Lucius Licinius Crassus

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L. Licinius L. f. C. n. Crassus was one of the most distinguished statesmen of his day and was accounted the greatest, or at least one of the two greatest, orators in Roman history up to the time of Hortensius and Cicero.

Birth and early career

L. Crassus was born C. Laelio Q. Caepione cos.‡ (DCXIV a.u.c.).^[1] He was a member of an illustrious gens and family, and may have been the grandson of the consular C. Licinius C. f. P. n. Crassus; his father, however, appears not to have achieved any major magistracy, and L. Crassus built his public career not only on ancestry but also on oratory.

His first notable accomplishment as an orator was his prosecution of C. Papirius Carbo, apparently L. Metello L. Cotta cos.‡ (DCXXXV a.u.c.) just after Carbo's consulate. Carbo had been an associate of C. Sempronius Gracchus but distanced himself from Gracchus after the latter's death and even defended his killer in court.^[2] The charge on which Carbo was prosecuted is unknown; in the circumstances the prosecution was probably politically motivated, and in view of Carbo's changing allegiances it is difficult to say for certain whether it was driven by the supporters of Gracchus (in revenge for his desertion of their cause) or by the conservative aristocracy (as a continuation of the anti-Gracchan backlash). In view of Crassus' later political allegiances, the latter may be thought more likely.^[3] In any case, Carbo anticipated conviction and killed himself, and the prosecution evidently established Crassus as a rising star of the law-courts.^[4] It is not known how far, if at all, the trial had progressed before Carbo gave up hope, and his despair may have been prompted as much by the political power of his enemies as by the rhetorical powers of his accuser; nonetheless, Crassus, only 21 years old, had defeated a consular who was also a very distinguished orator, and Cicero identifies this as the case which brought him to prominence.^[5]

In the following year, M. Catone Q. Rege cos.‡ (DCXXXVI a.u.c.), Crassus made a speech in support of the foundation of a colony, proposed by the consul Q. Marcius Rex, in Gallia Narbonensis. The political context of the debate is lost, but the issue seems to have been hotly contested, with the people in favour of the colony and the senate opposed to it, for Cicero says that Crassus "wanted to take up a popular cause in the matter of the Narbonese colony and to found that colony himself, as indeed he did", and that in his speech "he disparaged as much as he could the authority of the senate".^[6] Again Crassus found himself on the winning side, although again we cannot be sure whether this success was the result of his own talents or other political factors: the colony of Narbo Martius was duly approved, and Crassus was one of the triumviri sent out to supervise its foundation.^[7]

The next of Crassus' exploits which claimed the attention of history came M'. Balbo C. Catone cos.‡ (DCXL a.u.c.) when Crassus was 26.^[8] Earlier in the year a young woman named Helvia, the daughter of a Roman eques, had been struck by lightning and was found lying dead in such a shocking state that it was regarded as a fearful portent.^[9] It was interpreted as foretelling a disgrace for virgins and for the equestrian class.^[10] This prompted a certain Manius, the slave of the Italian orator T. Betutius Barrus, to come forward with information against certain Vestal virgins whom he accused of having sexual relations with various men.^[11] After further investigations, three Vestals, Marcia, Aemilia, and Licinia, were brought to trial before the pontifex maximus, accused of liaisons with a number of men including equites.^[12] The pontifex maximus, after taking the advice of the whole collegium pontificum, condemned Aemilia but acquitted the others; but this caused a public outcry, and consequently a special court was set up under the presidency of L. Cassius Longinus which condemned all three.^[13] Licinia was probably a cousin of Crassus, who made a speech in her defence which Cicero describes as "very eloquent".^[14]

Besides these trials and political debates there were many more of which we know nothing except that they established Crassus as one of the foremost orators of his generation.^[15] Even so, he does not seem to have sailed easily up the cursus honorum: he achieved the praetura some two or three years after he first became eligible, and he first had to hold not only the tribunatus but also the aedilitas, whereas many of his contemporaries were able to do without one or other of these offices. His tribunate, according to Cicero, "was so quiet that, if he had not in that magistracy dined with Granius the herald and if Lucilius had not told us that story twice, we should not have known that he had been tribune".^[16] Regrettably, though various fragments of the writings of the satirist C. Lucilius have been identified as coming from his account of this dinner, not enough survives to give any coherent picture of the story.^[17] The following year (Q. Caepione C. Serrano cos.‡ (DCXLVIII a.u.c.)), aged 34, Crassus spoke in favour of the lex Servilia iudiciaria which proposed to abolish the equites' monopoly of juries in the criminal courts.^[18] In that speech, which Cicero identifies as the moment when Latin speech came of age, he is known to have extolled the virtues of the senate and said some unflattering things about the equites.^[19]

With this, the last known episode of Crassus' early career, it is perhaps worth looking back over the years from L. Metello L. Cotta cos.‡ (DCXXXV a.u.c.) to Q. Metello T. Didio cos.‡ (DCLVI a.u.c.) to see what can be discerned of his political views and allegiances during that period.

The higher magistracies

Later life

Cursus honorum^[20]

• Triumvir coloniae deducendae

M. Catone Q. Rege cos.‡ (DCXXXVI a.u.c.)

• Quaestor

by Q. Metello M. Silano cos.‡ (DCXLV a.u.c.)

• Tribunus plebis

L. Longino C. Mario cos.‡ (DCXLVII a.u.c.)

• Aedilis curulis

by C. Mario (VI) L. Flacco cos.‡ (DCLIV a.u.c.)

• Praetor

by Q. Metello T. Didio cos.‡ (DCLVI a.u.c.)

• Consul

L. Crasso Q. Scaevola cos.‡ (DCLIX a.u.c.)

• Proconsul

C. Caldo L. Ahenobarbo cos.‡ (DCLX a.u.c.) (perhaps Gallia Cisalpina)

• Censor

C. Pulchro M. Perperna cos.‡ (DCLXII a.u.c.)

• Perhaps decemvir agris dandis assignandis

L. Philippo Sex. Caesare cos.‡ (DCLXIII a.u.c.)

• Augur

from unknown date

to L. Philippo Sex. Caesare cos.‡ (DCLXIII a.u.c.)

References

1. ↑ Cicero, Brutus 161.
2. ↑ For details and sources see Carbo's biography.
3. ↑ And so it is often assumed. But the position Crassus took on the colony of Narbo Martius should warn us against assuming that his political views were the same in his 20s as they were later.
4. ↑ Carbo's suicide: Cicero, Brutus, 103. Valerius Maximus, a less reliable source, says Carbo went into exile (3.7.6). On the trial's importance for Crassus' career, Cicero says, "Accusavit C. Carbonem eloquentissimum hominem admodum adulescens; summam ingeni non laudem modo sed etiam admirationem est consecutus." ("He prosecuted C. Carbo, an excellent speaker, when he was only a boy; thus he achieved not only the highest praise but also applause for his abilities.") (Brutus, 159).
5. ↑ Carbo's oratorical reputation: Cicero, "Hic optimus illis temporibus est patronus habitus" ("He was held the best advocate of those times") (Brutus, 106); Carbo is also listed among famous orators of the period by Velleius Paterculus, 2.9.1. For Cicero's comment on the case's role in Crassus' career, see the previous note.
6. ↑ First quotation: "Voluit adulescens in colonia Narbonensi causae popularis aliquid attingere eamque coloniam, ut fecit, ipse deducere" (Cicero, Brutus, 160). Second quotation: "quantum potest de auctoritate senatus detrahit" (Cicero, pro Cluentio, 140).
7. ↑ Cicero, Brutus, 160. Cicero adds that "exstat in eam legem senior, ut ita dicam, quam aetas illa ferebat oratio". This could mean either "the speech about that lex survives, more mature, I should say, than his age suggests" or "the speech about that lex survives, older, I should say, than that period used to produce". If Cicero means that it sounds like the speech of an older man, then he himself proves the point, for he erroneously thinks that the speech dates from after the trial of the Vestals.
8. ↑ There is a minor chronological problem here. Cicero, Brutus, 160, says that Crassus was 27 at the time of this trial. This gives a date of C. Metello Cn. Carbone cos.‡ (DCXLI a.u.c.) or M. Druso L. Pisone cos.‡ (DCXLII a.u.c.). But the Epitome of Livy, 63.4, and Iulius Obsequens, 37, clearly date the trial to M'. Balbo C. Catone cos.‡ (DCXL a.u.c.). One solution might be to suppose that the whole process dragged on into the following year, and that Crassus' speech was made C. Metello Cn. Carbone cos.‡ (DCXLI a.u.c.). This is not very easy to sustain. The wording of both the Epitome and Obsequens seems to indicate that the whole process was completed by the end of the year. Moreover, Marcobius, Saturnalia, 1.10.5, citing Fenestella, says that the penalty against Aemilia was handed down a.d. XV Kal. Ian. ‡, which must be a.d. XV Kal. Ian. ‡ M'. Balbo C. Catone cos.‡ (DCXL a.u.c.) unless we are to imagine that the process dragged on for more than a year. There were, however, two trials. It is therefore possible that Fenestella, Obsequens, and the Epitome are all giving the date for the first trial, which ended a.d. XV Kal. Ian. ‡ M'. Balbo C. Catone cos.‡ (DCXL a.u.c.), and that it was at the second trial, C. Metello Cn. Carbone cos.‡ (DCXLI a.u.c.), that Crassus gave his speech, aged 27 as Cicero says. This still does not square well with the wording of Obsequens and the Epitome, but it does chime with Fenestella, who refers only to the condemnation of Aemilia: as we know from Asconius on pro Milone, 32, at the first trial Aemilia was condemned but the others acquitted. It is equally possible, however, that Cicero, or one of his transcribers, has accidentally added a numeral I to Crassus' age in Brutus 160, and that both trials took place M'. Balbo C. Catone cos.‡ (DCXL a.u.c.) when Crassus was 26.
9. ↑ The state of the body is described in detail (and in very similar terms) by Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 83, by Iulius Obsequens, 37, and by Orosius, 5.20. Obsequens names her father P. Elvius, while Orosius calls him L. Helvius.
10. ↑ Obsequens' use of the word "responsum" shows that some religious authorities were formally consulted about the meaning of the portent and gave a formal answer; no source, however, identifies which authorities were consulted. Rasmussen, S.W., Public Portents In Republican Rome (Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum XXXIV, 2003), p.94, indicates that it was the decemviri sacris faciundis, but she appears to be conflating this with the later consultation which came after the trials. Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 83, makes it clear that there was a first consultation, of "soothsayers", after the death of Helvia and a second, of the decemviri, after the trials. The gist of the responsum is given by Plutarch in the same passage, and also (perhaps verbatim) by Iulius Obsequens, 37: "Responsum infamiam virginibus et equestri ordini portendi" ("[It was] answered that it presaged a scandal for the virgins and for the equestrian class").
11. ↑ The slave is mentioned by Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 83, and by Cassius Dio, 87.5. His name is provided by Dio, his master's name by Plutarch. According to Plutarch T. Betutius was one of the men who had been involved with the Vestals; Dio seems to say that Manius himself had been involved, or at least that he had been bribed to keep the secret by the promise of his freedom. As to the precise information which he gave, Plutarch says that he named all three of the Vestals who were later brought to book, but Dio indicates that he informed only on Aemilia and Licinia, while Marcia's indiscretion was only discovered through later inquiries. Betutius is mentioned as a notable orator from Asculum by Cicero, Brutus, 169.
12. ↑ This was not strictly a trial but a hearing before the pontifex maximus, who traditionally had jurisdiction in such cases. The charge was of incestum: Epitome of Livy, 63.4; Iulius Obsequens, 37; Asconius on pro Milone, 32. Orosius, 5.20 uses the term stuprum, but this is probably just sloppiness. Marcia are Licinia, as well as Aemilia, are mentioned by the Epitome of Livy, 63.4; Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 83; Cassius Dio, 87.5; and Asconius on pro Milone, 32. Orosius, 5.20, and Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1.10.5, mention only Aemilia, whose conduct was evidently regarded as the most disgraceful. As to their lovers, Plutarch names Betutius (who was apparently not a Roman citizen: Cicero, Brutus, 169) and Obsequens mentions "aliquot equit[es]" ("some equites"). Dio says that Marcia had a relationship with an eques but was not involved in the activities of the other two, who, he says, entertained a number of men, singly and in groups, separately and together, including one another's brothers. Orosius names one of Aemilia's lovers as the eques L. Veturius (though this may be a corruption of T. Betutius) and says that she was responsible for drawing the other two Vestals into her illicit activities. The discrepancies among the various accounts may be the result of ordinary distortion as the story was passed from source to source, but they may also reflect different accounts put forward at the trial itself: the version which distances Marcia from the other two may have been Marcia's defence, while the version in Orosius would have been a suitable argument for Licinia's advocate, Crassus himself.
13. ↑ Asconius on pro Milone, 32.
14. ↑ The relationship, along with the possible political motives for the prosecution, is discussed by Münzer, F., Roman Aristocratic Parties And Families (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), pp. 222-3. It is not clear whether Crassus' speech was made at the first hearing or at the trial before L. Cassius; perhaps he spoke at both. Cicero significantly does not mention that Crassus' speech secured Licinia's acquittal, however, and this may suggest that he is talking about the unsuccessful defence of Licinia before Cassius. On the timing of the speech see also the note above concerning the date of the trial. Cicero's comment on the speech is, "In ea ipsa causa fuit eloquentissimus orationisque eius scriptas quasdam partis reliquit" ("In that same case he was very eloquent and he has left some writings of part of his speech") (Brutus, 160).
15. ↑ Cicero, Brutus, 160: "Multae deinde causae" ("Next were many cases").
16. ↑ Cicero, Brutus, 160: "ita tacitus tribunatus ut, nisi in eo magistratu cenavisset apud praeconem Granium idque nobis bis narravisset Lucilius, tribunum plebis nesciremus fuisse".
17. ↑ The fragments are collected in Warmington, E.H. (ed.), Remains Of Old Latin (Harvard University Press, 1967), pp.186-195.
18. ↑ Cicero, Brutus, 161.
19. ↑ The moment of Latin maturity: Cicero, Brutus, 161. The contents of the speech (which survived in writing in Cicero's day): Cicero, de oratore, 1.225; pro Cluentio, 140.
20. ↑ For sources see Broughton, T.R.S., The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic (American Philological Association, 1951)

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