Marcus Licinius Crassus: An Enigma Of The Roman Republic
Caveman, general, upstanding citizen, leading politician, and ruthless businessman, he did it all.
Nicole Reyes
Marcus Licinius Crassus is a figure often forgotten in the history of the Late Roman Republic. He lived in an incredibly tumultuous and complicated period and is an enigmatic figure who had many fascinating chapters in his life, many of which offer contrasting details on his character.
Crassus the caveman:
In 87 BCE, when Crassus was around twenty years old his older brother and father were murdered in Rome by Marius and his allies when they retook the city. Crassus was left unharmed because of his youth, but he was surrounded by enemies, so he fled to Spain where his father had allies.
While in Spain he spent eight months hidden in a cave on the property of a friend. This stay would not have been up to his usual quality but it was also far from what one might expect. His friend sent him two apparently comely slave women to live with him and these women decades later still looked on this time fondly. He was also brought food daily and had access to clean water, so it was clearly not an awful experience, this was a rather ignoble start for a man who rose to be a controlling force in the late Republic.
Crassus eventually emerged from the cave when he received news of the death of Cinna, (the political heir of Marius). He then raised an army from locals in the area, amassing 2,500 troops.
Crassus the general:
Military success was never what Crassus was known for; however, he did have two significant victories, which were overshadowed by one disastrous failure.
The first success occurred shortly after his time in Spain when he joined Lucius Cornelius Sulla on his second march on Rome. Crassus managed to force his way past the enemy army and raised a large force among the Marsi. Then in the final battle outside of Rome itself, Crassus managed to win his side of the engagement while the great general Sulla lost and was left with a shattered army. This victory was never recognised properly because it occurred in a civil war.
His second success was against Spartacus in the third servile war. This was not a meaningless victory and Crassus deserved more credit than he received for destroying a slave-gladiator army that had defeated several Roman commanders. Crassus deployed tactics that were probably not supported by the senate in Rome, as he built a wall to pen in the slave army. This is reminiscent of the treatment of the dictator Fabius Maximus the great delayer, who sought to defeat Hannibal Barca by never engaging him in a full-scale battle, an effective but highly unpopular tactic. However, after cutting off their supplies, Crassus did then face the slave army head-on and won, but his lifelong nemesis (and occasional ally) Pompey the Great usurped the glory because he defeated a small offshoot force of slaves and loudly proclaimed that he had single handily defeated Spartacus. This is a lesson in propaganda, that everyone should remember. Crassus deserved this credit and was robbed of it by Pompey. He was also robbed of the respect he deserved for this victory because it was against a slave army. A funny reaction considering the fear and panic that this army had caused in Rome.
In contrast to these victories, Crassus ended his life with one of the worst losses in the history of the Republic. When he faced the Parthian empire, seeking to gain the same kind of military glory that his fellow triumvirs, Pompey and Julius Caesar had already achieved. The resulting battle of Carrhae ended with an alleged 20,000 dead legionaries, with Crassus and his son among them, while another 10,000 were captured. This shocking defeat tends to overshadow a career of service to the empire. Crassus was also not the only general to suffer defeats at the hands of the Parthians and the end of Pompey the Great at the hands of the Egyptians was as shameful.
Crassus the upstanding citizen
During his long career, Crassus acted as an upstanding citizen and managed his household morally. He married his dead brother’s widow, which was appropriate and expected in the Roman world. He was also an incredibly gracious friend and even lent money for zero interest. His house was supposedly open to all even strangers and he invited the common people to his house to entertain them at dinners. This reflects the behaviour of a perfect Roman patron.
He was also known as a keen and highly capable orator and relentlessly prepared for even the smallest task for any who asked. This attitude apparently made him more popular than his contemporaries like Caesar, Pompey, and even the great Cicero.
Beyond oratory, he was well versed in history and philosophy and was kind to all that he met, no matter their standing or class. In this way, he is the best of both worlds, a learned and skilled elite Roman who was kind and considerate to all members of society.
Crassus the leading politician
Despite the military dominance of Pompey and then Caesar, Crassus had more political control in Rome because he was an expert at winning allies. Crassus was also arguably the orchestrator of the first triumvirate in Rome, which enabled Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus to dominate the state for years. This partnership fell apart when Crassus died, demonstrating his role as a unifier. This was not his only partnership with Pompey highlighting his flexibility and lack of pride, as Pompey was often his political nemesis and Crassus resented the ease at which Pompey broke tradition.
Before this Crassus also arguably had a huge effect on the history of Rome. When he saved Julius Caesar from his creditors by offering collateral for Caesar’s massive political debts. Without Crassus, Caesar may never have been able to continue on his political career and may not have dominated the Roman state. The knock-on effect of this could have been the survival of the Republic, as it was Caesar’s heir Octavian that formally dismantled the republican system to create the Principate.
Crassus the ruthless businessman
It is impossible to argue that Crassus was not an effective businessman. During his life he increased his net worth by 2366%, making him the best businessman of his time. A lot of this wealth was achieved in rather unsavoury ways, for example during the proscriptions of Sulla when Crassus took the property of many of Sulla’s murdered political enemies. He also thought of a genius but ruthless strategy, to assemble a team of slaves who put out fires in houses in Rome, only after the owners sold the property at a healthy discount to Crassus. He then had architects and builders on hand to restore the houses. This was so effective because Rome had no public fire service at this stage. This is reminiscent of modern entrepreneurs as Crassus saw a gap in the market and filled it. This strategy helped him buy large sections of the city of Rome.
Despite his massive wealth, which probably made him only slightly less wealthy than Caesar and Pompey, who profited massively off of their foreign conquests, he lived in a modest house and spent little money on himself. This reserved use of money shows that he was not truly greedy for the sake of it. Rather he used his wealth to gain what was ultimately important in the Roman world, political power.
Crassus the enigma
These characteristics are very contradictory. A man who lived in a cave for eight months sought wealth on an almost unthinkable scale. A man who had won great military success was also responsible for one of the worst losses in Roman history. A man who was known to be kind and considerate to all also profited off of a great purge of the Roman elite. A man who formed a partnership to illegally dominate the state resented one of those partners who subverting tradition. A man who spent his life acquiring wealth was not profligate, in a period of great excess.
Marcus Licinius Crassus must have been a walking contradiction, a man almost of two lives, a definite Republican enigma. Unfortunately, much like his military success, his life has often been overlooked in the history of Rome, which is a travesty, considering the complicated nature of the man and his lasting effect on history.
References:
Plutarch, Life of Crassus.
Cassius Dio, Roman History.
