Crassus

• I L. Licinius Crassus, a celebrated orator, a contemporary of Cicero, Cic. Brut. 38, 143; id. Off. 1, 30, 108 et saep.; cf. id. Brut. prol. pp. 68-77 Ellendt.—
• II M. Licinius Crassus, the triumvir.
• —Hence, Crassĭānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to the triumvir Crassus: exercitūs clades (in the war with the Parthians), Vell. 2, 82, 2; cf.: Crassiana clades, Plin. 6, 16, 18, § 47; Flor. 4, 9, 7.

was praetor in B. C. 43, and was sent by the senate into Picenum to levy troops, in order to resist Octavianus, when he marched upon the city in this year, in order to demand the consulship. Crassus was seized in a slave's dress, and brought to Octavianus, who did not punish him at the time, but afterwards included his name in the proscription. (Appian, App. BC 3.93, 94.) It is thought by some commentators that we ought to read Acilius instead of Aquilius. If this conjecture be correct, the Crassus mentioned above would be the same as the Acilius, who was included in the proscription, and whose escape is related by Appian. (B. C. 4.39.)

descended from the ancient family of the (Licinii?) Crassi, conspired against Nerva; but when his designs were detected, he received no punishment from the emperor, but was merely removed to Tarentum with his wife. Crassus was subsequently put to death. on account of his forming a conspiracy against the life of Trajan. (Aur. Vict. Epit. 12; D. C. 68.3, 16.

was with Lepidus in Gaul, in B. C. 43, when Antony was compelled to seek refuge there, and was the main instrument in bringing about the union between the armies of Lepidus and Antony. Three years later, B. C. 40, he was consul suffectus with L. Cornelius Balbus, and afterwards he was one of the legates of Antony, whom he accompanied in his campaign against the Parthians. In B. C. 38, when Antony returned from that expedition, Canidius Crassus remained in Armenia, and continued the war against those nations with considerable success,for he defeated the Armenians, and also the kings of the Iberians and Albanians, and penetrated as far as the Caucasus. In the campaign which Antony made against the Parthians in B. C. 36, Crassus was as unfortunate as the other Roman generals, all of whom suffered great losses, and were compelled to retreat. In B. C. 32, when Antony resolved upon the war with Octavian, Crassus was commissioned to lead the army, which was stationed in Armenia, to the coast of the Mediterranean. On the outbreak of the war many of Antony's friends advised him to remove Cleopatra from the army, but Crassus who was bribed by the queen, opposed this plan, and she accordingly accompanied her lover to the fatal war. Shortly afterwards, however, Crassus also advised Antony to send her back to Egypt, and to fight the decisive battle on the land and not on the sea. This time his advice was disregarded. During the battle of Actium, Crassus who had the command of Antony's land forces, could only act the part of a spectator. After the unfortunate issue of the seafight, Crassus and his army still held out for seven days in the hope that Antony would return; but in the end Crassus in despair took to flight, and followed his master to Alexandria, where he informed him of the issue of the contest and of the fate of his army. After the fall of Antony Crassus was put to death by the command of Octavianus. He died as a coward, although in times of prosperity he had been in the habit of boasting, that death had no terrors for him. (Cic. Fam. 10.21; D. C. 48.32, 49.24; Plut. Ant. 34, 42, 56, 63, 65, 68, 71, Comparat. Dem. c. Ant. 1 ; Vell. 2.85, 87; Oros. 6.19.) [L.S]

[Claudius, p.767.]

CRASSUS, LICI'NIUS.

Stemma Crassorum.

1. P. Licinius Crassus, C. F. P. N., was grandson of P. Licinius Varus, who was praetor B. C. 208. In B. C. 176 he was praetor, and pleaded that he was bound to perform a solemn sacrifice as an excuse for not proceeding to his province, Hither Spain. In B. C. 171 he was consul, and appointed to the command against Perseus. He advanced through Epeirus to Thessaly, and was defeated by the king in an engagement of cavalry. (Liv. xli., xlii., xliii.) During his command, he oppressed the Athenians by excessive requisitions of corn to supply his troops, and was accused on this account to the senate.

2. C. Licinius Crassus, C. F. P. N., brother of No. 1, was praetor in B. C. 172, and in B. C. 171 served as legatus with his brother in Greece, and commanded the right wing in the unsuccessful battle against Perseus. In B. C. 168 he was consul, and in the following year went to Macedonia, instead of proceeding to Cisalpine Gaul, which was his appointed province. (Liv. 45.17.)

3. C. Licinius Crassus, probably a son of No. 2, was tribune of the plebs B. C. 145, and according to Cicero (de Amic. 25) and Varro (de Re Rust. 1.2), was the first who in his orations to the people turned towards the forum, instead of turning towards the comitium and the curia. Plutarch (C. Gracch. 5) attributes the introduction of this mark of independence to C. Gracchus. He introduced a rogation in order to prevent the colleges of priests from filling up vacancies by co-optation, and to transfer the election to the people; but the measure was defeated in consequence of the speech of the then praetor, C. Laelius Sapiens. (Cic. Brut. 21.) (Huschke, Ueber die Stelle des Varro von den Liciniern, Heidelb. 1337.)

4. C. Licinius (Crassus), probably a son of No. 3. (Dio Cass. Frag. xcii.)

5. Licinia. [Licinia.]

6. P. Licinius Crassus, P. F. P. N., Dives, was the son of P. Licinius Varus, and was the first Licinius with the surname Dives mentioned in history. In B. C. 212, though a young man who had never sat in the curule chair, he defeated two distinguished and aged consulars, Q. Fulvius Flaccus and T. Manlius Torquatus, in a hard-fought contest for the office of pontifex maximus. (Liv. 25.5.) In B. C. 211 he was curule aedile, and gave splendid games, remarkable for the crowns with foliage of gold and silver, that were then first exhibited at Rome (Plin. Nat. 21.4); in B. C. 210 he was magister equitum of the dictator Q. Fulvius Flaccus, and in the same year obtained the censorship, but abdicated (as was usual) in consequence of the death of his colleague. In B. C. 208 he was praetor. In B. C. 205 he was consul with Scipio Africanus, and undertook the task of keeping Hannibal in check in the country of the Bruttii. Here he succeeded in rescuing some towns from the enemy, but was able to do little in consequence of a contagious disease which attacked him and his army. (Liv. 29.10.) In the following year he united his forces with those of the consul Sempronius, to oppose Hannibal in the neighbourhood of Croton, but the Romans were defeated. In B. C. 203, he returned to Rome, and died at an advanced age, B. C. 183, when his funeral was celebrated with games and feasts which lasted for three days, and by a fight of 120 gladiators. (39.46.) He possessed many gifts of nature and fortune, and added to them by his own industry. He was noble and rich, of commanding form and great corporeal strength, and, in addition to his military accomplishments, was extremely eloquent, whether in addressing the senate or haranguing the people. In civil and pontifical law he was deeply skilled. (30.1.) Valerius Maximus (1.1.6) gives an example of his religious severity in condemning a Vestal virgin to be burnt, because one night she neglected her charge of guarding the everlasting fire.

7. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, son of No. 6.

8. P. Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus, was the adopted son of No. 7. (Cic. Brut. 26.) His natural father was P. Mucius Scaevola, who was consul B. C. 175. In the year B. C. 131 he was consul and pontifex maximus, and, according to Livy, was the first priest of that rank who went beyond Italy. (Epit. lix.) As pontifex maximus, he forbade his colleague, Valerius Flaccus, who was flamen Martialis, to undertake the command against Aristonicus, and imposed a fine upon him, in case of his leaving the sacred rites. The people remitted the fine, but shewed their sense of due priestly subordination by ordering the flamen to obey the pontiff. (Cic. Phil. 11.8.) Crassus, though his own absence was liable to similar objection, proceeded to oppose Aristonicus, who had occupied the kingdom of Pergamus, which had been bequeathed by Attalus to the Roman people. His expedition to Asia was unfortunate. He suffered a defeat at Leucae, and was overtaken in his flight between Elaea and Smyrna by the body-guard of the enemy. In order that he might not be taken alive, he struck a Thracian in the eye with his horse-whip, and the Thracian, smarting with the blow, stabbed him to death. (V. Max. 3.2.12.) His body was buried at Smyrna, and his head was brought to Aristonicus, who, in the following year, surrendered to Perperna, and was put to death at Rome. He was so minutely skilled in the Greek language, that when he presided in Asia, he was in the habit of giving judgment to those who resorted to his tribunal in any one of five dialects in which they preferred their claim. (Quint. Inst. 11.2, fin.) Cicero extols him as a good orator and jurist (Cic. Brut. 26; compare Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 4), and Gellius (who gives an example of the strictness of his military discipline) says that, according to Sempronius Asellio and other writers of Roman history, he possessed five of the best of good things, " quod esset ditissimus, quod nobilissimus, quod eloquentissimus, quod jurisconsultissimus, quod pontifex maximus." (Gel. 1.13.) How the legal lore of Crassus was on one occasion well-nigh foiled in contest with the superior eloquence of Ser. Sulpicius Galba (whose son married the daughter of Crassus) may be read in Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 1.56). By Heineccius (Hist. Jur. Roms. 1.143) and many others, he has been confounded with L. Licinius Crassus, the orator, No. 23. (Rutilius, Vitae JCtoruma, c. xviii.)

9. MI. Licinius Crassus Agelastus, son of No. 7, and grandfather of Crassus the triumvir. He derived his cognomen from having never laughed (Plin. Nat. 7.18), or, as Cicero says, he was not the less entitled to the designation, though Lucilius reports that he laughed once in his life. (Cic. de Fin. 5.30.)

13. M. Licinius Crassus, son of No. 9, was praetor B. C. 107.

14. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, M. F. P. N., brother of No. 13 and father of the triumvir. He was the proposer of the lex Licinia, mentioned by Gellius (2.24), to prevent excessive expense and gluttony in banquets. The exact date of this law is uncertain, but it was alluded to by the poet Lucilius, who died before the consulship of Crassus, which took place B. C. 97. The sumptuary law of Crassus was so much approved of, that it was directed by a decree of the senate to take effect immediately after its publication, and before it had been actually passed by the populus. (Macrob. 2.13.) It was abolished at the proposition of Duronius in B. C. 98. (V. Max. 2.9.5.) The extravagance of the games and shows given by the aediles had now become unreasonably great, and Crassus during his aedileship yielded to the prevailing prodigality. (Cic. de Of. 2.16.) During the consulship of Crassus, the senate made a remarkable decree, by which it was ordained " no homo immolaretur,"--a monstrous rite, says Pliny, which up to that time had been publicly solemnized. (Plin. Nat. 30.3.) After his consulship, he took the command in Spain, where he presided for several years, and, in the year B. C. 93, was honoured with a triumph for his successes in combating the Lusitanian tribes. In the social war, B. C. 90, he was the legate of L. Julius Caesar, and in the following year his colleague in the censorship (Festus, s. v. referri), and with him enrolled in new tribes certain of the Latini and Itali, who were rewarded for their fidelity with the rights of citizenship. In the civil war which commenced soon afterwards, he took part with Sulla and the aristocracy. When Marius and Cinna, after being proscribed, returned to Rome in the absence of Sulla, he stabbed himself in order to escape a more ignominious death from the hands of their partisans. (Liv. Epit. lxxx.)

15. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, son of No. 14, by Venuleia. (Cic. Att. 12.24.) In B. C. 87, he was put to death by the horsemen of Fimbria, who belonged to the party of Marius, and, according to Florus (3.21.14), was massacred before his father's eyes. Appian (B. C. i. p. 394) differs from other historians in his account of this transaction. He relates that the father, after slaying his son, was himself slaughtered by the party in pursuit.

16. Licinius Crassus Dives, a younger brother of No. 15. His praenomen is unknown, and the only particulars of his history which have been recorded are the fact of his marriage in the lifetime of his parents, and his escape from the massacre of the year B. C. 87. (Plut. Crass. 1, 4.)

17. M. LICINIUS Crassus Dives, P. F. M. N., the younger son of No. 14. The date of his birth is not precisely recorded, but it is probable that he was born about the year B. C. 105, for Plutarch states, that he was younger than Pompey (Plut. Crass. 6), and that he was more than sixty years old when he departed (in the year B. C. 55) to make war against the Parthians. (Ib. 17.)

In the year B. C. 87, when his father and brother suffered death for their resistance to Marius and Cinna, he was not considered of sufficient importance to be involved in the same doom; but he was closely watched, and after some time he thought it prudent to make his escape to Spain, which he had visited some years before, when his father had the command in that country. How he concealed himself in a cavern near the sea upon the estate of Vibius Paciaecus, and how he passed his life in this strange retreat, is related in detail by the lively and amusing pen of Plutarch. After a retirement of eight months, the death of Cinna (B. C. 84) relieved him from his voluntary confinement. He put himself at the head of a needy rabble, for whose sustenance he provided by marauding excursions, and, with 2500 men, made his way to Malaca. Thence, seizing the vessels in the port, he set sail for Africa, where he met Q. Metellus Pius, who had escaped from the party of Marius. He soon quarrelled with Metellus, and did not remain long in Africa, for when Sulla (B. C. 83) landed in Italy, Crassus proceeded to join that successful general.

He was now brought into competition with Pompey, who also served under Sulla. The mind of Crassus was of an essentially vulgar type. He was noted for envy, but his envy was low and cavilling: it was not energetic enough to be cruel and revengeful, even when successful, and it was so far under the control of pusillanimity and selfinterest, as to abstain from the open opposition of manly hatred. It was with such feelings that Crassus regarded Pompey; and Sulla played off the rivals against each other. He understood his tools. He gratified Pompey by external marks of honour, and Crassus with gold. The ruling passion of Crassus was avarice, and to repair and increase the fortunes of his family he was willing to submit to servile dependence, to encounter any risk, and undergo any hardship. He undertook a service of considerable danger in levying troops for Sulla among the Marsi, and he afterwards (B. C. 83) distinguished himself in a successful campaign in Umbria. He was personally brave, and, by fighting against the remains of the Marian faction, he was avenging the wrongs of his house. Sulla put him in mind of this, and rewarded him by donations of confiscated property, or by allowing him to purchase at an almost nominal value the estates of those who were proscribed. Crassus was reported to have sought for gain by dishonest means. He was accused of unduly appropriating the booty taken at Tuder (an Umbrian colony not far from the Tiber), and of placing, without authority, a name in the proscribed lists, in order that he might succeed to an inheritance.

The desire of wealth which absorbed Crassus was neither the self-sufficing love of possession, which enables the miser to despise the hiss of the people while he contemplates the coin in his chest, nor did it spring from that voluptuousness which made Lucullus value the means of material enjoyment, nor from that lofty ambition which made Sulla and Caesar look upon gold as a mere instrument of empire. Crassus sought wealth because he loved the reputation of being rich, liked to have the power of purchasing vulgar popularity, and prized the kind of influence which the capitalist acquires over the debtor, and over the man who wants to borrow or hopes to profit. To these objects the administration of civil affairs and warlike command were, in his view, subordinate. He possessed very great ability and steady industry in obtaining what he desired, and soon began to justify his hereditary surname, Dives. He extended his influence by acting as an advocate before the courts, by giving advice in domestic affairs, by canvassing for votes in favour of his friends, and by lending money. At one time of his life, there was scarcely a senator who was not under some private obligation to him. He was affable in his demeanour to the common people, taking them by the hand, and addressing them by name. Rich legacies and inheritances rewarded his assiduity and complaisance to the old and wealthy. He was a keen and sagacious speculator. He bought multitudes of slaves, and, in order to increase their value, had them instructed in lucrative arts, and sometimes assisted personally in their education. Order and economy reigned in his household. He worked silver-mines, cultivated farms, and built houses, which he let at high rents. He took advantage of the distresses and dangers of others to make cheap purchases. Was there a fire in the city, Crassus might be seen among the throng, bargaining for the houses that were burning or in danger of being burnt.

From such pursuits Crassus was called to action by that servile war which sprang from and indicated the deplorable state of domestic life in Italy, and was signalized by the romantic adventures and reverses of the daring but ill-fated Spartacus. Spartacus had for many months successfully resisted the generals who had been sent to oppose him. A revolt so really dangerous had begun to create alarm, and no confidence was placed in the military talents of the consuls for the year B. C. 71, who regularly, according to a still-prevailing custom, would have divided between them the command of the army. But the occasion called for more experienced leaders, and, in the absence of Pompey, who was fighting in Spain, the command of six legions and of the troops already in the field was given to Crassus, who was created praetor. After several engagements fought with various success [Spartacus], Crassus at length brought the rebel chief to a decisive battle in Lucania. Spartacus was slain with 12,300 (Plut. Pomp. 21), or, according to Livy (Liv. Epit. 97), 60,000 of his followers; and of the slaves that were taken prisoners, 6000 were crucified along the road between Rome and Capua. Crassus had hastened operations in order to anticipate the arrival of Pompey, who he feared might reap the credit without having shared the dangers of the campaign. His fears were in some degree verified, for Pompey came in time to cut off 5000 fugitives, and wrote to the senate, " Crassus, indeed, has defeated the enemy, but I have extirpated the war by the roots." Though the victory of Crassus was of great importance, yet, as being achieved over slaves, it was not thought worthy of a triumph; but Crassus was honoured with an ovation, and allowed the distinction of wearing a triumphal crown of bay (laurus) instead of the myrtle, which was appropriate to an ovation.

Crassus now aspired to the consulship, and was not above applying for assistance to his rival Pompey, who had also announced himself a candidate. Pompey assumed with pleasure the part of protector, and declared to the people that he should consider his own election valueless, unless it were accompanied with that of Crassus. Both were elected. (B. C. 70.) Already had Pompey become a favourite of the people, and already begun to incur the distrust of the optimates, while Caesar endeavoured to increase the estrangement by promoting a union between Pompey and Crassus in popular measures. With their united support, the lex Aurelia was carried, by which the judices were selected from the populus (represented by the tribuni aerarii) and equites as well as the senate, whereas the senate had possessed the judicia exclusively during the preceding twelve years by the lex Cornelia of Sulla. The jealousy of Crassus, however, prevented any cordiality of sentiment, or general unity of action. He saw himself overborne by the superior authority of his colleague. To gain favour, he entertained the populace at a banquet of 10,000 tables, and distributed corn enough to supply the family of every citizen for three months; but all this was insufficient to outweigh the superior personal consideration of Pompey. The coolness between the consuls became a matter of public observation, and, on the last day of the year, the knight C. Aurelius (probably at the instigation of Caesar) mounted the tribune, and announced to the assembled multitude that Jupiter, who had appeared to him in a dream the night before, invited the consuls to be reconciled before they left office. Pompey remained cold and inflexible, but Crassus took the first step by offering his hand to his rival, in the midst of general acclamations. The reconciliation was hollow, for the jealousy of Crassus continued. He privily opposed the Gabinian rogation, which commissioned Pompey to clear the sea of pirates ; and Cicero's support of the Manilian law, which conferred the command against Mithridates upon Pompey, rankled in the mind of Crassus. When Pompey returned victorious, Crassus, from timidity or disgust, retired for a time from Rome.

In the year B. C. 65, Crassus was censor with Q. Catulus, the firm supporter of the senate; but the censors, in consequence of their political discordance, passed the period of their office without holding a census or a muster of the equites. In the following year, Crassus failed in his wish to obtain the rich province of Egypt.

Crassus was suspected by some, probably without sufficient reason, of being privy to the first conspiracy of Catiline; and again, in the year B. C. 63, L. Tarquinius, when he was arrested on his way to Catiline, affirmed that he was sent by Crassus with a message inviting Catiline to come with speed to the rescue of his friends at Rome ; but the senate denounced the testimony of L. Tarquinius as a calumny, and Crassus himself attributed the charge to the subornation of Cicero. (Sall. B. C. 48.) The interests of Crassus were opposed to the success of the conspiracy; for it would have required a man of higher order to seize and retain the helm in the confusion that would have ensued.

In the whole intercourse between Crassus and Cicero may be observed a real coldness, with occasional alternations of affected friendship. (Comp. Cic. Att. 1.14 and 16, ad Fam. 14.2, pro Sext. 17, ad Fam. 1.9.6, 5.8.) In his intercourse with others, Crassus was equally unsteady in his likings and enmities. They were, in fact, not deeply-seated, and, without the practice of much hypocrisy, could be assumed or withdrawn as temporary expediency might suggest.

It was from motives of self-interest, without actual community of feeling or purpose, that the so-called triumvirate was formed between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. Each hoped to gain the first place for himself by using the others for his purposes, though there can be no doubt that the confederacy was really most profitable to Caesar, and that, of the three, Crassus would have been the least able to rule alone. Caesar had already found Crassus a convenient friend; for in B. C. 61, when Caesar was about to proceed to his province in Further Spain, Crassus became security for his debts to a large amount. It may, at first view, excite surprise that a person of so little independent greatness as Crassus should have occupied the position that he filled, and that men of wider capacity should have entered into a compact to share with him the honours and profits of the commonwealth. But the fact is to be accounted for by considering, that the character of Crassus represented in many points a large portion of the public. While the young, the daring and the ambitious, the needy, the revolutionary, and the democratic, adhered to Caesar,--while the aristocracy, the party of the old constitution, those who affected the reputation of high principle and steady virtue, looked with greater favour upon Pompey,--there was a considerable mass of plain, moderate, practical men, who saw much that they liked in Crassus. Independently of the actual influence which he acquired by the means we have explained, he had the sympathy of those who, without being noble, were jealous of the nobility, and were rich or were occupied in making money. They sympathised with him, because the love of gain was a strong trait in the Roman character, and they saw that his unequivocal success in his pursuit was a proof of at least one unquestionable talent--a talent of the most universal practical utility. He was not without literary acquirement, for, under the teaching of the Peripatetic Alexander, he had gained a moderate proficiency in history and philosophy. There was no profligacy in his private conduct to shock decent and respectable mediocrity. He was not above ordinary comprehension. The many could appreciate a worldly and vulgar-minded but safe man, whose principles sat loosely but conveniently upon him, who was not likely to innovate rashly, to dazzle by eccentric brilliancy, or to put to shame by an overstrained rigidity of virtue. Thus it was more prudent to combine with Crassus as an ally, than to incur the opposition of his party, and to risk the counter-influence of an enormous fortune, which made the name of Crassus proverbial for wealth. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 33.47) values his estates in the country alone at two hundred millions of sesterces. He might have maintained no despicable army at his own cost. Without the means of doing this, he thought that no one deserved to be called rich. In other less stirring times he might have lived and died without leaving in history any marked traces of his existence; but in the period of transition and commotion which preceded the fall of the republic, such elements of power as he possessed could scarcely remain neglected and quiescent.

It was part of the triumviral contract--renewed at an interview between the parties in Luca--that Pompey and Crassus should be a second time consuls together, should share the armies and provinces of the ensuing year, and should exert their influence to secure the prolongation for five years of Caesar's command in Gaul. Notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, backed by all the authority of Cato of Utica (who was forced on the day of election to leave the Field of Mars with his followers after a scene of serious riot and uproar), both Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls, B. C. 55. A law was passed at the rogation of the tribune C. Trebonius, by which Syria and the two Spains, with the right of peace and war, were assigned to the consuls for five years, while the Gauls and Illyricum were handed over to Caesar for a similar period. In the distribution of the consular provinces, Crassus took Syria.

Crassus was anxious to distinguish himself in war. Pompey, he saw, had subjugated the Pirates and Mithridates : Caesar had conquered Gaul, and was marching his army victoriously to Germany and Britain. Mortified at successes which made him feel his inferiority to both, he chose rather to enter upon an undertaking for which he had no genius than to continue the pursuit of wealth and influence at home. Armed by the lex Trebonia with power to make war, he determined to exercise his authority by attacking the Parthians. This was a stretch and perversion of the law, for the Parthians were not expressly named in the lex Trebonia, and the Senate, who constitutionally were the proper arbiters of peace and war, refused to sanction hostilities by their decree. Indeed there was not the slightest pretext for hostilities, and nothing could be more flagrantly unjust than the determination of Crassus. It was in express violation of treaties, for in the year B. C. 92, Sulla had concluded a treaty of peace with the Parthians, and the treaty had been renewed by Pompey with their king Phraates. The Romans were not very scrupulous in their career of conquest, and they often fought from motives of gain or ambition, but their ostensible reasons generally bore some show of plausibility, and a total disregard of form was offensive to a people who were accustomed in their international dealings to observe certain legal and religious technicalities. It was not surprising, therefore, that, apart from all political considerations, the feelings of common justice should excite a strong repugnance to the plans of Crassus, who, having gained his immediate object in obtaining Syria as his province, broke out into a display of childish vanity and boastfulness, which were alien from his usual demeanour. C. Ateius Capito, the tribune, ordered his officer to arrest Crassus. but was obliged to release him by the intercession of his colleagues. However, he ran on to the gate of the city to intercept the consul, who was anxious without delay to proceed to his destination, and resolved to set out at once without waiting for the termination of his year of office. Posted at the gate, Ateius kindled a fire, and with certain fumigations and libations and invocations of strange and terrible deities, mingled the most awful curses and imprecations against Crassus. This was done in pursuance of an ancient Roman rite, which was never solemnized on light grounds; for, while it was believed to be fatal to the person devoted, it was also thought to bring calamity upon the person who devoted another. But Crassus was not deterred. He proceeded on his way to Brundusium. The evil omen daunted the army, and seems to have occasioned an unusual attention to disastrous auguries and forebodings, for Plutarch is copious in his account of tokens of misfortune in almost every stage of the expedition.

The route of Crassus lay through Macedonia, Thrace, the Hellespont, Galatia, and the northern part of Syria to Mesopotamia. Throughout the whole campaign he exhibited so much imprudence and such a complete neglect of the first principles of military art, that premature age may be thought to have impaired his faculties, though he was now but little more than sixty years old. He was deaf, and looked older than he really was. The aged Deiotarus, whom he met in Galatia, rallied him on his coming late into the field. He was accompanied by some able men, especially the quaestor C. Cassius Longinus (afterwards one of Caesar's murderers) and the legate Octavius, but he did not profit by their advice. He was quite uninformed as to the character and resources of the enemy he was going to attack; fancied that he should have an easy conquest over unwarlike people ; that countless treasures lay before him, and that it would be a matter of no difficulty to outstrip the glory of his predecessors, Scipio, Lucullus, Pompey, and push on his army to Bactria and India. He did not attempt to take advantage of the intesime dissensions in Parthia, did not form any cordial union with the Armenians and other tribes who were hostile to the Parthians, and did not obtain correct information as to the position of the enemy's force, and the nature of the country. On the contrary, he listened to flatterers; he suffered himself to be grossly deceived and misled, and he alienated, by ill-treatment and insolence, those who might have been useful, and were disposed to be friendly. After crossing the Euphrates, and taking Zenodotium in Mesopotamia (a success on which he prided himself as if it were a great exploit), he did not follow up the attack upon Parthia, but gave time to the enemy to assemble his forces and concert his plans and choose his ground. He was advised by Cassius to keep the banks of the Euphrates, to make himself master of Seleuceia (which was situate on a canal connecting the Euphrates and the Tigris), and to take Babylon, since both these cities were always at enmity with the Parthians. He chose, however, after leaving 7000 infantry and 1000 cavalry in garrison in Mesopotamia, to recross the Euphrates with the rest of his forces, and to pass the winter in northern Syria. In Syria he behaved more like a revenue officer than a general. He omitted to muster and exercise the troops, or to review the armour and military stores. It is true that he ordered the neighbouring tribes and chieftains to furnish recruits and bring supplies, but these requisitions he willingly commuted for money. Nor was his cupidity satisfied by such gains. At Hierapolis there was a wealthy temple, dedicated to the Syrian goddess Derceto or Atargatis (the Ashtaroth of Scripture), who presided over the elements of nature and the productive seeds of things. (Plin. Nat. 5.19; Strab. xvi. ix fin.) This temple he plundered of its treasures, which it took several days to examine and weigh. One of the ill omens mentioned by Plutarch occurred here. Crassus had a son Publius, who had lately arrived from Italy with 1000 Gallic cavalry to join his father's army. The son, on going out of the temple, stumbled on the threshold, and the father, who was following, fell over him. Josephus (J. AJ 14.7, Bell. Jud. 1.8) gives a circumstantial account of the plunder of the temple at Jerusalem by Crassus, but the narrative is not free from suspicion, for Jerusalem lay entirely out of the route of Crassus, and was at a distance of between 400 and 500 Roman miles from the winter quarters of the army; and we believe that no historian but Josephus mentions the occurrence, if we except the author of the Latin work " De Bello Judaico," (1.21,) which is little more than an enlarged translation of Josephus, and passes under the name of Hegesippus. To the divine judgment for his sacrilege on this occasion, Dr. Prideaux (Connexion, part 2) attributes the subsequent infatuation of Crassis. According to this account, Eleazar, treasurer of the temple, had, for security, put a bar of gold of the weight of 300 Hebrew minae into a hollowed beam, and to this beam was attached the veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Perceiving that Crassus intended to plunder the temple, Eleazar endeavoured to compound with him, by giving him the bar of gold on condition that he would spare the other treasures. This Crassus promised with an oath, but had no sooner received the gold, than he seized, not only 2000 talents in money, which Pompey had left untouched, but everything else that he thought worth carrying away, to the value, of 8000 talents more.

Orodes (Arsaces XIV.), the king of Parthia, was himself engaged with part of his army, in an invasion of Armenia, but he despatched Surenas, the most illustrious of his nobles and a young accomplished general, into Mesopotamia with the rest of his forces, to hold Crassus in check. Before proceeding to hostilities, he sent ambassadors to Crassus to say that if the Roman general made war by the authority of the senate, the war could only terminate by the destruction of one or other of the parties, but if at the prompting of his own desire, the king would take compassion on his old age, and allow him to withdraw his troops in safety. Crassus replied that he would give his answer at Seleuceia. " Sooner," said the ambassador, Vagises, " shall hair grow on the palm of this hand, than thy eyes behold Seleuceia." Artavasdes, the king of Armenia, requested Crassus to join him in Armenia, in order that they might oppose Orodes with their united forces; he pointed out to the Roman general that Armenia being a rough mountainous country, the cavalry, of which the Parthian army was almost wholly composed, would there be useless, and he promised to take care that in Armenia the Roman army should be supplied with all necessaries. In Mesopotamia, on the other hand, the Romans would be exposed to extreme danger on their march through sandy deserts, where they would be unable to procure water and provisions. Crassus, however, determined to march through Mesopotamia, and engaged Artavasdes to supply him with auxiliary troops ; but the king never sent the promised forces, excusing himself on the ground that they were necessary for his own defence against Orodes.

Crassus, in pursuing the imprudent course which he determined upon, was misled by a crafty Arabian chieftain, called by Plutarch, Ariamnes. * From the Roman ignorance of oriental languages, there is a great variation among historians in the oriental names that occur in the expedition of Crassus. Thus, this chieftain is called by Dio Cassius, Augarus or Abgarus, and by the compiler of the Historia Romanorum Parthica, attributed to Appian, he is called Acbarus. Florus (3.11.7) names him Mazaras. Again, the Armenian king is called by Dio Cassius (40.16) Artabazes. This Arab had formerly served under Pompey, and was well known to many in the army of Crassus, for which reason he was selected by Surenas to betray the Romans. He offered himself as a guide to conduct them by the shortest way to the enemy. He told the Roman general, that the Parthians durst not stand before him ; that unless he made haste, they would escape from him, and rob him of the fruits of victory. Cassius, the legate, suspected Ariamnes of treachery, and warned Crassus, instead of following him, to retire to the mountains; but Crassus, deceived by his fair words and fooled by his flattery, was led by him to the open plains of Mesopotamia. Ariamnes, having accomplished his object, seized a frivolous pretext, and rode off to inform Surenas that the Roman army was delivered into his hands, and Crassus soon learned from his scouts, that the Parthians were advancing. The conduct of Crassus in this emergency was marked by irresolution. He first drew up his infantry in line, and placed his cavalry at the wings--an arrangement which would have obviated the murderous success of the Parthian archers, and would have prevented the troops from being outflanked by the Parthian horse; but he then altered his mind, and formed the infantry in a solid square flanked by squadrons of cavalry. To his son he gave one wing, to Cassius the other, and placed himself in the centre. In the battle that ensued, the Parthians exhibited their usual tactics, advancing with terrific shouts and the noise of kettle-drums. They worried the densely marshalled Romans with showers of arrows and javelins. every one of which struck its man. Crassus was disheartened at finding that there was no chance of their missiles being exhausted, as a number of camels were laden with a large supply. By feigned retreats, during which they continued to discharge their arrows, they led the Romans into disadvantageous positions; then they suddenly rallied and charged, while the enemy was in disorder and blinded by dust.

For the details of the engagement, which was distinguished by errors and misfortunes and unavailing bravery, we must refer to the account of Plutarch. Crassus lost his son in the battle, and endeavoured to encourage the soldiers under a calamity which, he said, concerned him alone. He talked to them of honour and their country, but the faint and languid shout with which they responded to his harangue, attested their dejection. When night came on the Parthians retired, it being contrary to their custom to pass the night near an enemy, because they never fortified their camps, and because their horses and arrows could be of little use in the dark. In this miserable state of affairs, Octavius and Cassius found Crassus lying upon the ground, as if he were stunned and senseless. They held a council of war, and determined to retreat at once, leaving the wounded on the field. Crassus, with such of the troops as had strength to march, retired to Carrhae (the Haran of Scripture), and, on the following morning, the Parthians entered the Roman camp, and massacred the sick and wounded, to the number of 4000. They then pursued and overtook four cohorts, which had lost their way in the dark, and put all but twenty men to the sword.

Surenas, having ascertained that Crassus and the principal officers of the Roman army were shut up in Carrhae, and fearing that they might altogether escape, again had recourse to stratagem and treachery. Crassus was induced to take a guide, Andromachus, who acted as a traitor, and led the army into dangerous defiles. Having escaped from this snare, he was forced by the mutinous threats of the troops, though his eyes were open to the inevitable result, to accept a perfidious invitation from Surenas, who offered a pacific interview, and held out hopes that the Romans would be allowed to retire without molestation. At the interview, a horse, with rich trappings, was led out as a present from the king to Crassus, who was forcibly placed upon the saddle. Octavius, seeing plainly that it was the object of the Parthians to take Crassus alive, seized the horse by the bridle. A scuffle ensued, and Crassus fell by some unknown hand. Whether he was despatched by an enemy, or by some friend who desired to save him from the disgrace of becoming a prisoner is uncertain. In the course of this expedition,--one of the most disastrous in which the Romans were ever engaged against a foreign enemy,--Crassus is said to have lost 20,000 men killed, and 10,000 taken prisoners. At the time of his death, Artavasdes had made peace with Orodes, and had given one of his daughters in marriage to Pacorus, the son of the Parthian. They were sitting together at the nuptial banquet, and listening to the representation of the Bacchae of Euripides, when a messenger arrived from Surenas, and brought in the head and hand of Crassus. To the great delight of the spectators, passages from the drama (1. 1168 &c.) were applied by the actors to the lifeless head. Orodes afterwards caused melted gold to be poured into the mouth of his fallen enemy, saying, " Sate thvself now with that metal of which in life thou wert so greedy." (D. C. 40.27 ; Floius, in. 11.)

(Plutarch, Crassus ; Dio Cass. xxxvii.--xl. ; Cic. Epist. passim. The Historia Romanorum Parthica, usually attributed to Appian, is a compilation from Plutarch. All the authorities are collected in Drumann, Gesch. Roms iv. pp. 71-115.)

18. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, son of No. 15, and known by the designation of Decoctor ; for, though originally very rich, his prodigality and dissipation were so inordinate, that he became insolvent, and his creditors sold his goods. After this, he was often taunted by being addressed as Crassus Dives. (V. Max. 6.9.12 )

19. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, the elder son of the triumvir (No. 17) by Tertulla. (Cic. Fam. 5.8.) From his resemblance to the senator Axius, there was a slander that his mother had been unfaithful to her husband. After his younger brother Publius had left Caesar, Marcus became Caesar's quaestor in Gaul, and at the breaking out of the civil war, in B. C. 49 was prefect in Cisalpine Gaul. (Caes. Gal. 5.24; Justin 42.4.) It is possible that he was the husband of the Caecilia or Metella, who appears by an inscription in Gruter (p. 377, No. 7) to have been the wife of M. Crassus, and has by some genealogists been wrongly given to the triumvir. (Drumann, Gesch. Roms ii. p. 55.)

20. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, M. F., younger son of the triumvir, was Caesar's legate in Gaul from B. C. 58 to the second consulship of his father. In B. C. 58, he fought against Ariovistus; in the following year, against the Veneti and other tribes in north-western Gaul; and in B. C. 56, he distinguished himself in Aquitania. In the next winter, Caesar sent him to Rome with a party of soldiers who were intended to forward the election of the triumvirs Pompey and Crassus, and he also brought home 1000 Gallic cavalry, who afterwards took part in the Parthian war. Notwithstanding the mutual dislike of Cicero and Crassus the triumvir, Publius was much attached to the great orator, and derived much pleasure and benefit from his society. In B. C. 58, he strove to prevent the banishment of Cicero, and with other young Romans appeared in public clad in mourning; and, on his return to Rome, in B. C. 55, he exerted himself to procure a reconciliation between Cicero and his father. (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. 2.9.2.) At the end of the year B. C. 54, he followed the triumvir to Syria, and, in the fatal battle near Carrhae, behaved with the utmost gallantry. (Plut. Crass. 25.) Seeing that he could not rescue his troops, he refused to provide for his own safety, and, as his hand was disabled by being transfixed with an arrow, he ordered his sword-bearer to run him through the body. Though he was more ambitious of military renown than of the fame of eloquence, he was fond of literature. He was a proficient in the art of dancing (Macrob. 2.10 fin.), and under the teaching of his friend and freedman Apollonius, became well skilled in Greek. (Cic. Fam. 13.16.) There is extant a Roman denarius (post, p. 882) which has been usually supposed to refer to him, although the name inscribed and the device on the reverse would equally or better apply to his grandfather, Publius the censor, No. 14. See below, p. 882a. (Eckhel, v. p. 232; Spanh. ii. p. 99.)

21. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, M. F., son of No. 19. In B. C. 30, he was consul with Octavian, and in the following year, as proconsul of Macedonia, he fought with success against the surrounding barbarians. (Liv. Epit. cxxxiv., cxxxv.)

22. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, M. F., son of No. 21, was consul B. C. 14. (D. C. 54.24.)

23. L. Licinius Crassus, L. F., the orator. His pedigree is unknown. He was born B. C. 140, was educated by his father with the greatest care, and received instruction from the celebrated historian and jurist, L. Caelius Antipater. (Cic. Brut. 26.) At a very early age he began to display his oratorical ability. At the age of twenty-one (or, according to Tacitus, Dial. de Orat. 100.34, two years earlier) he accused C. Carbo, a man of high nobility and eloquence, who was hated by the aristocratic party to which Crassus belonged. Val. Maximus (6.5.6) gives an instance of his honourable conduct in this case. When the slave of Carbo brought to Crassus a desk filled with his master's papers, Crassus sent back the desk to Carbo with the seal unbroken, together with his slave in chains. Carbo escaped condemnation by poisoning himself with cantharides (Cic. Fam. 9.21, Brut. 27) ; and Crassus, pitying his fate, felt some remorse at the eagerness and success of his accusation. (Cic. Ver. 3.1.) In the following year (B. C. 118) he defended the proposal of a law for establishing a new colony at Narbo in Gaul. The measure was opposed by the senate, who feared that by the assignation of lands to the poorer citizens, the aerarium would suffer from a diminution of the rents of the ager publicus; but, on this occasion, Crassus preferred the quest of popularity to the reputation of consistent adherence to the aristocracy. (Cic. Brut. 43, de Off 2.18.) By eloquence above his years, he succeeded in carrying the law, and proceeded himself to found the colony. In B. C. 114, he undertook the defence of his kinswoman, the vestal Licinia, who, with two other vestals, Marcia and Aemilia, were accused of incest ; but, though upon a former trial his client had been acquitted by L. Caecilius Mettius, pontifex maximus, and the whole college of pontiffs, the energy and ability of his defence were unable to prevail against the severity of L. Cassius, the scopulus reorum, who was appointed inquisitor by the people for the purpose of reviewing the former lenient sentence. (Vell. 1.15; Cic. de Orat. 2.55, de Off. 2.18; Macrob. 1.10; Clinton, Fasti, B. C. 114; Ascon. in Mil. p. 46, ed. Orelli.) In his quaestorship he was the colleague of Q. Mucius Scaevola, with whom, as colleague, be served every other office except the tribunate of the plebs and the censorship. In his quaestorship he travelled through Macedonia to Athens on his return from Asia, which seems to have been his province. In Asia he had listened to the teaching of Scepsius Metrodorus, and at Athens he received instruction from Charmadas and other philosophers and rhetoricians; but he did not remain so long as he intended in that city, from unreasonable resentment at the refusal of the Athenians to repeat the solemnization of the mysteries, which were over two days before his arrival. (Cic. de Orat. 3.20.) After his return to Rome, we find him engaged in pleading the causes of his friends. Thus, he defended Sergius Orata, who was accused of appropriating the public waters for the use of his oyster fisheries. (V. Max. 9.1.1.) He was engaged, on behalf of the same Orata, in another cause, in which the following interesting question arose :--How far is a vendor, selling a house to a person from whom he had previously purchased it, liable to damages for not expressly mentioning in the conveyance a defect in title that existed at the time of the former sale, and of which the purchaser might therefore be supposed to be congnizant? (Cic. de Off. 3.16, de Orat. 1.39.) He was tribune of the people in B. C. 107, but the period of this office was not distinguished by anything remarkable. In B. C. 106 he spoke in favour of the lex Servilia, by which it was proposed to restore to the equites the judicia, which were then in the hands of the senatorian order. The contests for the power of being selected as judices, which divided the different orders, prove how much the administration of justice was perverted by partiality and faction. As there is much confusion in the history of the judicia, it may be proper to mention some of the changes which took place about this period. In B. C. 122, by the lex Sempronia of C. Gracchus, the judicia were transferred from the senate to the equites. In B. C. 106, by the lex Servilia of Q. Servilius Caepio, they were restored to the senate; and it is not correct to say (with Walter, Gesch. des Romischen Rechts, i. p. 244, and others), that by this lex Servilia both orders were admitted to share the judicia. The lex Servilia of Caepio had a very brief existence ; for about B. C. 104, by the lex Servilia of C. Servilius Glaucia, the judicia were again taken from the senate and given to the knights. Much error has arisen from the existence of two laws of the same name and of nearly the same date, but exactly opposite in their enactments. The speech of Ceasgus for the lex Servilia of Caepio was one of remarkable power and eloquence (Cic. Brut. 43, de Orat. 1.52), and expressed the strength of his devotion to the aristocratic party. It was probably in this speech that he attacked Memmius (Cic. de Orat. 2.59, 66) who was a strenuous opponent of the rogation of Caepio. In B. C. 103 he was curule aedile, and with his colleague, Q. Scaevola, gave splendid games, in which pillars of foreign marble were exhibited, and lion fights were introduced. (Cic. de Off. 2.16; Plin. Nat. 36.3, 8.16. s.20.) After being praetor and augur, he became a candidate for the consulship, but he studiously kept away from the presence of his father-in-law, Q Scaevola, the augur, not wishing that one whom he so respected should be a witness of what he considered the degradation of his canvass. (V. Max. 4.5.4.) He was elected, B. C. 95, with his constant colleague, Q. Seaevola, the pontifex maximus, who must be carefully distinguished from the augur of the same name. During their consulship was passed the Lex Licinia Mucia de Civibus regundis, to prevent persons passing as citizens who were not entitled to that character, Vand to compel all who were not citizens to depart from Rome. The rigour and inhospitality of this law seems to have been one of the promoting causes of the social war. (Ascon. in Cic. pro Cornel. ; Cic. de Off. 3.11.) During the term of his office, he had occasion to defend Q. Servilius Caepio, who was hated by the equites, and was accused of majestas by the tribune C. Norbanus (Cic. Brut. 35); but Caepio was condemned. Crassus was now anxious to seek for renown in another field. He hastened to his province, Hither Gaul, and explored the Alps in search of an enemy; but he found no opposition, and was obliged to content himself with the subjugation of some petty tribes, by whose depredations he asserted that the province was disturbed. For this trifling success he was not ashamed to ask a triumph, and would perhaps have obtained his demand from the senate, had not his colleague Scaevola opposed such a misapplication of the honour. (V. Max. 3.7.6 ; Cic. in Pison. 26.) With this exception, his conduct in the administration of his province was irreproachable. This was admitted by C. Carbo (the son of the Carbo whom he had formerly accused), who accompanied him to Gaul, in order to seek out the materials of an accusation; but Crassus disarmed his opposition by courting inquiry, and employing Carbo in the planning and execution of affairs.

One of the most celebrated private causes in the annals of Roman jurisprudence was the contest for an inheritance between M. Curius and M. Coponius, which was heard before the centumviri under the presidency of the praetor T. Manilius, in the year B. C. 93. Crassus, the greatest orator of the day, pleaded the cause of Curius, while Q. Scaevola, the greatest living lawyer, supported the claim of Coponius. The state of the case was this. A testator died, supposing his wife to be pregnant, and having directed by will that if the son, who should be born within the next ten months, should die before becoming his own guardian, * " Antequam in suam tutelam pervenisset," i. e. before attaining the age of 14 years, at which age a son would cease to be under the guardianship of another. The phrase has been misunderstood by Drumann. M. Curius should succeed as heir in his place. (Cic. Brut. 52, 53.) No son was born.--Scaevola argued that this was a casus omissus, and insisted upon the strict law, according to which Curius could have no claim unless a son were first born, and then died while under guardianship. Crassus contended for the equitable construction, according to which the testator could not be supposed to intend any difference between the case of no son being horn, and the case of a son being born and dying before arriving at the age of puberty. The equitable construction contended for by Crassus was approved, and Curius gained the inheritance.

In B. C. 92 he was made censor with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A new practice had sprung up in Rome of sending youths to the schools of persons who called themselves Latin rhetoricians. Crassus disapproved the novelty, as tending to idleness, and calculated rather to encourage effrontery than to sharpen intellect. He thought that the Latins in almost every valuable acquirement excelled the Greeks, and was displeased to see his countrymen stoop to an inferior imitation of Grecian customs. The censors suppressed the schools by a proclamation, which may be found in the Dialogue de Oratoribus and in Gellius (15.11), and deserves to be referred to as an example of the form of a censorian edict. Though the two censors concurred in this measure, they were men of very different habits and tempers, and passed the period of their office in strife and discord. Crassus was fond of elegance and luxury. He had a house upon the Palatium, which, though it yielded in magnificence to the mansion of Q. Catulus upon the same hill, and was considerably inferior to that of C. Aquilius upon the Viminal, was remarkable for its size, the taste of its furniture, and the beauty of its grounds. It was adorned with pillars of Hymettian marble, with expensive vases, and triclinia inlaid with brass. He had two goblets, carved by the hand of Mentor, which served rather for ornament than for use. His gardens were provided with fish-ponds, and some noble lotus trees shaded his walks with their ample foliage. Ahenobarbus, his colleague, found fault with such corruption of manners (Plin. Nat. 17.1), estimated his house at a hundred million (sestertium millies), or according to Valerius Maximus (9.1.4) six million (sexagies sestertio) sesterces, and complained of his crying for the loss of a lamprey, as if it had been a daughter. It was a tame lamprey, which used to come at the call of Crassus, and feed out of his hand. Crassus made a public speech against his colleague, and by his great powers of ridicule, turned him into derision ; jested upon his name (Sueton. Nero, 2), and to the accusation of weeping for a lamprey, replied, that it was more than Ahenobarbus had done upon the loss of any of his three wives. (Aelian, Ael. NA 8.4.) On many occasions, he availed himself of his power of exciting a laugh against his opponent (Cic. de Or. 2.59, 60, 70), and was not scrupulous as to the mode. Thus, though he carefully avoided everything that might impair his own dignity, and might seem to his audience to savour of buffoonery, he sometimes jested upon personal deformities, as may be seen by reference to his sally upon L. Aelius Lamia in his speech for C. Aculeo (Cic. de Or. 2.65), and his answer to the troublesome witness, as reported by Pliny. (H.N. 35.4.) Shortly before his death, he spoke in favour of Cn. Plancus in opposition to the charge of M. Junius Brutus the Accuser. [Brutus, No. 14.] Brutus, in allusion to his fine house and effeminate manners, called him the Palatine Venus, and taunted him with political inconsistency for depreciating the senate in his speech for the Narbonese colony, and flattering that body in his speech for the lex Servilia. The successful repartee of Crassus is well known from being recorded by Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 2.54, pro Cluent. 51) and Quintilian (6.3.44). His last speech was delivered in the senate in B. C. 91, against L. Marcius Philippus, the consul, an enemy of the optimates. Philippus, in opposing the measures of M. Livius Drusus, imprudently asked how, with such a senate, it was possible to carry on the government of the commonwealth. Crassus fixed upon this expression, and on that day seemed to excel himself in the vehemence of his assault upon the consul. Philippus was so irritated by his bitter words, that he ordered his lictor to seize some of the goods of Crassus by way of pledge,--a strong measure, adopted usually by the highest magistrates to constrain the performance of public duties, or to punish contumacious contempt of public authority. Crassus repelled the lictor, and said that he could not respect the character of consul in a man who refused to treat him as a senator. If you want to restrain me, it will not do to seize my goods. * " Non tibi illa sunt caedenda." (Cic. de Or. 3.1.) Caedenda here implies seizure not sale. It is probable that, as a symbol of taking legal possession, the officer struck the goods, or marked them with notches, and that the ceremony was analogous to the manus injectio in personal arrest. You must tear out this tongue. Even then, with my very breath I will continue to denounce your lawless conduct. At his dictation a vote of the senate was passed by which they vindicated their own patriotism; but the passionate vehemence of this contention shattered his health and brought on a fever. He returned to his dwelling, was seized with a shivering fit, and in seven days was dead. Assessments of the Orationes

Such was the end of one of the greatest orators that Rome ever produced. In an age abounding with orators he stood pre-eminent. (Vell. 2.9.) The rougher style of Coruncanius, Cato, and the Gracchi, had been succeeded by a medium style, which, without sacrificing strength to artificial rules, was more polished and ornamented. His sentences were short and well-turned. In debate he was self-possessed and pertinacious, and his lively wit gave a peculiar zest to his reply. He employed words in common use, but he always employed the best and most proper words. His mode of stating his facts and arguments was wonderfully clear and concise. Though perornatus, he was perbrevis. In early life he had disciplined his taste by the excellent practice of carefully translating into Latin the most celebrated specimens of Grecian eloquence. In the treatise De Oratore, Cicero introduces him as one of the principal speakers, and he is understood to express Cicero's own sentiments. Few of his speeches were preserved in writing, and of those few the greater part, if we may judge from the fragments that remain, consisted of senatorial orations and harangues to the people. His chief excellence seems to have lain in this style rather than in judicial oratory; yet, in the judgment of Cicero, he was eloquentium jurisperitissimus.. Further Information

Guil. Grotius, de Vit. JCtorum, i. 7.9; Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 291-317; Drumann, Gesch. Roms. iv. p. 62.

24. Licinia. [Licinia.]

25. Licinia. [Licinia.]

26. L. Licinius Crassus Scipio, grandson of Crassus the orator [No. 23], one of whose daughters married his father P. Scipio Nasica, who was praetor, B. C. 94, His grandfather, having no son, adopted him by his testament, and made him heir to his property. (Cic. Brut. 58; Plin. Nat. 34.3. s. 8.)

27. Licinius Crassus Dives, of uncertain pedigree, was praetor in B. C. 59, when L. Vettius was accused before him of conspiracy against the life of Pompey. (Cic. Att. 2.24.2.) It has been conjectured that his praenomen was Publius, and that he was identical with No. 18.

28. P. Licinius Crassus, was praetor in B. C. 57, and favoured Cicero's return from exile. (Cic. post. Redit. in Sen. 9.) Orelli (Onom. Tull.) thinks that the name affords evidence of the spuriousness of the speech in which it is found.

29. P. Crassus Junianus, one of the gens Junia, adopted by some Licinius Crassus. His name appears on coins. (Spanh. ii. pp. 104, 179; Eckhel. v. pp. 153, 154, 233.) He was tribune of the plebs in B. C. 51, and a friend of Cicero. (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. 3.8.3.) In the civil war he fought for Pompey, and served with the title legatus propraetore under Metellus Scipio in Africa, where, after the battle of Thapsus, he made his escape to the sea. (Plut. Cato Maj. 70, fin.)

30. M. Licinius Crassus Mucianus. [Mucianus.]

The annexed coin of the Licinia gens is the one referred to on p. 879b., and supposed to have been struck by P. Crassus [No. 20], as it bears the legend P. (indistinct in the cut) Crassus M. F. The obverse represents the head of Venus, and the reverse a man holding a horse, which is supposed to refer to the ceremony of the public inspection of the horses of the equites by the censors. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Equites.)

[J.T.G]

1. M'. Octacilius Crassus, was consul in B. C. 263 with M'. Valerius Maximus, and crossed with a numerous army over to Sicily. After having induced many of the Sicilian towns to surrender, the consuls advanced against Hiero of Syracuse. The king, in compliance with the desire of his people, concluded a peace, which the Romans gladly accepted, and in which he gave up to them the towns they had taken, delivered up the Roman prisoners, and paid a contribution of 200 talents. He thus became the ally of Rome. In B. C. 246 Crassus was consul a second time with M. Fabius Licinus, and carried on the war against the Carthaginians, though nothing of any consequence seems to have been accomplished. (Plb. 1.16 &c.; Zonar. 8.9 ; Eutrop. 2.10; Oros. 4.7; Gellius, 10.6.)

2. T. Octacilius Crassus, apparently a brother of the former, was consul in B. C. 261, with L. Valerius Flaccus, and continued the operations in Sicily against the Carthaginians after the taking of Agrigentum; but nothing is known to have been accomplished during his consulship. (Plb. 1.20.) [L.S]

1. M'. Papirius Crassus was consul in B. C. 441 with C. Furius Pacilus. (L; r. 4.12; Diod. 12.35.)

2. L. Papirius Crassus was consul in B. C. 436 with M. Cornelius Maluginensis. They led armies against Veii and Falerii, but as no enemy appeared in the field, the Romans contented themselves with plundering and ravaging the open country. (Liv. 4.21; Diod. 12.41.) Crassus was censor in B. C. 424.

3. C. Papirius Crassus was consul in B. C. 430 with L. Julius Julus. These consuls discovered, by treacherous means, that the tribunes of the people intended to bring forward a bill on the aestimatio multarum, and in order to anticipate the favour which the tribunes thereby were likely to gain with the people, the consuls themselves proposed and carried the law. (Liv. 4.30; Cic. de Re Publ. 2.35; Diod. 12.72.)

4. C. Papirius Crassus was consular tribune in B. C. 384. (Liv. 6.18.)

5. Sp. Papirius Crassus, consular tribune in B. C. 382. He and L. Papirius Crassus, one of his colleagues, led an army against Velitrae, and fought with success against that town and its allies, the Praenestines. (Liv. 6.22.)

6. L. Papirius Crassus, consular tribune in B. C. 382, and again in B. C. 376. (Livy, 6.22 ; Diod. 15.71.)

7. L. Papirius Crassus, consular tribune in B. C. 368. (Liv. 6.38; Diod. 15.78.)

8. L. Papirius Crassus was made dictator in B. C. 340 while holding the office of praetor, in order to conduct the war against the revolted Latins, since the consul Manlius was ill at the time. Crassus marched against Antium, but was encamped in its neighbourhood for some months without accomplishing anything. In B. C. 336 he was made consul with K. Duilius, and carried on a war against the Ausonians of Cales. In 330 he was consul a second time, and carried on a war against the inhabitants of Privernum. They were commanded by Vitruvius Flaccus who was conquered by the Romans without much difficulty. In 325 Crassus was magister equitum to the dictator L. Papirius Cursor, and in 318 he was invested with the censorship. (Liv. 8.12, 16, 29; Diod. 17.29, 82; Cic. Fam. 9.21.)

9. M. Papirius Crassus, apparently a brother of the preceding, was appointed dictator in B. C. 332 to conduct the war against the Gauls, who were then believed to be invading the Roman dominion ; but the report proved to be unfounded. (Liv. 8.17.)

10. L. Papirius Crassus was magister equitum to the dictator T. Manlius Torquatus, in B. C. 320. (Fast. Cap.) [L.S]

(1) Lucius Licinius, a Roman orator and man of consular rank. In B.C. 119, being only twenty-one years of age, he made his debut in the Forum, in a prosecution against C. Carbo. Cicero says that he was remarkable, even at this early period, for his candour and his great love of justice. Crassus was but twenty-seven years old when his eloquence obtained the acquittal of his relation, the Vestal Licinia. Being elevated to the consulship in 95, he was the author of a law by which numbers of the allies, who passed for Roman citizens, were sent back to their respective cities. This law alienated from him the affections of the principal Italians, so that he was regarded by some as the primary cause of the Social War, which broke out three years after. Having Hither Gaul for his province, Crassus freed the country from the robbers that infested it, and for this service had the weakness to claim a triumph. The Senate were favourable to his application; but Scaevola, the other consul, opposed it, on the ground that he had not conquered foes worthy of the Roman people. Crassus conducted himself, in other respects, with great wisdom in his government, and not only did not remove from around him the son of Carbo , who had come as a spy on his conduct, but even placed him by his side on the tribunal, and did nothing of which the other was not a witness. Being appointed censor in 92, he caused the school of the Latin rhetoricians to be closed, regarding them as dangerous innovators for the young. Crassus left hardly any orations behind him, and he died while Cicero was yet in his boyhood; but still that author, having collected the opinions of those who had heard him, speaks with a minute and apparently perfect intelligence of his style of oratory. He was what may be called the most ornamental speaker that had hitherto appeared in the Forum. Though not without force, gravity, and dignity, these were happily blended with the most insinuating politeness, urbanity, ease, and gayety. He was master of the most pure and accurate language and of perfect elegance of expression, without any affectation or unpleasant appearance of previous study. Great clearness of language distinguished all his harangues; and, while descanting on topics of law or equity, he possessed an inexhaustible fund of argument and illustration. Some persons considered Crassus as only equal to Antonius, his great contemporary; others preferred him as the more perfect and accomplished orator. The most splendid of all the efforts of Crassus was the immediate cause of his death, which happened in B.C. 91, a short while before the commencement of the civil wars of Marius and Sulla , and a few days after the time in which he is supposed to have borne his part in the dialogue De Oratore. The consul Philippus had declared, in one of the assemblies of the people, that some other advice must be resorted to, since, with such a Senate as then existed, he could no longer direct the affairs of the government. A full Senate being immediately summoned, Crassus arraigued, in terms of the most glowing eloquence, the conduct of the consul, who, instead of acting as the political parent and guardian of the Senate, sought to deprive its members of their ancient inheritance of respect and dignity. Being further irritated by an attempt on the part of Philippus to force him into compliance with his designs, he exerted, on this occasion, the utmost effort of his genius and strength; but he returned home with a pleuritic fever, of which he died seven days after. This oration of Crassus, followed, as it was, by his almost immediate death, made a deep impression on his countrymen; who, long afterwards, were wont to repair to the Senate-house for the purpose of viewing the spot where he had last stood, and where he fell, as it may be said, in defence of the privileges of his order.

(2) Marcus, who was praetor B.C. 105. He was surnamed by his friends Agelastus (Ἀγέλαστος), because, according to Pliny (vii. 19), he never laughed during the whole course of his life; or because, according to Lucilius, he laughed but once ( De Fin. v. 30).

(3) Marcus Licinius, called the Rich (Dives), the son of the preceding, and the most opulent Roman of his day, was of a patrician family, and the son of a man of consular rank. His father and brother perished in the proscriptions of Marius and Cinna while he was still quite young, and, to avoid a similar fate, he took refuge in Spain until the death of Cinna , when he returned to Italy and served under Sulla. Crassus proved very serviceable to this commander in the decisive battle (B.C. 83) that was fought near Rome; but afterwards, making the most unjust and rapacious use of Sulla 's proscriptions, that leader, according to Plutarch, gave him up and never employed him again in any public affair. The glory which was then beginning to attend upon Pompey, though still young and only a simple member of the equestrian order, excited the jealousy of Crassus, and, despairing of rising to an equality with him in warlike operations, he betook himself to public affairs at home, and, by paying court to the people, defending the impeached, lending money, and aiding those who were candidates for office, he attained to an influence almost equal to that which Pompey had acquired by his military achievements. It was at the bar, in particular, that Crassus rendered himself extremely popular. He was not, it would seem, a very eloquent speaker, yet by care and application he eventually exceeded those whom nature had more highly favoured. When Pompey, or Caesar, or Cicero declined speaking in behalf of any individual, he often arose and advocated the cause of the accused. Besides this promptness to aid the unfortunate, his courteous and conciliating deportment acquired for him many friends, and made him very popular with the lower orders. There was not a Roman, however humble, whom he did not salute, or whose salutation he did not return by name.

The great defect, however, in the character of Crassus was his inordinate fondness for wealth; and, although he could not strictly be called an avaricious man, since he is said to have lent money to his friends without demanding interest, yet he allowed the love of riches to exercise a paramount sway over his actions, and it proved at last the cause of his unhappy end. Plutarch informs us that his estate at first did not exceed three hundred talents, but that afterwards it amounted to the enormous sum of seven thousand one hundred talents (nearly $8,500,000). The means by which he attained to this are enumerated by the same writer, and some of them are singular enough. Observing, says Plutarch, how liable the city was to fires, he made it his business to buy houses that were on fire and others that joined upon them; and he commonly got them at a low price, on account of the fear and distress of the owners about the result. A band of his slaves thereupon, regularly organized for the purpose, exerted themselves to extinguish the flames, and, after this was done, rebuilt what had been destroyed, and in this way Crassus gradually became the owner of a large portion of Rome. He gained large sums also by educating and then selling slaves. Plutarch, in fact, regards this as his principal source of revenue. With all this eager grasping after wealth, however, Crassus appears to have been no mean soldier, even though he displayed so few of the qualities of a commander in his Parthian campaign. Created praetor in B.C. 71, he was sent to terminate the war with Spartacus. He accordingly met, defeated him in several encounters, and at last, bringing him to a decisive action, ended the war by a single blow, Spartacus and forty thousand of his followers being left on the field. Not venturing to demand a triumph for a victory over gladiators and slaves, he contented himself with an ovation.

In 70, Crassus obtained the consulship, having Pompey for his colleague. At a subsequent period we find him implicated by an informer in the conspiracy of Catiline, but acquitted by acclamation the moment the charge was heard by the Senate. We now come to the closing scene in the career of Crassus. When Caesar, on returning from his government to solicit the consulship, found Pompey and Crassus at variance (which had been the case also during almost all the time that they were colleagues in the consular office), and perceived that, for the furtherance of his own ambitious views, the aid of these two individuals would be needed by him for opposing the influence of the Senate, as well as that of Cicero, Cato , and Catulus, he managed to reconcile them, and soon, in conjunction with both of them, formed the well-known league usually styled the First Triumvirate (B.C. 60), which proved so fatal to the liberties of the Roman people. By the terms of this compact Crassus obtained the government of Syria. In the law that was passed relative to this government of Crassus, no mention was indeed made of any war in its neighbourhood; still every one knew that he had connected with it an immediate invasion of Parthia (B.C. 55). Plutarch even states that he had fixed upon neither Syria nor Parthia as the limits of his expected good fortune, but intended to penetrate even to Bactria, India, and the shores of the Eastern Ocean. The only motive to this memorable and unfortunate undertaking was the rapacious love of wealth.

It was not, however, without considerable opposition from the people and the tribunes that Crassus was allowed to proceed on this expedition. All the influence of Pompey was necessary to prevent an expression of popular wrath, for no good was expected to result from hostilities against a people who had done the Romans no injury, and who were, in fact, their allies. When Crassus, moreover, had reached the gate of the city, the tribune Ateius attempted to stop him by force; but, failing in this, he immediately proceeded to perform a religious ceremony of the most appalling nature, by which he devoted the commander himself and all who should follow him on that service to the wrath of the infernal gods and a speedy destruction. Undismayed, however, by either denunciations or omens (Div. ii. 40), Crassus, embarking at Brundisium, proceeded into Asia by Macedonia and the Hellespont. As the enemy were not prepared for this unprovoked invasion, the Romans met with no resistance. At first Crassus overran the greater part of Mesopotamia; and, had he taken advantage of the consternation into which his sudden appearance had thrown the Parthians, he might, with the greatest ease, have extended his conquest to Babylonia itself. But, the season being far advanced, he did not think it expedient to proceed. On the contrary, having left in the different towns and strongholds a detachment of 7000 foot and 1000 horse, he returned into Syria and took up his winter quarters in that province. This retrograde movement was a fatal error. His occupations, too, during the winter were highly censurable, having more of the trader in them than the general. Instead of improving the discipline of the soldiers, and keeping them in proper exercise, he spent his time in making inquiry relative to the revenues of the cities, and in weighing the treasures which he found in the temple of Hierapolis. In the spring the Roman commander took the field, on the frontiers of Syria, with seven legions, four thousand horse, and an equal number of light or irregular troops. With this force he again passed the Euphrates, when he was joined by an Arabian chief, whom Plutarch calls Ariamnes, but who is elsewhere named Acbarus or Abgarus; and in this barbarian, owing to his knowledge of the country and his warm and frequent expressions of attachment to the Romans, Crassus unfortunately placed the utmost confidence. The result may easily be foreseen. Crassus intended to have followed the course of the Euphrates till he should reach the point where it approaches nearest to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian Empire; but being dissuaded from this by his crafty guide, and directing his march across the plains, he was led at last into a sandy desert, where his army was attacked by the Parthian forces under Surenas. An unequal conflict ensued. The son of Crassus, sent with a detachment of Gallic horse to repel the Parthian cavalry, lost his life after the most heroic exertions; and his loss was first made known to his father by the barbarians carrying his head on a spear. Crassus himself, not long after, being compelled by his own troops to meet Surenas in a conference, was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and his head and right hand sent to the Parthian king, Orodes, who is said to have poured molten gold down the dead man's throat, saying, in allusion to his avarice, “Sate thyself now with that of which in life thou wert so greedy!” The whole loss of the Romans in this disastrous campaign was 20,000 killed and 10,000 taken prisoners. See Plut. Crass.; Dio Cass. xl. 13 foll.; and the article Parthia.