While Ennius asserts that Laurus is doing his duty, Laeta is disgusted believing that if a slave were treated with kindness then they would not need to rebel, but because they are treated as caged animals, then it's no wonder they rise up as they do. He asks her if she could pursuade her husband to lower the prices of grain and although Laeta agrees to try, she states that it is unlikely.Īs she goes to see her husband she witnesses as the speaker, Laurus is presenting a slave to be stoned by the public. Laeta is approached by Ulpianus, a baker in the city of Sinuessa who is in desperate need of grain, which her husband, Ennius, has much stock in. She and her husband make a comfortable living in the city of Sinuessa en Valle. Born and raised in a wealthy home, Laeta has only known life as a privileged Roman elite, but she is a kind Domina who does not mistreat her slaves.
Intelligent, young, beautiful, and as independent as a Roman woman is allowed to be, Laeta was married off to her husband, an Aedile named Ennius. In fact, Laeta gradually developed feelings for Spartacus after she was told about his own affections for her, and they became lovers. She also started to understand and even embrace the rebels' cause, turning from her people as they had turned from her, and supporting the rebels in their endeavors. Initially, she resented Spartacus for killing her husband and making her his prisoner, but after he demonstrated his benevolence to her and the other Roman prisoners, her negative opinion of him changed to a degree - to curiosity.Īfter being branded as a slave herself by Heracleo, which led to her joining the rebels and spending more time with Spartacus, she saw that he was not truly a savage, but really a man who endured years of pain after his branding as a slave. Laeta also cared about her people greatly, and - as shown while being a captive to the rebels - would do whatever she must to see them safe, even if it means risking her own life. However, she disapproved of the rebels and their treatment of the Roman captives. Laeta is a kind and helpful woman who, unlike many other Romans, does not look down upon slaves, and even pities and treats them well.
Even after her city was taken over by Spartacus, and she was relegated to a prisoner, she still took care of her appearance.įollowing Crassus turning her over to Heracleo, Laeta was branded on her arm with his initial forever marking her as a slave. Requiescas in pace, Spartace.Laeta is a beautiful, elegant woman with long auburn hair, and dressed like a proper wealthy Roman woman. In the scene from Spartacus, however, the whole point is that each person standing up to stand beside Spartacus is declaring, not so much that "I'm Spartacus," but rather that " I am Spartacus."Īs a result, Latin would indeed require the use of the pronoun ego here to convey the needed emphasis.Īnd so, with great linguistic confidence, we can declare, the way you would say "I'm Spartacus" in Latin is:Īnd I am also willing to say, " Ego Sum Spartacus - I'm Spartacus." I stand beside you, dear man, because I know I live in a world where liberty reigns more than in your age precisely because you dared to stand up against tyranny and oppression. Terence doesn't use ego in that line because the contrast is between Davus and Oedipus, not "I" and someone else. "I'm Davus, not Oedipus." (i.e., I'm Davus, not someone who can solve riddles.) So for instance, the Roman playwright Terence has a famous line in which a slave declares:ĭavus sum, non Oedipus (Terence, Andria 194) So, hablo means "I speak," and yo hablo also means "I speak." In Latin, Sum all on its own means "I am," and ego sum also means "I am."īut in Latin, the pronouns are generally not used, unless one really means to emphasize who exactly is the subject of the verb. In Latin, like Spanish, you don't actually need to use the pronoun with verbs.