Lucius Licinius Crassus (140 – September 91 BC) was a Roman orator and statesman who was a Roman consul and censor and who is also one of the main speakers in Cicero's dramatic dialogue on the art of oratory De Oratore,The New Century Classical Handbook; Catherine Avery, editor; Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1962, p. 328:"Crassus, Lucius Licinius, Roman orator and statesman; born 140 B.C.; died 91... consul in 95... censor in 92 B.C. He is one of the chief speakers in Cicero's De Oratore" set just before Crassus' death in 91 BC. He was considered the greatest orator of his day by his pupil Cicero.
Early life
Lucius Licinius Crassus was born in 140 BC.Cicero, Brutus 161 It is not known exactly which Licinius Crassus his father was, as there are a number of similarly named Licinii Crassi active in the mid-second century BC. However, prosopographical investigations by scholars have established that he must have been a grandson of Gaius Licinius Crassus,E. Badian, 'The Consuls, 179–49 BC', Chiron 20 (1990), p. 388 the consul of 168 who marched his army from Gallia Cisalpina to Macedonia against the will of the Senate.Livy 45.17 Lucius was, therefore, the child of one of this Gaius Crassus' sons.
Lucius was taught at a young age by the Roman historian and jurist Lucius Coelius Antipater.Entry for 'Coelius Antipater, Lucius,' in Oxford Classical Dictionary He also studied law under two eminent statesmen, both of whom were from branches of the Mucii Scaevolae gens: Publius Mucius Scaevola (the father of Crassus' colleague as consul, Quintus Mucius Scaevola 'Pontifex'); and Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur. The latter was still alive in the year of Crassus' death (91 BC), and appears alongside Crassus as a character in Cicero's De Oratore; he was also the father of Crassus' wife, Mucia.Entry for 'Licinius Crassus, Lucius', in Oxford Classical Dictionary
Political career Early career Prosecution of C. Papirius Carbo In 119 BC, when aged only 21, Crassus shot to fame for his prosecution of the proconsul Gaius Papirius Carbo,Cicero, Brutus 158 who committed suicide rather than face the inevitable guilty verdict.Cicero, Fam. 9.21.3Brutus 103 From this point on, Crassus was recognised as one of the foremost orators in Rome.Cicero, Brutus 159
However, Crassus came to regret this celebrated prosecution because it brought him many political enemies.Cicero, Verr. 3.3 One such enemy was Carbo's son, Gaius Papirius Carbo Arvina, who followed Crassus to his province in 94 BC with the aim of gathering evidence for a revenge prosecution. Crassus was remembered by later Romans for his wise response to the younger Carbo; instead of sending him away from his camp, Crassus in fact invited Carbo into his closest circle of advisors so that he might win over his former enemy.Valerius Maximus, 3.7.6
Other early activity Little else is known of Crassus' political activities in the 110s BC. He is known to have supported the efforts of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus to create a citizen colony at Narbo Martius in 117 BC.Cicero, pro Cluentio 140; de Oratore 2.223T. Robert. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume 1, p.528 At the age of twenty-seven, Crassus defended his relative Licinia, one of the Vestal Virgins who had been accused of breaking their vow of chastity that year. Crassus was successful during Licinia's first prosecution in front of the pontifices, and she was acquitted. However, she was prosecuted again by the special inquisitor Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla in early 113. This time, Crassus was not successful, and Licinia was consequently buried alive.Cicero, Brutus 160E.D. Rawson, 'Religion and Politics in the Late Second Century BC at Rome', Phoenix 28 (1974), pp. 193-212
Crassus served as quaestor sometime around the year 109 BC.T. Robert. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume 1, p.546 He was appointed to the province of Asia Minor. On his return journey, he studied rhetoric at Athens, but departed after a dispute with the locals. Having missed the ceremony of the Eleusinian Mysteries by only two days, Crassus requested that the Athenians repeat the affair so that he too might be initiated. When the Athenians refused, he angrily left the city. It seems Crassus related this anecdote to the young Cicero, who recorded it many years later in the De Oratore.Cicero, De Oratore 3.75
Crassus served as tribune of the plebs in 107 BC at the age of 33.Cicero, Brutus 160 His tribunate was as an example of a notably "quiet" one: Cicero had not realised Crassus even served as tribune until he read about it by chance in a passage of Lucilius.Cicero, Brutus 160T. Robert. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume 1, p. 551
Crassus probably served as aedile in 100 BC.T. Robert S. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume II, p. 579 Alongside Scaevola Pontifex (his future colleague in the consulship), Crassus put on expensive games for the people, which were remembered decades afterwards for their extravagance.Cicero, In Verrem 2. 4. 6 and 133
Equestrian juries debate, 106 BC As was common with many young politicians at the start of the cursus honorum, Crassus had employed popularis overtones in his prosecution of Carbo. But over time, he became an increasingly staunch defender of conservative values.E. Badian, 'Caepio and Norbanus: Notes on the Decade 100–90 BC', Historia 6 (1957), p.328
In 106 BC, Crassus gave a speech in which he defended the Lex Servilia, a law proposed by the consul Quintus Servilius Caepio which aimed to end the equestrian monopoly on juries.Cicero, Pro Cluentio 140 Since the legislative reforms of Gaius Gracchus, jurors for a number of important courts had been drawn only from the ranks of the equites. Crassus and the other conservative senators (the optimates) wanted mixed juries drawn from both senators and equestrians. He therefore attacked the equestrian courts in a speech, considered by Cicero (who preserves the following quotation from the speech) to be Crassus' finest moment:
Save us from wretchedness, save us from the fangs of men whose cruelty can only be satisfied by our blood; do not let us be slaves to others, unless to you alone, the whole People, to whom we may and should be servants.Cicero, De Oratore 1.225
Crassus' oratory won the day, and the Lex Servilia was successfully passed. It was, however, to prove short-lived, as a few years later a law of Gaius Servilius Glaucia (passed either in 104 or 101 BC) restored the equestrian monopoly on the juries.Andrew Lintott, in Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IX (Second Edition), p.93Michael Crawford, The Roman Republic (Second Edition), p. 124
Regardless of the long-term outcome of the Lex Servilia, Crassus' speech was highly celebrated. It became a literal model of Roman eloquence, and was being studied in a textbook by the young Cicero a few years later.Cicero, Brutus 164cf. Cicero, pro Cluentio 140, and de Oratore 2.223: both relate an anecdote where a certain M. Iunius Brutus, in an attempt to humiliate Crassus, handed him copies of his speeches 'For the Narbonian Settlement' and 'For the Servilian Law', in order to demonstrate how Crassus had adopted inconsistent positions over time regarding the Senate and equites. In the last year of his life, Crassus once again attacked the equestrian juries when he championed the legislation of Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger in 91 BC (see below).
When Quintus Servilius Caepio, the proposer of the jury law in question, was prosecuted in 103 BC by the tribune Gaius Norbanus for his catastrophic loss at the Battle of Arausio, Crassus defended him. Crassus lost the case, and Caepio was exiled.Cicero, De Oratore 2. 197-201
When consul in 95 BC, Crassus successfully defended Caepio's son, Quintus Servilius Caepio the Younger, from an unspecified charge. However, Cicero notes that in this instance Crassus' defence of the younger Caepio was rather half-hearted: "for its laudatory purpose, it was long enough; but as a whole oration it was very brief".Cicero, Brutus 161
Consulship
Crassus had probably served as praetor by 98 BC.T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume II, p.5 n.2 He was elected consul for 95 BC alongside his long-term ally Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex.Cicero, Brutus 160–161, noting that Scaevola and Crassus held all their magistracies together except for the tribunate. It was during this consulship that Crassus defended the younger Caepio from an unspecified charge (see above).
Lex Licinia Mucia The most notable act of Crassus and Scaevola's consulship was the Lex Licinia Mucia. This was an infamous law that targeted any foreigners who were illegally masquerading as Roman citizens. The law created an investigatory court (quaestio) tasked with forcing such individuals to revert to their former citizenships.
It was very unpopular, particularly among the non-Roman Italian allies.e.g. Cicero, Pro Sestio 30; Sallust, Histories 1.20M In fact, it was so controversial that later Roman commentators sometimes saw it as a main cause of the Social War (91–88 BC) that began several years later.Asconius, 67 Clark, commenting on Cicero's Pro Cornelio
Proconsulship Gallic triumph Crassus was granted Cisalpine Gaul as his proconsular province for 94 BC. Despite defeating a number of Gallic raiders, he failed to gain a triumph due to the veto of his consular colleague, Scaevola Pontifex.Asconius, 15 Clark, commenting on Cicero's In Pisonem 62
Cicero later judged that Crassus had been in the wrong, remarking that 'Crassus almost ransacked the Alps with a probe, in order to find any pretext for a triumph in an area where there were no enemies'.Cicero, In Pisonem 62 But even if Crassus was acting unscrupulously, Scaevola's veto is still remarkable. Theodor Mommsen, for instance, could find no precedent for it whatsoever.T. C. Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic The veto is particularly inexplicable given the former friendship between the two men: they had, after all, shared office at every stage of the cursus honorum, as Cicero points out,Cicero, Brutus 161 and there had been no signs of hostility during their consulship.
Causa Curiana It was likely in 94 BC that Crassus won the so-called "Causa Curiana" – an infamous inheritance dispute between Manius Curius and the family of one Marcus Coponius.M.C. Alexander, Trials in the Late Roman Republic, pp.48-9 Crassus represented Curius in the case, while Scaevola Pontifex represented the Coponii family. Cicero refers to the dispute many times during his works.
Coponius had left an as-yet-unborn son as his chief heir, with Curius as the substitute heir until the son came of age. However, Coponius soon died and no son was born. The Coponii therefore claimed that the prerequisite conditions (i.e., the birth of a son) had never been fulfilled, meaning that the will should be rendered invalid. However Crassus successfully convinced the Centumviral Court that Curius was the rightful heir, thereby securing Marcus Coponius' considerable inheritance for Curius alone.Many references, but see especially: Cicero, De Oratore, 1.180, 1.242-5, 2.24, 2.140, 2.220-3; and Cicero, Brutus, 144, 194-199 Cicero considered Crassus' defence the perfect example of how to win a case through terminological niceties.Cicero, De Oratore, 2.141: 'the whole case turned upon one abstract question, founded in the facts of the matter, and not in any occasion or personalities: the words in the will being "if a son is born to me, and such son dies before, etc. etc., then let so-and-so be me heir"; but no son having in fact been born, ought that party to inherit who was nominated heir in substitution for a deceased son?'
Censorship