Spartacus
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Spartacus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the leader of the Roman slaves in the great revolt which broke out about 73 B. c.; a Thracian by birth, who from a shepherd became a leader of a band of robbers when he was captured and sold to a trainer of gladiators at Capua. On the murder of his father by the Romans he had made an oath to wage war against Rome; and he formed a conspiracy to escape, and, when it was discovered, broke out with some 70 followers, with whom he made for the crater of Vesuvius, where hordes of runaway slaves soon joined him. He first overpowered and seized the arms of a force sent against him from Capua, next routed an army of 3,000 men under C. Clodius, and so passed from victory to victory, overrunning southern Italy and sacking many of the cities of Campania, his numbers growing to 100,000 men. Spartacus, who failed to get support from the Italian communities, es, and from the first knew the real weakness of his position, strove to persuade his victorious bands to march N. to the Alps and disperse to their native regions; but they were intoxicated with victory, and saw glittering before their eyes all the plun der of Italy Against his better judgthrough the popular will, acting as um-ment he continued the war, showing himself a consummate captain in the strategy and valor with which he routed one Roman consular army after another, and the policy by which for long he assuaged the jealousies and dissensions among his followers. At length in 71 M. Licinius Crassus received the command, and after some time of cautious delay forced Spartacus into the narrow peninsula of Rhegium, from which, however, he burst out through the Roman lines with a portion of his force. Crassus urged the Senate to recall Lucullus from Asia and Pompey from Spain, but meantime he himself pursued active hostilities against the dreaded enemy. Spartacus finding all dash on Brunduhope at an end made a sium, hoping to seize the shipping and get across the Adriatic, but was foiled by the presence of Lucullus, whereupon he fell back on the river Silarus, and there made a heroic stand against Crassus till he was cut down.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A Thracian, by birth who was successively a shepherd, a soldier, and a chief of banditti. On one of his predatory expeditions he was taken prisoner, and sold to a trainer of gladiators. In 73 he was a member of the company of Lentulus, and was detained in his school at Capua, in readiness for the games at Rome. He persuaded his fellow-prisoners to make an attempt to gain their freedom. About seventy of them broke out of the school of Lentulus, and took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius. Spartacus was chosen leader, and was soon joined by a number of runaway slaves. They were blockaded by C. Cladius Pulcher at the head of three thousand men, but Spartacus attacked the besiegers and put them to flight. His numbers rapidly increased, and for two years (B. C. 73-71) he defeated one Roman army after another, and laid waste Italy from the foot of the Alps to the southernmost corner of the peninsula. After both the consuls of 72 had been defeated by Spartacus, M. Licinus Crassus, the praetor, was appointed to the command of the war, which he terminated by a decisive battle near the river Silarus, in which Spartacus was defeated and slain. Sparti (The Sown-Men). The name given to the armed men who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus . Spartianus, Aelius. One of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, who lived in the time of Diocletian and Constantine, and wrote the biographies of several emperors.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in Roman history, a gladiatorial leader. In 73 B. C. a band of gladiators, under the leadership of a Thracian named Spartacus, escaped from a school at Capua. They plundered a cook shop, where they armed themselves with spits and chopping knives. Happening to meet a chariot filled with gladiatorial arms, they seized these and intrenched themselves on a vine-covered mountain. Escaped slaves and the dissatisfied generally joined their ranks, until the mountain was garrisoned by a force of 70,000 men. Three Roman armies sent to subjugate them were defeated. The Romans were much alarmed lest the states subject to Rome at this time would rise in revolt under the leadership of Spartacus. The revolt was suppressed, however, by Crassus and Pompey. Spartacus had kept the field for three years before he was slain. Elihu Burritt has used this incident skillfully in his Address to the Gladiators, a piece of rhetorical writing well known to the school boy. See Gladiator