Crassus was
of appropriating the public waters for the use of now anxious to seek for renown in another field.
of appropriating the public waters for the use of now anxious to seek for renown in another field.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
(Eckhel, v.
p.
232 ; Spanh.
poured into the mouth of his fallen enemy, saying, ii. p. 99. )
“ Sate thyself now with that metal of which in 21. M. LICINIUS M. F. CRASSUS Dives, son of
life thou wert so greedy. ” (Dion Cass. xl. 27; No. 19. In B. C. 30, he was consul with Octa-
Florus, iii. 11. )
vian, and in the following year, as proconsul of
(Plutarch, Crassus; Dion Cass. xxxvii. --xl. ; Macedonia, he fought with success against the sur-
Cic. Epist. passim. The Historia Romanorum Par rounding barbarians. (Liv. Epit. cxxxiv. , cxxxv. )
thica, usually attributed to Appian, is a compilation 22. M. LICINIUS M. F. Crassus Dives, son of
from Plutarch. All the authorities are collected No. 21, was consul B. c. 14. (Dion Cass. liv. 24. )
in Drumann, Gesch. Roms iv. pp. 71-115. )
23. L. LICINIUS L. F. CRASSUS, the orator.
18. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, son of No. 15, His pedigree is unknown. He was born B. c. 140,
and known by the designation of Decoclor; for, was educated by his father with the greatest care,
though originally very rich, his prodigality and and received instruction from the celebrated histo-
dissipation were so inordinate, that he became in- rian and jurist, L. Caelius Antipater. (Cic. Brut.
solvent, and his creditors sold his goods. After 26. ) At a very early age he began to display his
this, he was often taunted by being addressed as oratorical ability. At the age of twenty-one (or,
Crassus Dives. (Val. Max. vi. 9. § 12. )
according to Tacitus, Dial. de Orat. c. 34, two
19. M. LICINIUS CRASSUS Dives, the elder years earlier) he accused C. Carbo, a man of high
son of the triumvir (No. 17) by Tertulla. (Cic. ad pobility and eloquence, who was hated by the
Fam. v. 8. ) From his resemblance to the senator aristocratic party to which Crassus belonged. Val.
Axius, there was a slander that his mother had Maximus (vi. 5. $ 6) gives an instance of his hon-
been unfaithful to her husband. After his younger ourable conduct in this case. When the slave of
brother Publius had left Caesar, Marcus became Carbo brought to Crassus a desk filled with his mas-
Caesar's quaestor in Gaul, and at the breaking out ter's papers, Crassus sent back the desk to Carbo with
of the civil war, in B. C. 49 was praefect in Cis the seal unbroken, together with his slave in chains.
alpine Gaul (Caes. B. G. v. 24; Justin xlii. 4. ) Carbo escaped condemnation by poisoning himself
It is possible that he was the husband of the Cae with cantharides (Cic. ad Fum. ix. 21, Brut. 27);
cilia or Metella, who appears by an inscription in and Crassus, pitying his fate, felt some remorse at
Gruter (p. 377, No. 7) to have been the wife of the eagerness and success of his accusation. (Cic.
M. Crassus, and has by some genealogists been Verr. iii
. 1. ) In the following year (B. c. 118) he
wrongly given to the triumvir. (Drumann, Gesch. defended the proposal of a law for establishing a
Roms ii. p. 55. )
new colony at Narbo in Gaul. The measure was
20. P. Licinius M. f. CRASSUS Dives, younger opposed by the senate, who feared that by the
son of the triumvir, was Caesar's legate in Gaul | assignation of lands to the poorer citizens, the
from B. C. 58 to the second consulship of his aerarium would suffer from a diminution of the
father. In B. c. 58, he fought against Ariovistus; rents of the ager publicus; but, on this occasion,
in the following year, against the Veneti and other Crassus preferred the quest of popularity to the
tribes in north-western Gaul; and in B. C. 56, he reputation of consistent adherence to the aristo-
distinguished himself in Aquitania. In the next cracy. (Cic. Brut. 43, de Off: ii. 18. ) By eloquence
winter, Caesar sent him to Rome with a party of above his years, he succeeded in carrying the law,
soldiers who were intended to forward the election and proceeded himself to found the colony. In
of the triumvirs Pompey and Crassus, and he also B. c. 114, he undertook the defence of his kins-
brought home 1000 Gallic cavalry, who afterwards woman, the vestal Licinia, who, with two other
took part in the Partbian war. Notwithstanding vestals, Marcia and Aemilia, were accused of in
the mutual dislike of Cicero and Crassus the trium- cest; but, though upon a former trial his client
vir, Publius was much attached to the great orator, | had been acquitted by L. Caecilius Mettius, pon-
and derived much pleasure and benefit from his tifex maximus, and the whole college of pontifis,
society. In B. c. 58, he strove to prevent the the energy and ability of his defence were unable
banishment of Cicero, and with other young Ro- to prerail against the severity of L. Cassius, the
mans appeared in public clad in mourning; and, scopulus reorum, who was appointed inquisitor by
on his return to Rome, in B. c. 55, he exerted the people for the purpose of reviewing the former
himself to procure a reconciliation between Cicero lenient sentence. (Veil
. i. 15; Cic. de Orat. ii. 55,
and his father. (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. ii. 9. & 2. ) At de Off: ii. 18; Macrob. i. 10; Clinton, Fusti,
the end of the year B. c. 54, he followed the trium- B. c. 114; Ascon. in Mil. p. 46, ed. Orelli. )
vir to Syria, and, in the fatal battle near Carrhae, In his quaestorship he was the colleague of
behaved with the utmost gallantry. (Plut. Crass. Q. Mucius Scaevola, with whom, as colleague, he
25. ) Seeing that he could not rescue bis troops, served every other office except the tribunate of
a
:
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CRASSUS.
CRASSUS.
the plebs and the censorship. In his quaestorship / pontifex maximus, who must be carefully distin-
he travelled through Macedonin to Athens on his guished from the angur of the same nanie. During
retum from Asia, which scems to have been his their consulship was passed the Lex Licinia Mucia
province. In Asia he had listened to the teaching de Ciribus regundis, to prevent persons passing as
of Scepsius Metrodorus, and at Athens he received citizens who were not entitled to that character,
instruction from Charmadas and other philosophers and to compel all who were not citizens to depart
and rhetoricians ; but he did not remain so long from Rome. The rigour and inhospitality of this
as he intended in that city, from unreasonable law seems to have been one of the promoting causes
resentment at the refusal of the Athenians to re- of the social war. (Ascon. in Cic. pro Cornel. ;
peat the solemnization of the mysteries, which Cic. de Off: iii. 11. ) During the term of his
were over two days before his arrival
. (Cic. de Orat. office, he had occasion to defend Q. Servilius Caepio,
iii. 20. ) After his return to Rome, we find liim who was hated by the equites, and was accused of
engaged in pleading the causes of his friends. majestas by the tribune C. Norbanus (Cic. Brut.
Thus, he defended Sergius Orata, who was accused 35); but Caepio was condemned.
Crassus was
of appropriating the public waters for the use of now anxious to seek for renown in another field.
his oyster fisheries. (Val. Max. ix. 1. & 1. ) He He hastened to his province, Hither Gaul, and
was engaged, on behalf of the same Orata, in an explored the Alps in search of an enemy; but he
other causc, in which the following interesting found no opposition, and was obliged to content
question arose :—How far is a rendor, selling a himself with the subjugation of some petty tribes,
house to a person from whom he had previously by whose depredations he asserted that the pro-
purchased it, liable to damages for not expressly vince was disturbed. For this trifling success he
mentioning in the conveyance a defect in title that was not ashamed to ask a triumph, and would
existed at the time of the former sale, and of which perhaps have obtained his demand from the senate,
the purchaser might therefore be supposed to be had not his colleague Scaevola opposed such a mis-
cognizant ? (Cic. de Off. ii. 16, de Orat. i. 39. ) application of the honour. (Val. Max. iii. 7. § 6;
He was tribune of the people in B. c. 107, but the Cic. in Pison. 26. ) With this exception, his con-
period of this office was not distinguished by any- duct in the administration of his province was
thing remarkable. In B. c. 106 he spoke in favour irreproachable. This was admitted by C. Carbo
of the lex Servilia, by which it was proposed to the son of the Carbo whom he had formerly ac-
restore to the equites the judicia, which were then cused), who accompanied him to Gaul, in order to
in the hands of the senatorian order. The contests seek out the materials of an accusation; but
for the power of being selected as judices, which | Crassus disarmed his opposition by courting in-
dirided the different orders, prove how much the quiry, and employing Carbo in the planning and
administration of justice was perverted by par- execution of affairs.
tiality and faction. As there is much confusion One of the most celebrated prirate causes in the
in the history of the judicia, it may be proper to annals of Roman jurisprudence was the contest for
mention some of the changes which took place an inheritance between M. Curius and M. Coponius,
about this period. In B. c. 122, by the lex Sem- which was heard before the centumviri under the
pronia of C. Gracchus, the judicia were transferred presidency of the praetor T. Manilius, in the year
from the senate to the equites. In B. c. 106, by B. C. 93. Crassus, the greatest orator of the day,
the lex Servilia of Q. Servilius Caepio, they were pleaded the cause of Curius, while Q. Scaevoln, the
restored to the senate ; and it is not correct to say greatest living lawyer, supported the claim of
(with Walter, Gesch. des Romischen Rechts, i. p. Coponius. The state of the case was this. A
244, and others), that by this lex Servilia both testator died, supposing his wife to be preg-
orders were admitted to share the judicia. The nant, and having directed by will that if the
lex Servilia of Caepio had a very brief existence ; son, who should be born within the next ten
for about B. c. 104, by the lex Servilia of C. Servi- months, should die before becoming his own guar-
lius Glaucia, the judicia were again taken from the dian," M. Curius should succeed as heir in his
senate and given to the knights
. Much error has place. (Cic. Brut. 52, 53. ) No son was bom. -
arisen from the existence of two laws of the same Scaevola argued that this was a casus omissus, and
name and of nearly the same date, but exactly insisted upon the strict law, according to which
opposite in their enactments. The speech of Cras- Curius could have no claim unless a son were first
2u8 for the lex Servilia of Caepio was one of re- born, and then died while under guardianship.
markable power and eloquence (Cic. Brut. 43, de Craseus contended for the equitable construction,
Orat. i. 52), and expressed the strength of his according to which the testator could not be supe
devotion to the aristocratic party. It was proba- posed to intend any difference between the case of
bly in this speech that he attacked Memmius (Cic. no son being born, and the case of a son being born
de Orat. ii. 59, 66) who was a strenuous opponent and dying before arriving at the age of puberty,
of the rogation of Caepio. In B. C. 103 he was The equitable construction contended for by Crassus
curule aedile, and with his colleague, Q. Scaevola, was approved, and Curius gained the inheritance.
gave splendid games, in which pillars of foreign In B. c. 92 he was made censor with Cn. Do-
marble were exhibited, and lion fights were intro- mitius Ahenobarbus. A new practice had sprung
duced. (Cic. de Off. ii. 16; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. up in Rome of sending youths to the schools of
3, viii. 16. s. 20. ) After being praetor and augur, persons who called themselves Latin rhetoricians.
he became a candidate for the consulship, but he Crassus disapproved the novelty, as tending to
studiously kept away from the presence of his
father-in-law', Q. Scaevola, the augur, not wishing Antequam in sunm tutelam pervenisset,"
that one whom he so respected should be a witness i. e. before attaining the age of 14 years, at which
of what he considered the degradation of his can- age a son would cease to be under the guardian-
rass. (Val. Max. iv. 5. & 4. ) He was elected, B. C. ship of another. The phrase has been misunder-
95, with his constant colleague, Q. Scaevola, the stood by Drumann.
66
## p. 881 (#901) ############################################
CRASSUS.
831
CRASSUS.
:منان
:
idleness, and calculated rather to encourge effron- | excel himself in the vchemence of his assault upon
tery than to sharpen intellect. He thought that the consul. Philippus was so irritated by his
the Latins in almost every valuable acquirement bitter words, that he ordered his lictor to seize
excelled the Grecks, and was displeased to see his some of the goods of Crassus by way of pledge,
countrymen stoop to an inferior imitation of Gre- a strong measure, adopted usually by the highest
cinn customs. The censors suppressed the schools magistrates to constrain the performance of public
by a proclamation, which may be found in the duties, or to punish contumacious contempt of
Dialogue de Oratoribus and in Gellius (xv. 11), public authority. Crassus repelled the lictor, and
and deserves to be referred to as an example of the said that he could not respect the character of con-
form of a censorian edict. Though the two cen- sul in a man who refused to trea him as a senator.
sors concurred in this measure, they were men of “ If you want to restrain me, it will not do to
very different habits and tempers, and passed the seize my goods. * You must tear out this tongue.
period of their office in strife and discord. Crassus Even then, with my very breath I will continue
was fond of elegance and luxury. He had a house to denounce your lawless conduct. " At his dicta-
upon the Palatium, which, though it yielded in tion a vote of the scnate was passed by which they
magnificence to the mansion of Q. Catulus upon the vindicated their own patriotisni; but the passionaie
same hill, and was considerably inferior to that of vehemence of this contention shattered his health
C. Aquilius upon the Viminal, was remarkable for and brought on a fever. He returned to his
its size, the taste of its furniture, and the beauty dwelling, was seized with a shivering fit, and in
of its grounds. It was adorned with pillars of seven days was dead.
II y mettinn marble, with expensive vases, and tri- Such was the end of one of the greatest orators
clinia inlaid with brass. He had two goblets, that Rome ever produced. In an age abounding
carved by the band of Men which served rather with orators he stood pre-eminent. (Vell. Pat. ii. 9. )
for ornament than for use. His gardens were The rougher style of Coruncanius, Cato, and the
provided with fish-ponds, and some noble lotus- Gracchi, had been succeeded by a medium style,
trees shaded his walks with their ample foliage. which, without sacrificing strength to artificial
Ahenobarbus, his colleague, found fault with such rules, was more polished and ornamented. His
corruption of manners (Plin. H. N. xvii. 1), esti- sentences were short and well-turned. In debate
mated his house at à hundred million (sester- he was self-possessed and pertinacious, and his
tium millies), or according to Valerius Maximus lively wit gave a peculiar zest to his reply. He
(ix. 1. $ 4) six million (seragies sestertio) sester-employed words in common use, but he always em-
ces, and complained of his crying for the loss of a ployed the best and most proper words. His
lamprey, as if it had been a daughter. It was a mode of stating his facts and arguments was
tame lamprey, which used to come at the call of wonderfully clear and concise. Though peror-
Crassus, and feed out of his hand. Crassus made a natus, be was perbrevis. In early life he had dis-
public speech against his colleague, and by his ciplined his taste by the excellent practice of care-
great powers of ridicule, turned him into derision ; fully translating into Latin the most celebrated
jested upon his name (Sueton. Nero, 2), and to the specimens of Grecian eloquence. In the treatise
accusation of weeping for a lamprey, replied, that De Oratore, Cicero introduces him as one of the
it was more than Ahenobarbus had done upon the principal speakers, and he is understood to express
loss of any of his three wives. (Aelian, Hist. Cicero's own sentiments. Few of his speeches
Anim. viii
. 4. ) On many occasions, he availed were preserved in writing, and of those few the
himself of his power of exciting a laugh against his greater part, if we may judge from the fragments
opponent (Cic. de Or. ii. 59, 60, 70), and was not that remain, consisted of senatorial orations and
scrupulous as to the mode. Thus, though he care- harangues to the people. His chief excellence
fully avoided everything that might impair his own seems to have lain in this style rather than in ju-
dignity, and might seem to his audience to savour dicial oratory; yet, in the judgment of Cicero, he
of buffoonery, he sometimes jested upon personal was eloquentium jurisperitissimus. (Guil. Grotius,
deformities, as may be seen by reference to his sally de Vit. JCtorum, i. 7. Ø 9; Meyer, Oratorum
upon L. Aelius Lámia in his speech for C. Aculeo Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 291—317 ; Drumann,
(Cic. de Or. ii. 65), and his answer to the trouble- Gesch. Roms. iv. p. 62. )
some witness, as reported by Pliny. (H. N. xxxv. 24 and 25. Licinia. (LICINIA. ]
4. ) Shortly before his death, he spoke in favour 26. L. Licinius Crassus Scipio, grandson of
of Cn. Plancus in opposition to the charge of M. Crassus the orator (No. 23), one of whose daugh-
Junius Brutus the Accuser. [BRUTUS, No. 14. ] ters married his father P. Scipio Nasica, who was
Brutus, in allusion to his fine house and effeminate praetor, B. C.
poured into the mouth of his fallen enemy, saying, ii. p. 99. )
“ Sate thyself now with that metal of which in 21. M. LICINIUS M. F. CRASSUS Dives, son of
life thou wert so greedy. ” (Dion Cass. xl. 27; No. 19. In B. C. 30, he was consul with Octa-
Florus, iii. 11. )
vian, and in the following year, as proconsul of
(Plutarch, Crassus; Dion Cass. xxxvii. --xl. ; Macedonia, he fought with success against the sur-
Cic. Epist. passim. The Historia Romanorum Par rounding barbarians. (Liv. Epit. cxxxiv. , cxxxv. )
thica, usually attributed to Appian, is a compilation 22. M. LICINIUS M. F. Crassus Dives, son of
from Plutarch. All the authorities are collected No. 21, was consul B. c. 14. (Dion Cass. liv. 24. )
in Drumann, Gesch. Roms iv. pp. 71-115. )
23. L. LICINIUS L. F. CRASSUS, the orator.
18. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, son of No. 15, His pedigree is unknown. He was born B. c. 140,
and known by the designation of Decoclor; for, was educated by his father with the greatest care,
though originally very rich, his prodigality and and received instruction from the celebrated histo-
dissipation were so inordinate, that he became in- rian and jurist, L. Caelius Antipater. (Cic. Brut.
solvent, and his creditors sold his goods. After 26. ) At a very early age he began to display his
this, he was often taunted by being addressed as oratorical ability. At the age of twenty-one (or,
Crassus Dives. (Val. Max. vi. 9. § 12. )
according to Tacitus, Dial. de Orat. c. 34, two
19. M. LICINIUS CRASSUS Dives, the elder years earlier) he accused C. Carbo, a man of high
son of the triumvir (No. 17) by Tertulla. (Cic. ad pobility and eloquence, who was hated by the
Fam. v. 8. ) From his resemblance to the senator aristocratic party to which Crassus belonged. Val.
Axius, there was a slander that his mother had Maximus (vi. 5. $ 6) gives an instance of his hon-
been unfaithful to her husband. After his younger ourable conduct in this case. When the slave of
brother Publius had left Caesar, Marcus became Carbo brought to Crassus a desk filled with his mas-
Caesar's quaestor in Gaul, and at the breaking out ter's papers, Crassus sent back the desk to Carbo with
of the civil war, in B. C. 49 was praefect in Cis the seal unbroken, together with his slave in chains.
alpine Gaul (Caes. B. G. v. 24; Justin xlii. 4. ) Carbo escaped condemnation by poisoning himself
It is possible that he was the husband of the Cae with cantharides (Cic. ad Fum. ix. 21, Brut. 27);
cilia or Metella, who appears by an inscription in and Crassus, pitying his fate, felt some remorse at
Gruter (p. 377, No. 7) to have been the wife of the eagerness and success of his accusation. (Cic.
M. Crassus, and has by some genealogists been Verr. iii
. 1. ) In the following year (B. c. 118) he
wrongly given to the triumvir. (Drumann, Gesch. defended the proposal of a law for establishing a
Roms ii. p. 55. )
new colony at Narbo in Gaul. The measure was
20. P. Licinius M. f. CRASSUS Dives, younger opposed by the senate, who feared that by the
son of the triumvir, was Caesar's legate in Gaul | assignation of lands to the poorer citizens, the
from B. C. 58 to the second consulship of his aerarium would suffer from a diminution of the
father. In B. c. 58, he fought against Ariovistus; rents of the ager publicus; but, on this occasion,
in the following year, against the Veneti and other Crassus preferred the quest of popularity to the
tribes in north-western Gaul; and in B. C. 56, he reputation of consistent adherence to the aristo-
distinguished himself in Aquitania. In the next cracy. (Cic. Brut. 43, de Off: ii. 18. ) By eloquence
winter, Caesar sent him to Rome with a party of above his years, he succeeded in carrying the law,
soldiers who were intended to forward the election and proceeded himself to found the colony. In
of the triumvirs Pompey and Crassus, and he also B. c. 114, he undertook the defence of his kins-
brought home 1000 Gallic cavalry, who afterwards woman, the vestal Licinia, who, with two other
took part in the Partbian war. Notwithstanding vestals, Marcia and Aemilia, were accused of in
the mutual dislike of Cicero and Crassus the trium- cest; but, though upon a former trial his client
vir, Publius was much attached to the great orator, | had been acquitted by L. Caecilius Mettius, pon-
and derived much pleasure and benefit from his tifex maximus, and the whole college of pontifis,
society. In B. c. 58, he strove to prevent the the energy and ability of his defence were unable
banishment of Cicero, and with other young Ro- to prerail against the severity of L. Cassius, the
mans appeared in public clad in mourning; and, scopulus reorum, who was appointed inquisitor by
on his return to Rome, in B. c. 55, he exerted the people for the purpose of reviewing the former
himself to procure a reconciliation between Cicero lenient sentence. (Veil
. i. 15; Cic. de Orat. ii. 55,
and his father. (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. ii. 9. & 2. ) At de Off: ii. 18; Macrob. i. 10; Clinton, Fusti,
the end of the year B. c. 54, he followed the trium- B. c. 114; Ascon. in Mil. p. 46, ed. Orelli. )
vir to Syria, and, in the fatal battle near Carrhae, In his quaestorship he was the colleague of
behaved with the utmost gallantry. (Plut. Crass. Q. Mucius Scaevola, with whom, as colleague, he
25. ) Seeing that he could not rescue bis troops, served every other office except the tribunate of
a
:
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880
CRASSUS.
CRASSUS.
the plebs and the censorship. In his quaestorship / pontifex maximus, who must be carefully distin-
he travelled through Macedonin to Athens on his guished from the angur of the same nanie. During
retum from Asia, which scems to have been his their consulship was passed the Lex Licinia Mucia
province. In Asia he had listened to the teaching de Ciribus regundis, to prevent persons passing as
of Scepsius Metrodorus, and at Athens he received citizens who were not entitled to that character,
instruction from Charmadas and other philosophers and to compel all who were not citizens to depart
and rhetoricians ; but he did not remain so long from Rome. The rigour and inhospitality of this
as he intended in that city, from unreasonable law seems to have been one of the promoting causes
resentment at the refusal of the Athenians to re- of the social war. (Ascon. in Cic. pro Cornel. ;
peat the solemnization of the mysteries, which Cic. de Off: iii. 11. ) During the term of his
were over two days before his arrival
. (Cic. de Orat. office, he had occasion to defend Q. Servilius Caepio,
iii. 20. ) After his return to Rome, we find liim who was hated by the equites, and was accused of
engaged in pleading the causes of his friends. majestas by the tribune C. Norbanus (Cic. Brut.
Thus, he defended Sergius Orata, who was accused 35); but Caepio was condemned.
Crassus was
of appropriating the public waters for the use of now anxious to seek for renown in another field.
his oyster fisheries. (Val. Max. ix. 1. & 1. ) He He hastened to his province, Hither Gaul, and
was engaged, on behalf of the same Orata, in an explored the Alps in search of an enemy; but he
other causc, in which the following interesting found no opposition, and was obliged to content
question arose :—How far is a rendor, selling a himself with the subjugation of some petty tribes,
house to a person from whom he had previously by whose depredations he asserted that the pro-
purchased it, liable to damages for not expressly vince was disturbed. For this trifling success he
mentioning in the conveyance a defect in title that was not ashamed to ask a triumph, and would
existed at the time of the former sale, and of which perhaps have obtained his demand from the senate,
the purchaser might therefore be supposed to be had not his colleague Scaevola opposed such a mis-
cognizant ? (Cic. de Off. ii. 16, de Orat. i. 39. ) application of the honour. (Val. Max. iii. 7. § 6;
He was tribune of the people in B. c. 107, but the Cic. in Pison. 26. ) With this exception, his con-
period of this office was not distinguished by any- duct in the administration of his province was
thing remarkable. In B. c. 106 he spoke in favour irreproachable. This was admitted by C. Carbo
of the lex Servilia, by which it was proposed to the son of the Carbo whom he had formerly ac-
restore to the equites the judicia, which were then cused), who accompanied him to Gaul, in order to
in the hands of the senatorian order. The contests seek out the materials of an accusation; but
for the power of being selected as judices, which | Crassus disarmed his opposition by courting in-
dirided the different orders, prove how much the quiry, and employing Carbo in the planning and
administration of justice was perverted by par- execution of affairs.
tiality and faction. As there is much confusion One of the most celebrated prirate causes in the
in the history of the judicia, it may be proper to annals of Roman jurisprudence was the contest for
mention some of the changes which took place an inheritance between M. Curius and M. Coponius,
about this period. In B. c. 122, by the lex Sem- which was heard before the centumviri under the
pronia of C. Gracchus, the judicia were transferred presidency of the praetor T. Manilius, in the year
from the senate to the equites. In B. c. 106, by B. C. 93. Crassus, the greatest orator of the day,
the lex Servilia of Q. Servilius Caepio, they were pleaded the cause of Curius, while Q. Scaevoln, the
restored to the senate ; and it is not correct to say greatest living lawyer, supported the claim of
(with Walter, Gesch. des Romischen Rechts, i. p. Coponius. The state of the case was this. A
244, and others), that by this lex Servilia both testator died, supposing his wife to be preg-
orders were admitted to share the judicia. The nant, and having directed by will that if the
lex Servilia of Caepio had a very brief existence ; son, who should be born within the next ten
for about B. c. 104, by the lex Servilia of C. Servi- months, should die before becoming his own guar-
lius Glaucia, the judicia were again taken from the dian," M. Curius should succeed as heir in his
senate and given to the knights
. Much error has place. (Cic. Brut. 52, 53. ) No son was bom. -
arisen from the existence of two laws of the same Scaevola argued that this was a casus omissus, and
name and of nearly the same date, but exactly insisted upon the strict law, according to which
opposite in their enactments. The speech of Cras- Curius could have no claim unless a son were first
2u8 for the lex Servilia of Caepio was one of re- born, and then died while under guardianship.
markable power and eloquence (Cic. Brut. 43, de Craseus contended for the equitable construction,
Orat. i. 52), and expressed the strength of his according to which the testator could not be supe
devotion to the aristocratic party. It was proba- posed to intend any difference between the case of
bly in this speech that he attacked Memmius (Cic. no son being born, and the case of a son being born
de Orat. ii. 59, 66) who was a strenuous opponent and dying before arriving at the age of puberty,
of the rogation of Caepio. In B. C. 103 he was The equitable construction contended for by Crassus
curule aedile, and with his colleague, Q. Scaevola, was approved, and Curius gained the inheritance.
gave splendid games, in which pillars of foreign In B. c. 92 he was made censor with Cn. Do-
marble were exhibited, and lion fights were intro- mitius Ahenobarbus. A new practice had sprung
duced. (Cic. de Off. ii. 16; Plin. H. N. xxxvi. up in Rome of sending youths to the schools of
3, viii. 16. s. 20. ) After being praetor and augur, persons who called themselves Latin rhetoricians.
he became a candidate for the consulship, but he Crassus disapproved the novelty, as tending to
studiously kept away from the presence of his
father-in-law', Q. Scaevola, the augur, not wishing Antequam in sunm tutelam pervenisset,"
that one whom he so respected should be a witness i. e. before attaining the age of 14 years, at which
of what he considered the degradation of his can- age a son would cease to be under the guardian-
rass. (Val. Max. iv. 5. & 4. ) He was elected, B. C. ship of another. The phrase has been misunder-
95, with his constant colleague, Q. Scaevola, the stood by Drumann.
66
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CRASSUS.
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idleness, and calculated rather to encourge effron- | excel himself in the vchemence of his assault upon
tery than to sharpen intellect. He thought that the consul. Philippus was so irritated by his
the Latins in almost every valuable acquirement bitter words, that he ordered his lictor to seize
excelled the Grecks, and was displeased to see his some of the goods of Crassus by way of pledge,
countrymen stoop to an inferior imitation of Gre- a strong measure, adopted usually by the highest
cinn customs. The censors suppressed the schools magistrates to constrain the performance of public
by a proclamation, which may be found in the duties, or to punish contumacious contempt of
Dialogue de Oratoribus and in Gellius (xv. 11), public authority. Crassus repelled the lictor, and
and deserves to be referred to as an example of the said that he could not respect the character of con-
form of a censorian edict. Though the two cen- sul in a man who refused to trea him as a senator.
sors concurred in this measure, they were men of “ If you want to restrain me, it will not do to
very different habits and tempers, and passed the seize my goods. * You must tear out this tongue.
period of their office in strife and discord. Crassus Even then, with my very breath I will continue
was fond of elegance and luxury. He had a house to denounce your lawless conduct. " At his dicta-
upon the Palatium, which, though it yielded in tion a vote of the scnate was passed by which they
magnificence to the mansion of Q. Catulus upon the vindicated their own patriotisni; but the passionaie
same hill, and was considerably inferior to that of vehemence of this contention shattered his health
C. Aquilius upon the Viminal, was remarkable for and brought on a fever. He returned to his
its size, the taste of its furniture, and the beauty dwelling, was seized with a shivering fit, and in
of its grounds. It was adorned with pillars of seven days was dead.
II y mettinn marble, with expensive vases, and tri- Such was the end of one of the greatest orators
clinia inlaid with brass. He had two goblets, that Rome ever produced. In an age abounding
carved by the band of Men which served rather with orators he stood pre-eminent. (Vell. Pat. ii. 9. )
for ornament than for use. His gardens were The rougher style of Coruncanius, Cato, and the
provided with fish-ponds, and some noble lotus- Gracchi, had been succeeded by a medium style,
trees shaded his walks with their ample foliage. which, without sacrificing strength to artificial
Ahenobarbus, his colleague, found fault with such rules, was more polished and ornamented. His
corruption of manners (Plin. H. N. xvii. 1), esti- sentences were short and well-turned. In debate
mated his house at à hundred million (sester- he was self-possessed and pertinacious, and his
tium millies), or according to Valerius Maximus lively wit gave a peculiar zest to his reply. He
(ix. 1. $ 4) six million (seragies sestertio) sester-employed words in common use, but he always em-
ces, and complained of his crying for the loss of a ployed the best and most proper words. His
lamprey, as if it had been a daughter. It was a mode of stating his facts and arguments was
tame lamprey, which used to come at the call of wonderfully clear and concise. Though peror-
Crassus, and feed out of his hand. Crassus made a natus, be was perbrevis. In early life he had dis-
public speech against his colleague, and by his ciplined his taste by the excellent practice of care-
great powers of ridicule, turned him into derision ; fully translating into Latin the most celebrated
jested upon his name (Sueton. Nero, 2), and to the specimens of Grecian eloquence. In the treatise
accusation of weeping for a lamprey, replied, that De Oratore, Cicero introduces him as one of the
it was more than Ahenobarbus had done upon the principal speakers, and he is understood to express
loss of any of his three wives. (Aelian, Hist. Cicero's own sentiments. Few of his speeches
Anim. viii
. 4. ) On many occasions, he availed were preserved in writing, and of those few the
himself of his power of exciting a laugh against his greater part, if we may judge from the fragments
opponent (Cic. de Or. ii. 59, 60, 70), and was not that remain, consisted of senatorial orations and
scrupulous as to the mode. Thus, though he care- harangues to the people. His chief excellence
fully avoided everything that might impair his own seems to have lain in this style rather than in ju-
dignity, and might seem to his audience to savour dicial oratory; yet, in the judgment of Cicero, he
of buffoonery, he sometimes jested upon personal was eloquentium jurisperitissimus. (Guil. Grotius,
deformities, as may be seen by reference to his sally de Vit. JCtorum, i. 7. Ø 9; Meyer, Oratorum
upon L. Aelius Lámia in his speech for C. Aculeo Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 291—317 ; Drumann,
(Cic. de Or. ii. 65), and his answer to the trouble- Gesch. Roms. iv. p. 62. )
some witness, as reported by Pliny. (H. N. xxxv. 24 and 25. Licinia. (LICINIA. ]
4. ) Shortly before his death, he spoke in favour 26. L. Licinius Crassus Scipio, grandson of
of Cn. Plancus in opposition to the charge of M. Crassus the orator (No. 23), one of whose daugh-
Junius Brutus the Accuser. [BRUTUS, No. 14. ] ters married his father P. Scipio Nasica, who was
Brutus, in allusion to his fine house and effeminate praetor, B. C.
