Being the story which Crassus, the great generaly told to Caius Crassus, concerning a visit to his encampment by Lentulus Batiatus, who kept a school for gladiators in Capua.

The school at Capua, which Lentulus Batiatus operated, was one of the largest and most prosperous. Marcus Licinius Crassus rose as Batiatus and the officer entered, and the fat man was pleased to note how readily the general walked forward, giving him his hand in greeting. Crassus had read the mighty cycle which Aeschylus wrote on Prometheus, and he saw something of what it meant for a Spartacus to emerge from where he had been to a point where no power Rome could assemble might stand up against his slaves. Batiatus entertained a series of uncomplimentary thoughts concerning Roman justice and a certain Roman general. He was full of pity for himself, this fat trainer of gladiators who kept the school at Capua. Batiatus said his tale of how Spartacus and other Thracians came to the gold mines of Nubia and how they labored naked on the face of the black escarpment.