Rome's richest man died on a doomed Parthian campaign
Marcus Licinius Crassus (115–53 BC), often called Rome's richest man, bankrolled Julius Caesar and joined Pompey in the First Triumvirate. After a second consulship he governed Syria and perished on a disastrous Parthian campaign. His private fire brigade let buildings burn unless owners sold to him cheaply.
Marcus Licinius Crassus came from the gens Licinia, an old and respected plebeian family, the second of three sons of Publius Licinius Crassus, consul in 95 BC. Despite the similar name, his line did not descend from the wealthy Crassi Divites. His grandfather was so dour that the satirist Lucilius nicknamed him Agelastus, the man who never laughed, claiming he smiled only once in his life.
When Cinna's proscriptions targeted supporters of Sulla, Crassus fled to Spain, where from 87 to 84 BC he raised 2,500 men from his father's clients and squeezed local towns for money, even facing accusations of sacking Malaca. He then joined Sulla and commanded the right wing at the Colline Gate, crushing the enemy opposite him while Sulla's centre was close to breaking. To rebuild a family fortune confiscated in the purges, he bought the seized estates of Sulla's victims cheaply at auction.
His 500-man private fire brigade would reach a burning building and wait while he offered the frantic owner a pittance; only if the owner sold did the men fight the fire, and Crassus then rebuilt and rented out what he had bought. Plutarch says his fortune grew from under 300 talents to 7,100, about 229 tonnes of silver, and Pliny the Elder put it near 200 million sesterces. Yet at home he kept simple meals and generous but unshowy hospitality.
Elected praetor in 73 BC, he offered to raise and pay for troops against Spartacus after several legions had been beaten, revived decimation when men fled battle, and dug a ditch and rampart across the Rhegium peninsula, which Spartacus crossed on a snowy night by bridging it with earth and branches. Victory brought a consulship shared with his rival Pompey. As patron of Julius Caesar he formed the First Triumvirate with both men, renewed at Luca in 56 BC. His defeat and death after the Battle of Carrhae removed the balance between the other two, and within four years Caesar crossed the Rubicon.
Source: Marcus Licinius Crassus
