Pompey's legions, having put down the rebellion…

Pompey's legions, having put down the rebellion of Quintus Sertorius in Hispania, are returning at this time to Italy.

Sources disagree on whether Crassus had requested reinforcements, or whether the Senate simply took advantage of Pompey's return to Italy, but Pompey had been ordered to bypass Rome and head south to aid Crassus.

The Senate had also sent reinforcements under the command of "Lucullus", mistakenly thought by Appian to be Lucius Licinius Lucullus, commander of the forces engaged in the Third Mithridatic War at the time, but who appears to have been the proconsul of Macedonia, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, the former's younger brother.

With Pompey's legions marching out of the north, and Lucullus' troops landing in Brundisium, Crassus realizes that if he does not put down the slave revolt quickly, credit for the war will go to the general who arrives with reinforcements, and thus he spurs his legions on to end the conflict quickly.