Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/891

Rh CRASSUS. CRASSUS. 87S 15. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, died B. c. 87. 1 8. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, Deeodor. 16. Licinius Crassus Dives. 17. M. Licinius Crassus, triumvir, married Tertulla. 1 9. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, Quaestor of Caesar. I 21. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, Cos. B. c. 30. 2*2. M. Licinius Crassus Dives, Cos. b. c. 14. 20. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, Legate of Caesar, marr. Cornelia. (C.) 23. L. Licinius Crassus, orator ; Cos. b. c. 95 ; married Mucia. I I I 24. Licinia, married 25. Licinia, married 26. L. Licinius Crassus Scipio, son of Scipio Nasica. C. Marius. No. 24, and adopted by No. 23. (D.) Other Licinii Crassi of uncertain pedigree. 27. Licinius Crassus Dives, Pr. b. c. 59. 28. P. Licinius Crassus, Pr. b. c. 57. 30. M. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, a contem- porary of Vespasian. 29. P. Licinius Crassus Junianus, Tr. PI. b. c. 53. 1. P. Licinius C. p. P. n. Crassus, was grandson of P. Licinius Varus, who was praetor b. c. 208. In B. c. 176 he was praetor, and plead- ed that he was bound to perform a solemn sacrifice as an excuse for not proceeding to his province, Hither Spain. In b. c. 171 he was consul, and appointed to the command against Perseus. He advanced through Epeirus to Thessaly, and was defeated by the king in an engagement of cavalry. (Liv. xli., xlii., xliii.) During his command, he oppressed the Athenians by excessive requisitions of com to supply his troops, and was accused on this account to the senate. 2. C. Licinius C. f. P. n. Crassus, brother of No. 1, was praetor in b. c. 172, and in b. c. 171 served as legatus with his brother in Greece, and commanded the right wing in the unsuccessful battle against Perseus. In b. c. 168 he was con- sul, and in the following year went to Macedonia, instead of proceeding to Cisalpine Gaul, which was his appointed province. (Liv. xlv. 17.) 3. C. Licinius Crassus, probably a son of No. 2, was tribune of the plebs b. c. 145, and accord- ing to Cicero {de Antic. 25) and Varro (de Re Bust. i. 2), was the first who in his orations to the people turned towards the forum, instead of turn- ing towards the comitium and the curia, Plutarch (C. Gracch. 5) attributes the introduction of this mark of independence to C. Gracchus. He intro- duced a rogation in order to prevent the colleges of priests from filling up vacancies by co-optation, and to transfer the election to the people ; but the measure was defeated in consequence of the speech of the then praetor, C. Laelius Sapiens. (Cic. Brut. 21.) (Huschke, Ueber die Stelle des Varro von den Liciniem, Heidelb. 1837.) 4. C. Licinius (Crassus), probably a son of No. 3. (Dion Cass. Frag, xcii.) 5. Licinia. [Licinia.] 6. P. Licinius P. f. P. n. Crassus, Dives, was the son of P. Licinius Varus, and was the first Licinius with the surname Dives mentioned in history. In b. c. 212, though a young man who had never sat in the curule chair, he defeated two distinguished and aged consulars, Q. Fulvius Flac- cus and T. Manlius Torquatus, in a hard-fought contest for the office of pontifex maxiraus. (Liv. XXV. 5.) In b. c. 211 he was curule aedile, and gave splendid games, remarkable for the crowns with foliage of gold and silver, that were then first exhibited at Rome (Plin. H. N. xxi. 4) ; in b. c. 210 he was magister equitum of the dictator Q. Fulvius Flaccus, and in the same year obtained the censorship, but abdicated (as was usual) in con- sequence of the death of his colleague. In b. c. 208 he was praetor. In B. c. 205 he was consul with Scipio Africanus, and undertook the task of keeping Hannibal in check in the country of the Bruttii. Here he succeeded in rescuing some towns from the enemy, but was able to do little in consequence of a contagious disease which attacked him and his army. (Liv. xxix. 10.) In the following year he united his forces with those of the consul Sempronius, to oppose Han- nibal in the neighbourhood of Croton, but the Ro- mans were defeated. In b. c. 203, he returned to Rome, and died at an advanced age, B. c. 183, when his funeral was celebrated with games and feasts which lasted for three days, and by a fight of 1 20 gladiators, (xxxix. 46.) He possessed many gifts of nature and fortune, and added to them by his own industry. He was noble and rich, of commanding form and great corporeal strength, and, in addition to his military accom- plishments, was extremely eloquent, whether in addressing the senate or haranguing the people. In civil and pontifical law he was deeply skilled, (xxx. 1.) Valerius Maxunus (i. 1. § 6) gives an example of his religious severity in condemning a Vestal virgin to be burnt, because one night she neglected her charge of guarding the everlasting fire. 7. P. Licinius Crassus Divks, son of No. 6. 8. P. Licinius Crassus Divbs Mucianus, was the adopted son of No. 7. (Cic. Bnd. 26.) Hi« natural father was P. Mucius Scaevola, who was consul B. c. 175. In the year B. c. 131 he was consul and pontifex maximus, and, according to Livy, was the first priest of that rank who went beyond Italy. {Epii. lix.) As pontifex maximus, he forbade his colleague, Valerius Flao-