Crass

Marcus Licinius Crassus (Latin: Marcus Licinius Crassus (Dives); 115 or 114 BC-May 53 BC, near Harran, Parthia) was a Roman general and politician, consul in 70 and 55 BC. C., member of the First Triumvirate and one of the richest men of his time. He belonged to a noble plebeian family, the Licinia gens. In his youth his career as a court orator began, but he was forced to interrupt it because of civil wars. Marcus Licinius's father and brother died during the rule of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna (87 BC). After this, he himself hid in Hispania, and in the year 83 BC. C. he joined Lucius Cornelius Sulla and under his command participated in the defeat of the Marian "party."

During the dictatorship of Sulla (82-79 BC), Crassus became rich thanks to the ban. In the following years he made large investments in the urban real estate sector, which made him one of the richest men in the Roman Republic. Crassus took advantage of this to extend his influence and, in particular, to surpass Gnaeus Pompey the Great. Nothing is known about the early stages of his teaching career. Only in 72 BC. C., when both consuls were defeated in Spartacus's rebellion, Crassus was granted military command with special powers. He managed to restore discipline in the army through a series of harsh measures and defeated the rebels in six months (in the spring of 71 BC). He was then elected consul for the year 70 BC. C. and together with his colleague Pompey managed to abolish the main provisions of Sulla's regime: they returned the old scope of powers to the tribunes of the plebs, carried out a judicial reform and revived the magistracy of the censor.

In the year 65 BC. C. Crassus himself served as censor. In later years he was, according to some sources, involved in Catiline's conspiracy and also opposed Pompey, who had returned from the East. In the year 60 BC. C. he arranged a triumvirate with the latter and Gaius Julius Caesar, through which he achieved beneficial measures for himself and for the business circles of Rome as a whole. The alliance was reinforced in the agreement of Lucca in 56 BC. As a result, Crassus received a second consulship for the following year and a government in Syria. In the year 54 BC. C. he went to war against Parthia. However, his invasion of Mesopotamia was unsuccessful: at the Battle of Carras, Crassus was defeated and killed.

Biography

Origins

Marcus Licinius belonged to the plebeian family of the gens Licinia, whose representatives were part of the first council of tribunes of the plebs and achieved the consulship as early as 364 BC. C. However, between 361 and 236 they are not mentioned even once in the Capitoline Fastos. The beginning of the next period of the family's history is associated with Publius Licinius, who presumably lived during the First Punic War, the eldest of whose sons received the nickname Crassus (Latin: Crassus), who became a cognomen for his descendants.

Presumably Marcus Licinius's great-grandfather was consul in 171 BC. C., nephew of the first consul Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, colleague of Scipio Africanus in 205 BC. C. Marcus Licinius's grandfather, also Marcus, was praetor in 127 or 126 BC. C. and he was nicknamed Agelasto (from the Greek ἀγέλαστος - 'sullen', 'without a smile') for his always gloomy appearance. The son of Agelastus and father of Crassus was Publius Licinius Crassus, who achieved the highest positions, a consulship in 97 BC. C. and a censorship in 89 BC. C. Marcus Licinius's mother was Venulia, who belonged to the municipal aristocracy.

Historians have different opinions about the financial situation of this branch of the Licinii. Marcus Licinius is known to have inherited three hundred talents, a relatively small amount. Taking this and Venulia's background into account, some scholars suggest that Publius Licinius was not a wealthy man and therefore agreed to an apparent unequal marriage. On the other hand, there is a view that the inheritance could have been reduced simply during the years of the civil war.

Early years

Although the exact date of Crassus's birth is unknown, Plutarch reports that in the first half of the year 54 BC. C., when he met Deyotarus, Marcus Licinius had already surpassed the barrier of sixty years; hence the conclusion that he was born in 115 BC. C. or at the beginning of 114 BC. C. Historians speculate whether Marcus Licinius was the youngest of three brothers: the eldest was called Publius, the middle one could have been called Gaius or Lucius, but historiography considers the first to be "slightly preferable." The family followed the According to ancient traditions, because the Crassus lived in a small house, the eldest children, even when they grew up and married, remained under the roof of their parents, "and they all gathered at the common table."

Marcus Licinius received the traditional education of a Roman aristocrat, with emphasis on preparation for military service. His father was in Hispania Ulterior as governor in 96-93 BC. C. and Marcus Licinius accompanied him; during these three years he made many connections in the province, which later helped him enormously. Shortly after Marcus Licinius returned to Rome, his older brother Publius died—most likely between 93 and 88 BC C.— and the Social War began. Crassus's father was one of the legates in this war, and Marcus Licinius must have been involved in the fighting as well. At the same time, the young Crassus began to appear in court. According to Cicero, thanks to his diligence in the study of oratory, he was "for some years considered one of the best lawyers."

In the year 88 BC. C. internal political strife in Rome resulted in a civil war. About Crassus' position at the beginning of this war, when the popular tribune Publius Sulpicius transferred command of the First Mithridatic War to Gaius Marius, and in response the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla moved his army to Rome, nothing is known; Perhaps Publius Licinius, for reasons of principle, did not want to take sides. But in 87, when Rome was threatened again by an army, this time from Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Publius Licinius joined the defenders of the Senate. After the fall of Rome, he died with his second son (Gaius/Lucius), however, it is unclear whether he was murdered or forced to commit suicide.

The same fate awaited Marcus Licinius, but he fled with three friends and ten slaves to Hispania, probably due to the Crassus family's connections there, and hid in a cave. According to Plutarch, the Hispanic nobleman Vibius Paciano, who lived nearby, learned that young Crassus was hiding near his estate and began to help him. Marcus Licinius spent eight months in a cave until early 84 BC. C. when he found out about Cinna's death. Armed enemies of the Marian party began to gather around him; Crassus formed a detachment of two thousand five hundred men and, according to several ancient writers, sacked the city of Malaka, "but it is said that he himself denied it and refuted those who raised it."

By then, Marcus, following ancient Roman custom, had married the widow of his deceased brother—apparently the eldest, Publius—Tertula; the marriage probably took place before 86 BC. C.

Crassus and Sulla

From Hispania, Crassus crossed to Africa, where Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, another enemy of the Marians, gathered an army, but he soon fell out with him and undertook a new journey by sea, until he reached Sulla, who landed in Italy. early 83 BC. C. and gathered with him all the enemies of Marius and Cinna. In the new civil war, Marcus Licinius became one of Sulla's closest collaborators and was "held in the highest esteem." Lucius Cornelius told him He commissioned the recruitment of troops in the Marsi region, in the center of the Apennines; When Crassus asked Sulla for guards, he abruptly responded: "I give you as an escort your father, your brother, your friends and your relatives, on whose unjust killers I am going to take revenge." In historiography this story is considered rather a fiction, but it characterizes the goals of many of Sulla's supporters, including Crassus, who fought to avenge their loved ones. However, Lucius Cornelius himself, according to Appian, gave Gaius Flavius Fimbria, the murderer of Publius Crassus, the opportunity to escape, so Marcus Licinius must have realized that Sulla was pursuing his own interests.

Already during the civil war, a bitter rivalry began between Marcus Licinius and Gnaeus Pompey, caused because Sulla granted great honors to the latter for his merits, although he was younger than Crassus. According to the moralist Plutarch, Crassus "lacked experience, and the beauty of his exploits was ruined by the evil forces of his nature: greed and avarice." However, the two young commanders acted together, particularly in the second year of the war, when they defeated the Marian Cayo Carrinas, besieged him in his camp and defeated the force sent to his aid by Gnaeus Papirius Carbón. However, Carrinas managed to break the siege a little later, taking advantage of the inclement weather.

At the end of the war, Crassus gained special favor from Sulla because he managed to turn the tide of the almost lost Battle of the Collina Gate fought in the fall of 82 BC. C., in which Pompey did not participate. During the battle he led the right flank of the Silanian army and easily defeated the enemy, then began a pursuit to Antemnas a few kilometers north of Rome. At nightfall, Sulla learned of Crassus' victory and took advantage of his success to achieve the final victory.

At the end of the conflict, Marcus Licinius was entrusted with searching for outlaws in Brutius; thus, he enrolled them on proscription lists with the expectation of confiscating their property, which was generally the norm at the time. However,, one day Marcus Licinius, without Sulla's approval, enrolled a man loyal to the dictator on the list of outlaws, whose property he desired, and, consequently, Lucius Cornelius "stopped using his services." However, Crassus He was able to amass an enormous fortune thanks to the proscriptions, which made him one of the richest men in Rome. In the year 55 BC. C. he had forty-five million denarii (or 180 million sesterces), capital substantially acquired during the period of Sulla.

Beginning of political activity

After the death of Sulla in 78 BC. C., Crassus intensified his fight against Pompey to increase his own influence and counteract the immense popularity gained by Gnaeus with his successful wars, so Marcus Licinius decided to use his wealth to gain similar authority. Some historians attribute to Crassus a "spiteful jealousy", envy or even hatred towards his rival, although Plutarch writes that "rivalry did not lead Crassus to enmity or ill-will... neither to hostility nor to deception".

Unlike Pompey, Crassus quickly gained a reputation as a benevolent and friendly man who knew all the affairs of Rome and was always ready to help solve various problems. Thanks to his deliberate immersion in civic affairs and the availability of large financial resources, Crassus soon triumphed and achieved influence similar to that of Pompey. He was a frequent public speaker and was very successful, mainly due to the efforts he made. Marcus Licinius continued to accumulate wealth, including through not entirely honest dealings with houses that burned down in frequent fires, which he bought for next to nothing, demolished, and built new homes in their places. The mechanism of capital accumulation was unusual for the Roman nobilitas: while most senators invested in agricultural land, Crassus actively participated in urban real estate transactions, traded in highly skilled slaves, invested in mines and participated in the tax collection system in the provinces.

Although Crassus had fought for a long time with Pompey for greater influence in Rome, their confrontation never reached an armed clash, as had happened with Sulla and Marius. Some historians have questioned ancient authors' accounts of this rivalry. For example, Frank Adcock considers these accounts to be unreliable due to the influence on the Roman historical tradition of the political propaganda of the time. However, most researchers, especially B. Marshall, A. Ward and Erich S. Gruen do not deny the rivalry between the two politicians.

Marcus Licinius actively lent money. However, no source describes him as a usurer, so historiography concludes that Crassus did not lend money to obtain benefits, but to gain influence over his debtors. Bankruptcy meant the ruin of the career and entire life of a Roman nobleman., and Marcus Licinius collected debts without indulgences. It is to these circumstances that A. Ward attributes a famous statement by the tribune of the plebs from the year 76 BC. C. Gnaeus Sicinius.

So Sicinio, who gave so much to understand all the magistrates and public men of his time, asking him why with only Craso he did not go in, but he left him in peace, “this,” he replied, “has hay in the horn”, alluding to the custom that the Romans had, when there was a bravo ox, to put a little hay in the horn to keep those who saw him.

Plutarco, Craso, VII.

According to Ward, Plutarch simply misinterpreted the Latin pun based on the consonance of the words fenum (hay) and fenus (debt); Thus, Sicinius implied that Crassus was his creditor. In this regard, O. Lyubimova has suggested that Marcus Licinius supported all of Sicinius's political activities during his tribunateship, in particular the demand to restore the rights of the tribunes of the plebs. The same researcher hypothesized an alliance between Crassus and Lucius Quinctius (74 BC) and Gaius Licinius Macro (73 BC).

The number of Crassus's political opponents among the high aristocracy increased over time, including Quintus Lutatius Catullus Capitolinus, Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, and Lucius Domitius Enobarbus. Nevertheless, Marcus Licinius remained an important figure and his opinion was always taken into account in Rome. He was popular among ordinary senators, and the majority of his supporters in the 1970s and later belonged not to the Senate, but to the equestrian order. and to the aristocracy of the small towns of Italy (municiipi). Some of Crassus's followers came from families that had recently acquired Roman citizenship. As a rule, they held minor political and military positions in the Roman cursus honorum, and only the support of Marcus Licinius could help them advance their careers and raise the status of their families. Specifically, these are the men who accompanied Crassus in the campaigns of 72-71 and 54-53 BC. C.

Crassus' passage through a strict sequence of magistracies, his cursus honorum, is not confirmed by the sources. In violation of the tradition enshrined in the laws of Sulla, Crassus probably entered the Senate without having held the office of quaestor, although Pliny the Elder mentions that he held the office of aedile. Nothing is known about his assumption of the praetorship. part of Crassus, since the reports of the sources - Appian, Eutropius and the unknown epitomator of Livy - are contradictory. T. Broughton cautiously suggests a praetorship in 73 and a proconsulate in 72-71, considering the brief account of incorrect interpretations of Livy's lost original epitomes and partly rejecting Appian's evidence. Most historians now accept the year 73 as the most likely date. That said, in terms of age, Crassus could have claimed the praetorship as early as the year 75 or even in 76 BC. C.

In the year 73 BC. C., that is, possibly during his praetorship, Marcus Licinius was tried accused of seducing the vestal Licinia, a relative of Lucius Licinius Murena. The second pair of accused were Lucius Sergius Catilina and Fabia, the sister of Cicero's wife. Historiography has hypothesized that this process was a manifestation of a struggle between optimates and populars - in this case Crassus would be located in one or the other "party" - or that it was inspired by Pompey. In case of conviction, Marcus Licinius He would have been persecuted to death, but he was able to demonstrate to the court that the attention he paid to the Vestal was due to his desire to buy the manor from her.

Spartacus Revolt

Already in the year 73 BC. C. all of Italy was involved in a revolt of slaves and gladiators. Spartacus, the Thracian rebel commander, won a series of overwhelming victories over the Republic troops. After the defeat of the consuls Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodiano in the year 72 BC. C., the Senate removed these magistrates from command and gave Crassus an extraordinary imperium, which gave him the powers of proconsul and priority over the consuls. No exact dates are available, but the appointment must have been be carried out before November 1, 72.

In addition to the troops he already had, Marcus Licinius recruited six more legions. "Crassus was followed by many of the nobles, fascinated by his fame and by a feeling of personal friendship towards him"; Catilina, Publius Cornelius Sulla, Publius Autronius Petus, Lucius Vargunteius, Marcus Mummius and others are named among such aristocrats. In total, Crassus' army numbered sixty thousand soldiers; there is a perception that these were the "last resources of the Republic."

Marcus Licinius had to resort to extreme measures to impose discipline on his army. According to some sources, immediately after receiving two legions from the consuls, already defeated and fleeing the battlefield, he carried out the decimatio, a terrible punishment that consisted of executing one in ten by lot. men. He then blocked the rebels' path south at the Piceno border and defeated one of the detachments, causing six thousand casualties on Spartacus's side. But soon the two legions sent to overcome the enemy, led by Marco Mummio, entered into combat in defiance of orders and were defeated; According to Plutarch, the decimation took place after this: "At any rate, Crassus proved to be more fearsome to his soldiers than the enemies who defeated them."

Marcus Licinius then pursued Spartacus to Brutius, from where the slaves planned to cross into Sicily, a move that, according to Florus, was deliberate, and only consequently did the rebel leader have the idea of such a crossing. However, the rebels They failed to leave Italy, possibly due in part to the organization of some naval forces by Crassus. While Spartacus held on to Rhegium, the Roman army raised a line of fortifications across the isthmus and trapped the rebels on the peninsula, causing them to soon face major food shortages. One winter night, taking advantage of the weather, Spartacus moved a third of his army to assault the fortifications, and consequently, they managed to fill part of the moat with branches, earth and corpses, and make their way north, forcing Crassus to launch his entire army in pursuit of the rebel general, who was heading to Brundisium.

Sources attribute to Marcus Licinius the desire to put an end to the rebellion as soon as possible, due to the imminent return to Italy of Pompey, who could win over Spartacus and reap all the honors. According to some sources, the Senate appointed the latter as second commander-in-chief on its own initiative; According to others, Crassus himself asked the Senate to summon Pompey from Hispania and Varro Lucullus from Thrace, although the timing of this letter is the subject of academic debate. Marcus Licinius now "regretted his step and hastened to put an end to the war before these commanders arrived, since he foresaw that all success would be attributed not to him, but to those who came to his aid." At a lake in the region of Lucania, he caught up with part of the forces rebels, composed, according to Livy, of thirty-five thousand men, led by Canicus and Castus, defeated them in "the bloodiest battle of the entire war" and, in addition, managed to recover five legionary eagles.

Continuing with the pursuit of the rebels, Crassus's advance detachment, under the command of Quintus Arius and Gnaeus Scropha, was defeated in the Petilini Mountains; Emboldened by this victory, Spartacus's soldiers forced his commander to stop his retreat. The last battle of the war took place on the Silaro River, on the border between Lucania and Campania. Marcus Licinius was in such a hurry to defeat the rebels that he entered the battle before he had finished setting up camp; In the engagement itself, fought on a plain, his army immediately began to close in on the enemy, and Spartacus then led an attempt with his cavalry to force his way to Crassus's headquarters, hoping to kill the proconsul and thus change the situation. course of battle. However, he failed and died in combat, which ended in total victory for the Romans. The remains of the rebels dispersed in more or less numerous groups throughout Italy, after which they were fought for a long time by various leaders. Six thousand slaves were captured and, by order of Crassus, crucified along the Appian Way..

Marcus Licinius ended the war in six months, that is, before April 1, 71 BC. C. The suppression of this rebellion was Crassus' most important military achievement as a general in his lifetime. However, Pompey, after destroying some five thousand of the surviving rebels at Sylarus, wrote to the Senate "that Crassus had defeated the gladiators in open combat, and he, Pompey, had rooted out the war." and such a sight may have been quite common in Roman society. Marcus Licinius's services were honored with an ovation, and sources report that he made a serious effort to be allowed to wear the triumphal wreath of laurels instead of that of myrtle, a feat he achieved.

First consulate

In the summer of 71 BC. Shortly after his ovation, Crassus was elected consul for the following year along with Pompey. According to Plutarch, the position was first offered to Pompey, whom Crassus consulted about his intention to run for the consulship. Appian writes that the aspirants were in dispute; For some time the two elected, but not yet invested, consuls refused to disband their armies, keeping them close to the city, so the Romans feared a new civil war. Only the intervention of a worried people and the exhortations of soothsayers forced Crassus and Pompey to reconcile. However, historiography suggests that Appian was wrong, because he moved the consuls' dispute from 70 to 71, when Pompey was still He maintained his army in anticipation of his triumph on December 29, 71, and there was no such threat of civil war.

The most important event of the consulship of Pompey and Crassus was the restoration of the powers of the tribunes of the plebs, repealing the previous restrictive reform of Sulla. Pompey had already promised in December 71 to promulgate this law, and at the beginning of the consulship his initiative was supported by Marcus Licinius. The Senate, despite the large number of supporters of Sulla's regime, did not oppose it: the "fathers" recognized that the people had been waiting for it for a long time. Many sources only mention Pompey in connection with the restoration of the powers of Sulla. tribunate, so historiography suggests that Crassus did not participate in this reform. However, Cicero and Livy's epitomator report that the initiative was joint. Lyubimova suggested that Pompey had taken all the glory by announcing the reform before the consulship, and that this sparked a dispute between colleagues that "darkened not only their joint consulship, but also a considerable part of the rest of their lives."

The consideration of another important issue, the reform of the permanent courts, (quaestiones perpetuae) was raised in the fall, this time at the proposal of Lucio Aurelio Cota. However, it is possible that another, more radical reform project was considered before this motion. Although Sulla's scheme of composition of jurors was abolished, there was no simple return to the system of Gaius Gracchus. The new order, characterized as a compromise solution or as a populist concession, granted one third of the seats on the juries to the senators, another third to the knights and the last third to the treasury tribunes, who were rich Romans who did not enter in the category of gentlemen. However, the reform definitively eliminated one of the main sources of division in society.

Finally, the position of censor was restored, and consequently, that same year, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodiano and Lucius Gellius Publicola were chosen for the position. According to Theodor Mommsen, their election was an anti-senatoral action, due to that the Senate had previously withdrawn from them command of the army against Spartacus, and they acted in the interests of Pompey and Crassus. Lentulus and Publicola organized an unprecedented purge in the Senate, and consequently expelled sixty-four men, that is, one eighth of the total senators.

Censorship

Crassus, like Pompey, renounced being governor of a province after the consulship, which was customary, and became a private citizen on January 1, 69 BC. C. Between his consulate and 65 BC. C. the sources report practically nothing about Marcus Licinius, which may be due both to the fragmentary preservation of the sources and to the peculiarities of Crassus's political style, because, having considerable influence in Rome, Marcus Licinius could not having intervened in the most current disputes of the time. In particular, the development of his relationship with Pompey during this period is virtually unknown.

In 65 BC. C. Crassus became censor, but his activities in that position were not characterized by any important decisions. Plutarch maintains that Crassus neglected his duties, although other sources report active but ineffective action. In particular, he demanded that the population of Transpadania, the northern part of Cisalpine Gaul, which had been conferred not full Roman citizenship, but limited Latin citizenship, be included in the census; This would have meant the full recognition of the rights of Roman citizenship to the Transpadans. Furthermore, Crassus proposed recognizing the probably forged will of the Egyptian king murdered in 80 BC. C. Ptolemy C. Since the Egyptians denied the authenticity of the will and rejected Roman claims to their country, an official recognition of the pharaoh's last will could be a legitimate basis for an invasion of Egypt. The second censor, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, actively opposed both of Marcus's plans. Unable to reach a compromise, the censors resigned.

Crassus and the conspiracy of Catilina

Some sources say that Crassus may have been involved in Catiline's conspiracy. According to Suetonius, as early as 66-65 BC. C. the so-called "first conspiracy of Catiline" took shape, in which, in addition to Lucius Sergius and Crassus, Gaius Julius Caesar, Publius Cornelius Sulla, Publius Autronius Petus and Gnaeus Calpurnius Pisón participated.

It was supposed that in the beginning of the new year they would attack the Senate, kill part of the senators and grant the dictatorship to Craso, who would appoint Caesar the head of the cavalry; after taking over this government procedure, it was his intention to return to Sila and Autronio the consulate that he had dispossessed them. Tanusio Gémino in his story, Marco Bíbulo in his edicts and Cayo Curion, father, in his speeches, speak of this conjuration.

Suetonium. Divine July, 9, 1-2.

Until the middle of the 20th century, historians mostly recognized the existence of this conspiracy, and the only debate was whether Caesar and Crassus were involved in it. The opinion now prevails that the “first conspiracy of Catiline” is a “propagandistic and historiographical myth”, which in the late 60s BC. C. was invented by Cicero and Lucius Manlius Torquatus and "completed" in the early 1950s by the enemies of the First Triumvirate - in particular, adding Marcus Licinius and Gaius Julius -. The basis for this may have been the support given by Crassus to Piso when he was appointed quaestor of Hispania and to Catiline in the consular elections of 64: after all, there were certain links between Marcus Licinius and Lucius Sergius.

At the same time, a full-fledged alliance between Crassus and Caesar took place, concluded in 66 BC. C., when the first was elected censor and the second aedile. It was Caesar who could have taken command during the hypothetical annexation of Egypt; at the end of 64, when it was already clear that Catiline had lost the elections, the tribune of The plebs Publius Servilius Rulus presented a bill for agrarian reforms, initiated by Crassus and Caesar. This program involved the distribution to poor citizens of land purchased from individuals or allocated from state land; Cicero, who defeated Lucius Sergius in the elections, failed this initiative with a series of speeches.

However, in October 63 BC. C., Crassus supported Cicero in his opposition to Catiline. Marcus Licinius received an anonymous letter informing him of the conspiracy and immediately took it to Marcus Tullius, and the next morning, at his request, he read the letter at a meeting of the Senate. There is a hypothesis that Licinius himself Cicero wrote this message to find out whose side Crassus was on. On December 3, when the Senate decided to arrest the already identified conspirators and place them in custody in the homes of prominent Romans, one of them, Publius Gabinius Capiton, was sent to Crassus..

The next day, the Senate interrogated a certain Lucius Tarquinius, messenger of the conspirators. He claimed to have been the liaison between Catiline and Crassus, who, according to him, urged Lucius Sergius to proceed to decisive action as soon as possible:

When I listened to Craso, a noble subject, most precious and most authoritative, some tenied him for an incredible thing, others, well that they believed him, considering that in a time like that he was more templar than irritating a man so powerful, and the more of them for particular duties than to Craso, they cried to a voice "which is false the statement of Tarquinio, and they asked that it be treated again in the Senate."

Salustio. De Catilinae coniuratione, 48, 5.

Finally, Tarquin's words were officially declared a lie. It was even suggested that Cicero had attempted to slander Crassus; according to Sallust, Marcus Licinius himself thought so. As a result, the two politicians became enemies.

Triumvirate

In the year 62 BC. C., Gnaeus Pompey arrived in Rome after winning the third Mithridatic war. Shortly after celebrating his victory, he demanded that the Senate approve his decisions in the East and give lands to his veterans. The senators, however, opposed it, considering Pompey's influence excessive. Among the main opponents of the triumvir, along with Lucullus, Cato and Metellus Céler, was Crassus. As a result, the decision on Pompey's case began to be delayed.

Meanwhile, Caesar had returned from Hispania in the summer of 60 BC. C. and immediately announced his plans to run as consul the following year. Gaius Julius asked the Senate to allow him to appear in absentia to preserve the right to triumph, but he was denied. These events are associated with the creation of the First Triumvirate (lat. triumviratus - "union of three men") in which Caesar, Pompey and Crassus participate. The initiative came from Caesar, who thought that in the event of an alliance with Pompey, only Marcus Licinius would automatically become his opponent. The latter hoped to make the triumvirate a political pillar to protect the interests of the "business world" from the Senate., with which he was closely linked.

The circumstances in which this alliance arose are not sufficiently clear. The evidence from the sources is contradictory, which appears to be due to the intrinsically secretive nature of the alliance. Plutarch, Appian, Livy, and Cassius Dion write that the agreement was reached before the election of consuls, which took place in the summer of 60 BC. C.; according to Suetonius, this occurred shortly after the election, that is, in the autumn of that same year. However, Veleyus Paterculus assigns the formation of the triumvirate to the year 59 BC. The report of the only contemporary, Cicero, is a brief and vague reference to some kind of negotiation in a letter to Titus Pomponius Atticus, written in December 60 BC. C., evidence currently used to suggest negotiations between the triumvirs over private matters until the beginning of Caesar's consulship.

Thus, Caesar sought to gain political influence, Craso sought to multiply it, Pompey sought to retain it. Also obsessed by the desire for the power of the State, they volunteered to join him.

Lucio Anneo Floro. Epitome, II, 13, 1.

Caesar obtained the consulship thanks to the money of Crassus, whose support Licinius facilitated the approval of all of Pompey's eastern decrees and a new agrarian law; Crassus was a member of the commission for the execution of land distributions among the veterans. Furthermore, in the interests of Marcus Licinius, the income of publicans was reduced by one third. When Caesar was appointed proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul for five years at the end of his consulship, Crassus worked with Pompey to ensure that another province, Gaul Narbonensis, was also assigned to him; His satellites Aulus Gabinius and Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus became consuls the following year.However, the popularity of the triumvirate declined considerably towards the end of Caesar's consulship. According to S. Utchenko, it was due to the fact that this alliance, which hoped to combat the usurpation of royal power by a narrow circle of noble senators, came to control all life in Rome.

In the following years Caesar fought the Gallic War and the other triumvirs stayed in Rome. The influential demagogue politician Publius Clodius Pulcher, who became tribune of the plebs in 58 BC. C., began to persecute Cicero, and while Pompey simply stood by, Crassus adopted an openly hostile stance towards Marcus Tullius, who eventually went into exile. A year later, supporters of Cicero's return, taking advantage of the fact that Clodius had committed himself to his radical political style, made the triumvirs side with him; There was a reconciliation between Cicero and Crassus thanks to the mediation of the latter's son, Publius Licinius. At the same time, there was a new deterioration in relations between Pompey and Crassus, due to Clodius actively working against the former and many, including Gnaeus himself, were convinced that Marcus Licinius was behind the former tribune, information known thanks to a letter from Cicero to his brother. At the beginning of the year 56 BC. C., Clodius's supporters attempted to put Crassus in command of an army to invade Egypt under the pretext of restoring Ptolemy XII to the throne, but they were unsuccessful.

In April 56 BC. C. the triumvirs met in Lucca, where two hundred senators and almost all the magistrates attended. The purpose of the meeting was to eliminate friction between Crassus and Pompey, and possibly between Crassus and Caesar. This objective was achieved; Marcus Licinius and Pompey agreed to stand as consuls the following year, and Gaius Julius promised to facilitate his election by sending his soldiers to vote. It was also decided to extend Caesar's rule in Gaul for another five years and to grant similar appointments to the other two triumvirs. The election of consuls, normally held in the summer, was delayed and did not take place until January 55 BC.. C.; Caesar's soldiers, led by his legate Publius Crassus, son of Marcus, ensured that the vote went ahead. Pompey obtained Hispania Citerior and Ulterior and Crassus obtained Syria. The vote, according to Plutarch, was followed by a brawl. in the forum: "Crassus in person... expelled from the square, bathed in blood, the senator Lucius Analio, who opposed him, giving him a fist in the face."

Parthian campaign and death

The original military plans of Marcus Licinius in 55 BC are unknown. C. Syria could have been the base for an offensive against both Parthia and Egypt. However, in April of that year news reached Rome that the acting Syrian governor Aulus Gabinius had already invaded this latter region. Crassus, dissatisfied with this, finally opted for war with Parthia. Plutarch reports on the grandiose plans of the consul, who finally had the opportunity to obtain new victories:

... heated and out of tin, he did not put Syria or the births to an end, but looking at the events of Lúculo with Tigranes and those of Pompeyo with Mitridates as he would deny, he passed his hopes to Bactriana, India and to the sea lying behind them.

Plutarco. Crasus, 16.

In Rome, Marcus Licinius's plans met with strong opposition, as Parthia did not appear to be a threat to Roman interests, but the success of the campaign dangerously strengthened the ambitious politician. Crassus's enemies insisted that the war was impious, since the peace was being broken without a legitimate reason in the existence of the treaty of peace and friendship concluded by Pompey. During the assembly, in which the law of distribution of the provinces was approved, Marcus Licinius especially opposed the tribune of the plebs Ateius, who even ordered the lictor to arrest the first and, when this failed, he subjected the consul to a religious curse. Crassus entered the province, against established tradition, without even waiting for the end of his consular year. In the year 54 BC. C. invaded Mesopotamia and occupied several cities on the other side of the Euphrates. He returned to Syria to spend the winter, something that Plutarch described as a serious mistake, because, in his opinion, Marcus Licinius gave the enemy time to prepare, although then he could have occupied Babylon and Seleucia.

In the winter of 54-53 BC. C. Crassus sacked the temple of Jerusalem and the sanctuary of the goddess Atargatis in the Syrian Hierapolis. At the same time, his son Publius arrived with a thousand Gallic cavalry sent by Caesar, under whose command the young Crassus had fought in Gaul. The Armenian king Artavasdes II also went to Syria and offered Marcus Licinius his army, consisting of ten one thousand heavily armed cavalry, in case the Romans marched through his kingdom towards Atropatene, an action later carried out by Mark Antony. According to him, the mountains and hills were the most suitable for battles against the Parthians, although, apparently, Artavasdes also pursued his own goals, intending to take revenge on his hostile neighbor, the king of Atropatene, with the help of the Romans. Crassus, although "very pleased by the king's favor," preferred the original plan of invading the Mesopotamian plain above Seleucia in depth.

In the spring of 53 BC. C., Marcus Licinius entered Mesopotamia again, hoping to take the winter capital of the Parthian kings, Seleucia, on the Tigris. He had seven legions of infantry and four thousand cavalry under his command. The Parthian king Orodes II with the main forces invaded Armenia to deprive Crassus of the support of the cavalry of this kingdom; To cover Mesopotamia he left the commander Surena. Apparently, the Romans planned to reach the Tigris and then descend it to Seleucia; For their movement from the Euphrates to the Tigris they chose an unsuccessful route, because it was far from the water, which facilitated a possible detour by enemy troops. The leader of the Roman army was King Abgar II, who ended up being an agent of the Parthians. Crassus's soldiers were constantly harassed by the Parthian light cavalry, and Artavasdes was unable to send the promised reinforcements, as he himself was repelling the enemy invasion. At Carras, in May 53, Marcus Licinius had to accept the battle under unfavorable conditions. The Romans suffered heavy losses from the Parthian mounted archers, who shot at the Roman infantry with impunity. Crassus sent his son Publius to attack with a force of six thousand men. The Parthians feigned flight, causing young Crassus to get as far away from the main force as possible; he was eventually caught and executed. Seeing his head stuck on a spear, the Romans were discouraged, but, even so, they managed to resist until nightfall, and then they abandoned the camp with four thousand wounded and took refuge in Carras; Marcus Licinius, who had fallen into apathy, made no attempt to stop him.

The following night, the remains of the Roman army headed towards the border in separate groups. Only Gaius Cassius Longinus, who held the position of quaestor, was able to reach Syria with a force of five hundred cavalry. Crassus and his four cohorts, almost on the mountain range where they could escape from the enemy, were overtaken by the Parthians. The desperate situation forced the proconsul to accept negotiations, although he did not trust the enemy. In a meeting with the Parthian general Surena, Crassus began the negotiation, but then the unexpected happened:

Then Craso commanded that a horse be brought to him, to which he said, "It is not necessary, for the king giveth thee this"; and at the same time they presented him a horse with a chaise of gold, in which, taking him in volandas, they put the palafraneros and began to lash the horse in order to make him leave quickly. Octavian was the first to strike the brake, and after him Petronio, one of the tribunes, closing the others at once and trying to contain the horse and withdraw those who, on the one hand and on the other, wanted to take to Craso. With this confusing and fussing, he finally saw the blows, and unraveling Octavian his sword went through one of those champions, doing so much with Octavian one of them, who was behind his back. Petronio was not found with weapons; and having received a blow, which did not pass from the armour, he leapt from the horse. Craso took his life a birth called Pomaxatres.

Plutarco. Craso, 31.

Dion Cassius describes the fate of Marcus Licinius in similar terms, although he differs on some points: it was agreed that the generals would meet at an equal distance from the troops with an equal number of men in the entourage. Crassus went down to the plain and the Parthians offered him a horse. In the fight that followed, the triumvir was badly wounded and captured when the Parthian troops arrived at the meeting point. According to this historian, the Parthians poured molten gold into Crassus' mouth as a mockery of his greed. According to Plutarch, Crassus' head and right hand were sent to Orodes, who at that time had reconciled with Artavasdes and was celebrating. with him in the Armenian capital of Artashat. The head was carried on stage in front of Artavasdes, Orodes and the court during a theatrical production of the tragedy The Bacchae by Euripides, placed on a thyrsus by the actor playing Pentheus's mother lashing out madly with the head of his son.

Intellectual activities

According to Plutarch, Crassus was "very learned in history and even somewhat given to philosophy." He once said that no one in his family had lived more than sixty years, and hence historiography concludes that Marcus Licinius He knew his family history well.

Crassus devoted great effort to mastering the art of oratory. Cicero claims that Marcus Licinius lacked adequate talent, but he made up for it with “diligent work and benevolent influence,” and he achieved great success. «His language was pure, his expression was neither low nor improper, and his ideas were well digested: but there was nothing flowery and ornamental about him; and the true ardor of his mind was not supported by any vigorous effort of his voice, so that he pronounced almost everything in the same uniform tone." Plutarch, for his part, says that Crassus was one of the best orators in Rome " by nature."

The names of several of the accused that Crassus defended are known: Lucius Licinius Murena, accused of bribing voters in 63 BC. C.; Publius Sestius and Marcus Caelius Rufus, accused in 56 BC. C. of violence; Lucius Cornelius Balbo, accused in 56 BC. C. of misappropriation of Roman citizenship. In all these trials Crassus' companion was Cicero.

Family

Crassus was married to Tertula, widow of his older brother Publius, who died no later than 88 BC. C., and, following the ancient Roman custom, he married her no later than the year 86. Nothing is known about the origins of Tertula, furthermore, the sources do not even give her nomen, since the cognomen Tertulla is an affectionate diminutive of Tertius, "the third". Two sons were born from this marriage, Marcus and Publius, and, according to Roman onomastic data and the details of the brothers' careers, the birth of the former is placed in the first half of the year 85 BC. C., and that of the second in 82 or 81 BC. C.; However, there is a hypothesis that Publius was the older brother.

The sources speak of the marital infidelity of Tertula, who was Caesar's lover, and one of her sons, according to Plutarch, was very similar in appearance to a certain Axius, "which stained his mother with a shameful suspicion." However, Crassus lived his entire life in a single marriage, which distinguished him from many of his contemporaries; Cicero described his house as "most virtuous" in one of his speeches.

Cross in the sources

Marcus Licinius features prominently in many of the works of his younger contemporary, Marcus Tullius Cicero. However, the latter mentions Crassus almost exclusively with displeasure, except in some public speeches, generally delivered in those trials in which Cicero and Crassus were on the same side, and even calls him a scoundrel. However, Marcus Tullius wrote to Crassus in January 54 BC. C., when he had already left for Syria, about an "old friendship", admitting that he had suffered "a change of fortune". However, O. Liubimova described the letter as "flattering and insincere", and he himself Cicero apologized as early as December 54 for this forced reconciliation with Lentulus Espinter. In addition, there were three important conflicts between the two politicians: when Cicero attributed an important role in the defeat of Spartacus to Pompey and when Crassus supported Cicero's enemies., Publius Clodius and Aulus Gabinius. At the beginning of the 50s BC. C., Cicero wrote an essay in which he made several accusations against Marcus Licinius, but ordered that it not be published before his death. However, the text has not survived and it is difficult to judge the content of this work. After Crassus' death, Cicero did not write about him for seven years; In his treatise Brutus he spoke very modestly of the oratory skills of Marcus Licinius, while in his later treatises, beginning with the Paradoxa Stoicorum, he spoke of Crassus. as an example of selfishness.

О. Lyubimova believes that in his later works Cicero created a distorted image of the "greedy Crassus", which was then transmitted to other sources and even historiography, overshadowing the real image of the "political Crassus". Thus, according to Veleius Paterculus, although Marcus Licinius "was, in his general character, completely upright and free from basic desires, in his lust for money and his ambition for glory he knew no limits and accepted no obligations." According to Lucius Anneus Florus, Crassus' death was a punishment. for his "lust for Parthian gold." Orosius also writes of his "irrepressible thirst for profit."

The most extensive characterization of Crassus was left by Plutarch, who paired the Roman consul with the Athenian Nicias:

Picábase, however, Craso to welcome the outsiders well, being open his house to all of them; he lent the friends without interest; but, over the deadline, demanded with so much rigor the payment, that the first grace came to be made more inaguantable that would have been the usuras. To swap his table was quite generous and popular, and although it was not splendid, the toilet and kindness made it more palatable that could have made it the most exquisite and costly being. As for instruction, he exercised himself in the eloquence, especially in the oratory part, which is of greater and more extensive use; and having come to excel in this art among the most excellent of Rome, in the work and in the zeal he exceeded even the most powerful; for no cause was so small and despicable that it was not prepared to speak in it, and many times, to lift up the word, He also won it with his humanity and popularity with the people, for never Craso, greeted by a Roman citizen, as miserable and dark as he was, ceased to correspond to him by his name.

Plutarco. Crasus, 3.

Cross in historiography

Due to his ignominious end during the Parthian campaign, Crassus did not receive as much scrutiny in historiography as his fellow triumvirate. For a long time he was considered less capable and less determined than Pompey and Caesar and also as someone who prioritized wealth over power. Michael Heltzer even called him a "calculating bourgeois."

In 1966, Frank Adcock produced a short work titled Marcus Crassus, Millionaire. The British researcher proposed a series of theses aimed at partially reconsidering the traditional interpretation of personality. of Crassus and various aspects of his activities. In particular, Adcock highlighted the impact of the death of his father on the early career of Marcus Licinius and suggested that the young Crassus was not primarily responsible for the victory at the Battle of the Collina Gate. The British scholar hypothesized that Marcus Licinius had supported Catiline, not wanting to become involved in the conspiracy, but only hoping to aid the latter in his professional advancement; he allowed the self-dissolution of the censors in 65 BC. C. was the result of a failure in the transpadan question rather than in the Egyptian one. Adcock also suggested that Crassus was not motivated by a lust for power but by a mere desire to enrich himself, an argument also found in the sources, and that the aim of the Parthian campaign was to control the silk trade. Finally, the British researcher, following Ronald Syme, developed the idea that the account of the dispute between Crassus and Pompey in existing sources is a product of mid-century political propaganda I a. C. At the same time, Adcock's portrait of Crassus remained, in the opinion of critics, a brave and energetic military leader, but without sufficient talent.

Two other monographs on Crassus were published in English in the late 1970s. In 1976, Bruce Marshall published a synthesis of the triumvir Crassus: A Political Biography, and in 1977, Allen Ward's monograph Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic. Unlike Plutarch, who concentrated on the Parthian campaign, Allen Ward devotes little space to this operation, much less to the suppression of Spartacus' rebellion. In particular, the author offers his own theories for troop movement. of Crassus through Italy. The researcher denies the existence of Catiline's first conspiracy, believing that Crassus and Caesar did support the latter, and that throughout 63 BC. C. they played a double game with the conspirators and senators. Ward pays much attention to the study of prosopographic links within the nobility and their influence on Roman politics. Furthermore, Ward, unlike Adcock, fully recognizes the existence of a dispute between Crassus and Pompey. However, the author, as critics point out, does not say anything about the origins of this feud, nor does he reveal the process of accumulating great wealth. In any case, due in part to poor state of the sources, many of his statements are framed in cautious conjectures. In general, Ward describes Crassus as an intriguer without a defined political program, who often resorts to compromise; For him, wealth was a means rather than an end.

In the early 2010s, Russian researcher O. Liubimova published a series of articles on the early stages of Crassus' life. In them she tries to demonstrate, in particular, that Marcus Licinius during most of the 70s BC. C. advocated the restoration of the power of the tribunes of the people; examines the problem of Crassus' participation in Catiline's conspiracy; is situated in the general political context of the trial of Marcus Licinius and the vestal Licinia in the year 73 to. C.; she suggests the origins of the conflict between Crassus and Pompey.

Cross in contemporary culture

In the everyday speech of Spanish-speaking countries, the expression "crass error" refers to a mistake made of enormous gravity, which refers to the bad decision made by Crassus to invade Parthia, which ended with his death and being one of the greatest defeats in Roman history.

Marcus Licinius became a character in several works of fiction. These are the novels called Spartacus by Raffaello Giovagnoli (1874) and Howard Fast (1951), by Vasili Yan (1933), and the dilogy by Andrei Valentinov, the novel Spartacus: The Slave Rising by Max Gallo (2006), and Colleen McCullough's novels Fortune's Favorites (1993) and Caesar's Women (1996).

Crassus appears in several feature films about Spartacus' rebellion:

• In the 1960 film SpartacusCraso's role was played by Laurence Olivier.
• In the 2004 film SpartacusCraso's role was played by Angus Macfadyen.
• In the 2013 series Spartacus: War of the DamnedCraso's role was played by Simon Merrells.