"Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua" is a

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

written by

Elijah Kellogg Elijah Kellogg, Jr. (May 20, 1813 – March 17, 1901) was an American Congregationalist minister, lecturer and author of popular boy's adventure books. Professional life Born in Portland, Maine, Kellogg was the son of a minister and mi ...

for a student competition at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

in 1842, and later published by Epes Sargent, one of the judges, in his 1846 ''School Reader''. The piece, written as if it were an actual declamation by Spartacus to his fellows during the

slave rebellion A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedo ...

against the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

known as the

Third Servile War The Third Servile War, also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic known as the Servile Wars. This third rebellion was the only one that directly ...

, became popular in collections of rhetoric in the late 19th century."Rev. Elijah Kellogg Dead; Was Author of 'Sparticus [sic] to the Gladiators' and Many Stories for Boys -- His Quaint Life"
''The New York Times'', March 18, 1901.

References

External links

* 1842 documents Bowdoin College Cultural depictions of Spartacus Monologues {{drama-stub