It gave Pompey and Crassus a great excuse to park their legions outside of Rome until they were made consuls, despite Crassus' lack of military success and Pompey having never held a single office on the cursus honorem. It wasn't the start of the trend of bullying one's way into high office, but it reinforced the idea.

Arguably, the fear of slave revolts is what lead to Caesar decreeing that one third of all animal herdsmen in southern Italy had to be free, and that fear coalesced around Spartacus's revolt. Beyond that, however, there was no real social legislation, even if that was what he was fighting for.

Tangentially related, I've heard Spartacus was heading to Sertorius in Spain at one point, only to find out that he'd been beaten already.

What would the likely reception have been?