Spartacus

• Spartacus was a gladiator in a gladiator school. Spartacus was sad because he was always tired. Often he fought bravely with a sword. Often he killed men quickly. The master, however, was savage and cruel: often he punished the gladiators. Often the gladiators had bad food, often they had no wine.
• Spartacus was angry: he called the other gladiators. ‘I often

  fight,’ he said, ‘you often fight: we often cry; we are always

  afraid. We have bad food, no wine. We are tired. We never

  laugh, we are never happy. But the master is happy! The master is able to eat good food; the master is also able to drink wine. The master is not tired. The master is not afraid. I want to kill the master; I want to escape!
• Spartacus persuaded the gladiators. ‘We are tired,’ said the

  other gladiators, ‘and we are angry. We want to escape!’

  Spartacus ordered the gladiators to prepare their swords. ‘Soon,’ he said, ‘we will escape.’
• Spartacus and the gladiators were brave and bold: they killed the master and escaped from the school. In many houses the slaves wanted to escape with Spartacus. ‘You fight bravely!’ they shouted. ‘You are brave! You are not afraid of the master! You killed the master! We want to fight bravely! We want to escape!’
• The Romans were afraid because so many slaves were

  escaping. They prepared many soldiers. For a long time the

  Romans fought against Spartcus and the slaves. At last they

  defeated Spartacus and the other slaves. Then they killed

  Spartacus.