“Still the dreamer, Spartacus?” Crixus said, his frustration evident. “What sort of freedom do you see that is such a prize? Freedom to work harder than we ever did as slaves, scratching out a few crops on land threatened by the locals? They won’t want us any more than the Romans do, you can be sure of that. It’ll be a backbreaker, this freedom of yours, I know it. Get the women and children clear, that’s all. Leave a hundred men to take them through the passes and we can finish what we started.”

Spartacus looked at his second-in-command. Crixus had a thirst for blood in him that had only been whetted in the triumph at Mutina. After what he had lived through at Roman hands, that was easy enough to understand, but Spartacus knew there was more to it.

“Is it their soft life you want, Crix?” he said.

“And why not?” Crixus demanded. “We have turned over their hive, now the honey should be ours for the taking. You remember the civil war and so do I. Whoever has Rome has their balls. If we could take the city, the rest of them would fall over. Sulla knew that!”

“He was a Roman general, not a slave.”

“That doesn’t matter! Once you’re in, you can change the rules to suit you. There are no rules except what you choose when you have the strength. I tell you, if you miss this chance, you will throw away everything we’ve done. In ten years, the scribes will say the garrison at Mutina were the rebels and we were loyal Romans!

“If we take the city, we’ll be able to shove their history and their pride down their throats and make them accept the new order. Just give the word, Spartacus. I’ll see it done.”

“And the palaces and great estate houses?” Spartacus probed, his eyes narrowing.

“Ours! Why not? What is there in Gaul but scrubland and villages?”

“You’ll need slaves to run them, Crixus, have you thought of that? Who will take in your crops and tend your vines?”

Crixus waved his scarred fist at the man he loved above all others. “I know what you’re thinking, but we won’t do it like those cursed bastards. It doesn’t have to be like that.”

Spartacus watched him in silence and he went on angrily. “All right, if you want an answer, then I’ll have the Senate work my fields and I’ll even pay the bastards a wage.”