athletic figure, shrouded in the folds of a long dark mantle, had assumed an attitude of command, and seemed, but the indistinct light of a solitary lamp, almost above humanity; his presence had awakened a feeling of awe and wonder amongst his comrades.92 Spartacus also practises astonishing forgiveness in relation to the traitor Theodoric (the Bible urges one to forgive seventy times seven),93 who himself is somewhat like a Judas figure, while Spartacusʼ previous occupation as a herder of sheep invokes the Christ-related ‘The Good Shepherdʼ appellation in visual images evocative of pastoral paintings: They should have seen him in his native plains, tending his flocks and herds, with heart as light, and step as free, as the wild breeze that roved his rugged mountains, when peace, content, and happiness, burnt in the solitary lamp that lit at evening hour his humble cot.94 There seems to have been great anxiety among pious Victorians who studied the classics concerning their ‘paganʼ origins:95 Stricklandʼs novel is perhaps one way of reconciling such worries by infusing the pagan story and the pagan heroic attributes with Christian morality. In later life Strickland helped in the writing of ex-slave Mary Priceʼs autobiography and was also involved with Abolitionists.96 Her sister Agnes also spent time in the company of the same abolitionist, Thomas Campbell, to whom Jacob Jones had dedicated his poems. While to claim that such beliefs led to the creation of Spartacus: A Roman Story would be conjecture, anti-slavery ethics colour the story extensively. Stricklandʼs Spartacus never accepts his slavery: ‘sooner shall the eagle become reconciled to his cage, the lord of the forest to his prison, than my soul to chains and slavery!ʼ. Spartacus himself does not hold men captive in this version, and the slaves frequently state their preference for death over servility: ‘Were it not better to meet death in a glorious struggle for our freedom than in the Circus at Rome? He that would give his voice for the latter does not deserve the name of a man.ʼ 98 To diminish the life of a slave to something to which
death is preferable is acutely provocative; it hints to contemporary slave- owners that they have effectively become murderers by their involvement in chattel slavery. It also attributes a vivid kind of rashness to the slave who comes to the conclusion that his or her life, essentially being worth nothing, is not worth holding onto, thus elevating the psychological status of dangerous 15 EBSCOhost: eBook Collection EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use. Remaking the Classics attempts at escape from servility. This in its turn could have the effect of infusing a slave society with rebellions. Stricklandʼs wildly original appropriation of Spartacus is compelling and interesting in its own right, albeit occasionally far-fetched. However, when placed in the context of the nineteenth century, and against the other two hyper-political appropriations discussed here, it makes an interesting foil: for a young girl, who had had the benefit of an unusually wide education, Spartacusʼ rebellion became a story which could be manipulated to promote Christian virtues, while condemning the institution of chattel slavery. Conclusion Whether or not the historical Spartacus actually was a freedom-fighter is still debated among scholars today, but the figure of Spartacus and the event of the gladiator rebellion were exploited on two separate occasions in the Victorian era by men keen to voice the cause of the ‘underdogʼ. Despite Spartacusʼ servile background and the obvious comparison that this provided in post-1830s anti-slave-trade Britain, the ‘Jonesesʼ elected not to use him for a principally anti-slavery cause, finding instead an opportunity to use him as a conduit for championing other social causes. Ernest Jones, probably stimulated by the massive wealth associated with Crassus in ancient sources, and above all by Marxʼs own endorsement of the figure as an icon for the proletariat, offers his Spartacus as an inspirational figure to the working classes of Britain. He thus urges that workers learn from history and do not repeat the same mistakes through disunity. Meanwhile the Polish cause had come to represent the democratic cause all over Europe, and Jacob Jonesʼ play may well have been informed by Communist beliefs in addressing ‘the entire proletariat, independently of all nationalityʼ.99 In both cases it is the fight of the ‘enslavedʼ over the ‘enslaversʼ with which the Victorian men are concerned. Susanna Strickland, by contrast, takes advantage of the figure of Spartacus to engage in a heroic epic (almost a ‘Spartaciadʼ) which, although heavily influenced by Homer, nevertheless found room for her religious beliefs. All
EBSCOhost) printed on 5/22/2026 11 23 18 AM UTC via UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of- use. Remaking the Classics 36. Plutarch Life of Crassus 9. 37. Ibid. 9. 38. Plutarch Life of Crassus 9, my translation. 39. Appian Civil Wars 1.14.117. 40. Jones 1851, 981. 41. Jones 1851, 1002. Plutarch again: Life of Crassus 10.
italics. 79. Perkins 2000, 882 3. Susanna was allegedly aged thirteen; she could have been no older than nineteen since she was born in 1803. 80. Simon 2000, 955 6. 81. Strickland 1822, 51. 82. Strickland 1822, 102. 83. Frontinus Stratagems 1.5.21. 84. Strickland 1822, 44. 85. Strickland 1822,
