Publius Varinius

Publius Varinius was a Roman praetor in 73 BC and proconsul in 72 BC and suffered several defeats against Spartacus' rebellious slaves during the Third Servile War. The history has gaps in it and all we know is that an advance force of 2,000 led by Varinius legate Lucius Furius was defeated and that a later encounter also ended in defeat another 4,000 men. The rebels sacked Varinius camp with an estimated 10,000 men, women and children but mostly men.

Selected ancient sources

Sallust, Histories 3.95-98 Maurenbrecher.
Frontinus, Strategemata 1.5.22.
Plutarch, Crassus 9.4-6.
Appian, Civil Wars 1.116.^[1]
Florus, Epitome 2.8.5 (Varinius is the unnamed general whose camp was attacked)
Some of these sources are available in English translation from the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/3slaverevolttexts.htm).
The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss

Notes

^ Appian conflates the names of Varinius and Claudius Glaber, writing Varinios Glabros, not Varinius Faber, as in the Ancient Sourcebook translation.

Bibliography

Bradley, Keith. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989, pp. 95–96. ISBN 0253312590
Broughton, T. Robert S. "Magistrates of the Roman Republic." Vol. 2. Cleveland: Case Western University Press, 1968, p. 110 & 119.

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Name	Varinius, Publius
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Short description	Roman praetor in 73 BC and proconsul in 72 BC and suffered several defeats against Spartacus
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