Marcus Licinius Crassus

“ They lay in ambush in the baths. Splendid witnesses, indeed! Then they sprung out precipitately. O men entirely devoted to their dignity! For this is the story that they make up: that when Licinius had arrived, and was holding the box of poison in his hand, and was endeavouring to deliver it to them, but had not yet delivered it, then all on a sudden those splendid nameless witnesses sprung out; and that Licinius, when he had already put out his hand to give them over the box of poison, drew it back again, and, alarmed at that an expected onset of men, took to his heels. ”

“ Spartacus pushed forward as far as the foot of the Alps; but his followers were intent on returning to Rome, in order to sack it, and add its contents to their baggage. M. Licinius Crassus was sent after him; and having undertaken to overtake him, came up with him in Lucania. The slaves fought like lions, or, rather, with the ferocity of the brutes with whom they had been taught to contend, and were, in some instances, victorious. ”

“ L. Licinius Crassus was four years younger than Antonius, and acquired great reputation for his knowledge of jurisprudence, for his eminence as a pleader, and, above all, for his powerful and triumphant orations in support of the restoration of the judicial office to the senators. From among the crowd of orators, who were then flourishing in the last days of expiring Roman liberty, Cicero selected Crassus to be the representative of his sentiments in his imaginary conversation in "The Orator." ”

“ The brow wrinkles, the hair turns grey, strength wastes, energy fails, the brain gets torpid, and the senses dull, but the heart never grows old. Business, ambition, pleasure, dangers, duties, difficulties, and successes have filled that quarter of a century, and passed away like a dream; but the touch of a hand, the memory of a face, have outlived them all. Caius Lucius Licinius, Roman patrician, general, prætor, consul, and procurator of the Empire, is the young commander of a legion once more, with the world before him, and the woman he loves by his side. ”

“ The younger Crassus having been slain by a party of horsemen at Fimbria; his father, to escape suffering insult, killed himself. Cinna and Marius, without even the formality of an election, declared themselves consuls; and on the first day of their entering upon office, Marius ordered Sextus Licinius, a senator, to be cast from the Tarpeian rock, and after having committed very many atrocious acts, died on the ides of January. If we compare his vices with his virtues, it will be difficult to pronounce whether he was greater in war, or more wicked in peace. ”

“ When the great ships shall cross the middle sea, the tyrant's power shall fail, and a holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire! Joy to Syria and to Egypt, when the great ships shall cross the middle sea!' Then a centurion sprang forward, and would have slain the youth with his sword, but Licinius waved him off, and stood looking upon the singular lad with interest and wonder. And the youth flopped up off of the ground like a fish, and fell back heavily, and almost immediately resumed his wild, sweet chanting of the self-same words ”

“ But this greatest statesman, politician, and ruler--this absolute, untroubled, and self-confident atheist--had only "the godliness that is profitable for the life that now is"; for this "Christian" had never been baptized (knowing that an emperor can not be a Christian) ; and he afterward murdered in cold blood, without provocation, "his most pious son, Crispus Cæsar, resembling in all things his father"; his own wife Fausta, and the youthful Licinius, son of his sister Constantia ”

“ The last books of Livy are mutilated, and thus we are without any clear view of part of the operations. The duration of the war, considering the disproportion between the two powers, is very great; but indeed the Roman generals carried it on at first in the worst way that could be, and strategical talent seems to have very much fallen off just then among the Romans. P. Licinius Crassus appeared in Thessaly, where Perseus advanced to meet him, and gained a pretty considerable advantage over his cavalry: the Romans had many killed and taken prisoners. ”

“ The Emperor Licinius is a brave and skillful commander, trained all his life in the discipline of the Roman army. He not only hath yet a solid foothold upon European soil, but he could call into action out of populous Asia double as many soldiers as the Western Empire could put into the field, including the hardy Goths, whom I have added to the military force of Rome. He is no merely titular emperor, but is a consummate warrior, a wise ruler, an able and valiant man, as he hath already proved against both Maximian and myself. ”

“ No amount of public interest will stop up the little chinks and corners, so to speak, which are intended by Nature to contain the petty cares and pleasures and vexations of domestic life. Without the constant association—the daily friction—of wife and children, a cynical disposition becomes selfish and morose; a kind one, melancholy and forlorn. Licinius feels a blank in his existence, which nothing he has yet found serves to fill; and he often wonders in himself why the barbarian slave should be almost the only creature in Rome for whom he entertains a feeling of interest and regard. ”

“ But the temper of mankind was altered; and it was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honour and independence. Licinius solicited and accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the feet of his lord and master, was raised from the ground with insulting pity, was admitted the same day to the imperial banquet, and soon afterward was sent away to Thessalonica, which had been chosen for the place of his confinement. ”

“ Licinius enlisted even veteran centurions and soldiers; and many of them volunteered, as they saw that those men who had served in the former Macedonian war, or in Asia, had become rich. When the military tribunes cited the centurions, and especially those of the highest rank, twenty-three of them, who had held the first posts, appealed to the tribunes of the people. Two of that body, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, wished to refer the matter to the consuls ”

“ Peace followed for nine years, during which the emperor employed himself with barbarian wars, and with legislation civil and religious, as detailed below. His Decennalia were celebrated at Rome 315, 316, and the triumphal arch dedicated. Two years later his son Crispus, now a young man, and his infant son and nephew Constantine and Licinianus, were raised to the rank of Caesar at Arles (Zos. ii. 20, etc.) . His other sons by Fausta were born also in this period, Constantius in 317 and Constans in 323. Licinius meanwhile began to oppress his subjects, especially the Christians. ”

“ But what then of Maxentius, who was in possession of Italy and Africa? If the theory we have propounded be right, he must have been studiously ignored and treated as a usurper, to be thrown out—just as Carausius had been—at a favourable opportunity. There is a passage in Lactantius which seems to corroborate this suggestion. That author says that Maximin Daza, the Cæsar of Egypt and Syria and the old protégé of Galerius, heard with anger that Licinius had been promoted over his head to be Augustus and hold the second place in the charmed circle of Emperors. ”

“ To have left the name of Licinius out of the decree would have fostered any ambitious views which that emperor might have entertained, by enabling him to set up himself as the especial guardian of the heathen religion, and so concentrating in his own hands all the resources of the pagan world. Constantine was compelled, therefore, either to divide the influence of the Christians with Licinius, or else to array himself and Christianity on the one side, against Licinius and paganism on the other ”

“ After a fruitless negotiation, in which the two princes attempted to seduce the fidelity of each other’s adherents, they had recourse to arms. The emperor of the East commanded a disciplined and veteran army of above seventy thousand men; and Licinius, who had collected about thirty thousand Illyrians, was at first oppressed by the superiority of numbers. His military skill, and the firmness of his troops, restored the day, and obtained a decisive victory. The incredible speed which Maximin exerted in his flight is much more celebrated than his prowess in the battle. ”

“ As Maximin was alike destitute of abilities and of virtue, he was lamented neither by the people nor by the soldiers. The provinces of the East, delivered from the terrors of civil war, cheerfully acknowledged the authority of Licinius. [91]
Cruelty of Licinius The vanquished emperor left behind him two children, a boy of about eight, and a girl of about seven, years old. Their inoffensive age might have excited compassion; but the compassion of Licinius was a very feeble resource, nor did it restrain him from extinguishing the name and memory of his adversary. ”

“ Having settled the affairs of Rome, he proceeded early in 313 to meet Licinius at Milan. There the marriage of the latter with Constantia was consummated, and the full edict of toleration, the Edict of Milan, was promulgated. The emperors then separated, Licinius to defend himself against Maximinus Daza, Constantine to guard the Rhine. Both were victorious. Licinius soon after became sole master of the East by the death of Maximus at Tarsus (Zos. ii. 17; de M. P. xlix.) ”

“ Such a refin'd revenge as noble minds
Alone can practise, and alone can feel.
At. If thou wilt go, Licinius, let Attilia At least go with thee.
Lic. No, my gentle love,
Too much I prize thy safety and thy peace.
Let me entreat thee, stay with Barce here
Till our return.
At. Then, ere ye go, in pity
Explain the latent purpose of your souls.
Lic. Soon shalt thou know it all—Farewell! farewell!
Let us keep Regulus in Rome, or die. ”

“ In 323 Constantine, tempted by the “advanced age and unpopular vices” of his colleague, again declared war against him, and, having defeated his army at Adrianople (3rd of July 323) , succeeded in shutting him up within the walls of Byzantium. The defeat of the superior fleet of Licinius by Flavius Julius Crispus, Constantine’s eldest son, compelled his withdrawal to Bithynia, where a last stand was made ”

“ They are readily propagated by offsets or by seed.
The order is closely allied to Saxifragaceae, from which it is distinguished by its fleshy habit and the larger number of carpels.
CRASSUS (literally “dense,” “thick,” “fat”) , a family name in the Roman gens Licinia (plebeian) . The most important of the name are the following:
1. Publius Licinius Crassus, surnamed Dives Mucianus, Roman statesman, orator and jurist, consul, 131 B.C. He was the son of P. Mucius Scaevola (consul 175) and was adopted by a P. Licinius Crassus Dives. ”

“ And yet a year had scarcely elapsed after the death of Maximin, before the victorious emperors turned their arms against each other. The genius, the success, and the aspiring temper of Constantine may seem to mark him out as the aggressor; but the perfidious character of Licinius justifies the most unfavourable suspicions, and by the faint light which history reflects on this transaction [98] we may discover a conspiracy fomented by his arts against the authority of his colleague. ”

“ So that the error which the emperor had committed, in soliciting Licinius to affix his signature to the Decree of Milan, was not only fully compensated by his consummate skill and artifice, but the Church prayed earth and Heaven for the destruction of Licinius. Licinius, irritated more and more by the wide-spread disaffection of his subjects, espoused the cause of Bassianus, who had married Anastasia, the sister of Constantine, and urged him into rebellion in order to gain larger power ”

“ If Licinius persisted much longer in the defense, he exposed himself to be involved in the ruin of the place. Before he was surrounded, he prudently removed his person and his treasures to Chalcedon, in Asia.... Such were the resources and such the abilities of Licinius, that, after so many successive defeats, he collected in Bithynia a new army of fifty or sixty thousand men, while the activity of Constantine was employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant emperor did not, however, neglect the last struggles of his antagonist. ”

“ So Constantine, in his excessive humanity, thought and was willing patiently to bear past injuries, and extend his forgiveness to one who so ill deserved it; but Licinius, far from renouncing his evil practices, still added crime to crime, and ventured on more daring atrocities than ever. ”

“ So much virtue does the great armor of piety possess for the warding off of enemies and for the preservation of our own safety. Protected by this, our most divinely favored emperor escaped the multitudinous plots of the abominable man.
7. But when Licinius perceived that his secret preparations by no means progressed according to his mind,—for God revealed every plot and wickedness to the God-favored emperor,—being no longer able to conceal himself, he undertook an open war. ”

“ The state was merely to assert its undisputed legal right over the public domain, and the Plebeians became landholders, which was the best thing that could happen to the republic, and which was what was aimed at in every community of antiquity. Even the partial observance of this law was the cause of the supremacy of Rome being established over the finest portions of the ancient world. Had Licinius failed, Rome would have gone down in her contest with the Samnites, and the latter people would have become masters of Italy. As it was, his success created the Roman people ”