72 BCE – Picenum, Central Italy
Amongst those who join Spartacus and his companions, as they continue
on their fight for freedom, are many young people.
One day when they are gathered for a meeting, the wife of Spartacus speaks
to them:
How wonderful it is to see so many young people, gathered on this mountain,
working together and preparing in our efforts to keep and safeguard our freedom.
It is marvellous to see so many of you. There is something even more marvellous,
dearest ones, than your youth. There is something even more wonderful than
the vision and the youthful exuberance that we see here amongst you. You may
just see it, if you look up at one another. If you look at the friend and
comrade just beside you, if you stand up and look at all the other young people
with you and around you.
You will see this marvellous thing. And so just look at one another.
You see how many of you are gathered from different parts of the world. That is marvellous. There are youth here from all parts of the land that surround Rome, and from the lands across the seas and across the mysterious mountains. Here are gathered, if you look around, peoples from lands near and far, from lands known and unknown. And marvellous it is that we sit together and work together in harmony; and it is marvellous indeed that we regard each other as equals. It is marvellous that amongst you, the young, there is no question of any difference between the peoples of the world. It is marvellous that amongst you the young, you are accepting of people of all races, and you accept people from all cultures and countries, and regard each and everyone as you would yourself. It is marvellous indeed.
Let us remember and let us cherish these days then, and may you the young
keep this equality and vision of the oneness of all humanity alive always.
And may you pass on this vision to the next generation and to the next, just
as light is passed on from one torch to another to illuminate the darkness
so that all and everyone can see the noblest way to live.
- from Spartacus Unchained by Raj Arumugam