Marcus Licinius Crassus: Encyclopedia II - Marcus Licinius Crassus - Early Life

Marcus Licinius Crassus - Early Life

Marcus Licinius Crassus was the son of a former consul and censor, Publius Licinius Crassus Dives. He came from a respectable, well-established plebeian family. His father fought in the Social War under Lucius Julius Caesar III, grandfather of Mark Antony. Though his father had celebrated a triumph, Crassus grew up in a small house that was not only home to himself and his parents, but also to his two elder brothers and their families.

Although originally a supporter of Gaius Marius and his Populares party, Crassus's father fought against Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna and defended Rome in 87 BC in the turbulent struggles between Marius's Populares and Lucius Cornelius Sulla's Optimates. The elder Crassus, along with his eldest son, Publius, were killed after the Marians captured Rome. Crassus and his remaining brother, Marcus, escaped with a few followers to Hispania, where he had lived during his father's governorship as propraetor. Plutarch says Crassus, now in his late twenties, went into hiding in a large cave along the seashore, near lands belonging to one of his father’s friends, Vibius Paciacus. Vibius watched over the young men and ensured their safety during their time in Hispania.

Crassus hid in his cave for eight months until he learned that Cinna was dead and Sulla’s power on the rise. He raised a personal guard of 2,500 men, left Hispania, and eventually joined Sulla in the east. When Sulla landed in Italy, he sent Crassus to raise an army among the Marsi. Crassus raised the necessary troops and thereafter showed an active spirit in all of Sulla's campaigns.

Crassus served with Pompey the Great during Sulla's major campaigns in 83 BC-82 BC. Crassus was vital to Sulla's final victory of the Social War in the momentous Battle of the Colline Gate in 82, in which he commanded the right wing of Sulla's army. Now that Sulla was essentially master of Rome, the spoils soon became available to his protégés. In the proscriptions that followed, in which informers were paid handsome bounties to denounce traitors, whose lives and properties were then forfeited, Crassus began restoring the family fortunes, buying up the property of the condemned, cheaply. Without consulting Sulla, he is said to have added a man's name to the proscription lists in Bruttium solely because he wanted his property.

A well-established tale in his own time told how Crassus would show up at the site of a burning building, bargain for the property at incredibly low prices, then have his own personal fire brigade of 500 men promptly put out the blaze. If the owner would not sell, Crassus and his slaves stood there and watched the house burn. After purchasing the property, Crassus would refurnish it, and sell off as several times greater than what he had paid. His fortune quickly grew to immeasurable sizes. Soon, he came to own most of the city of Rome. This later lead to his "nickname" of Dives, Latin for the richest.

Crassus grew to view the young general Pompey as his greatest rival, but knew he could not match Pompey's military achievements. So, he set about winning popularity by acting as an advocate in lawsuits where other advocates refused to act and lending money without charging interest, provided the loan was paid back on time. While Crassus was increasing his fortune, Pompey's military standing bloomed, much to the moneyman's disgust. "On one occasion when someone said: 'Pompey the Great is coming,' Crassus merely laughed and asked, 'As great as what?' Giving up, therefore, all attempts to equal Pompey in military matters, Crassus devoted himself to politics." Plutarch, Life, 7 (p. 120).

Crassus followed the normal cursus honorum in the next ten years, building his clientele: "...by taking pains, by helping people in the law courts or with loans, or in the canvassing and questioning which has to be done and undergone by candidates for office, he acquired an influence and a reputation equal to that which Pompey had won by all his great military expeditions." (Plutarch). Whereas Pompey was somewhat arrogant and high-handed in the way he treated his clients, Crassus worked hard both at being accessible and helpful to his increasing number of clients, including the humblest. As Plutarch notes, this meant that Pompey, when actually in Rome, frequently found Crassus more influential in day-to-day political life than he was.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early Life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki