Crassus’ Command in the War against Spartacus (73–71 BCE): His Official Position, Forces and Political Spoils
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Frederik Juliaan Vervaet
Summary
Late in 72 BCE, Spartacus’ stunning series of victories over the consuls L. Gellius Publicola and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus and then the proconsul C. Cassius Longinus (cos. 73) triggered a dearth of candidates for the consular and praetorian elections for 71. This deadlock was broken only when M. Licinius Crassus announced that he would run for praetor, declaring he was prepared to accept the command against Spartacus. Immediately following his election, Crassus began preparing, probably receiving a grant of delegated praetorium imperium to bridge the interval between election and assumption of office. Having raised no less than six legions, personally advancing the funds required, he also took command of the two consular legions in the field. By means of this enormous army as well as his relentless efforts and strict discipline, he managed to put an end to this protracted and inglorious war in the span of six months. At some point in the summer or early autumn of 71, the equestrian proconsul Cn. Pompeius Magnus, back from Spain, decided he would settle for nothing less than another public triumph and the consulship itself. In order to secure these top prizes, he brazenly refused to disband his army, instead using it as leverage, just as he had already done in 81 and 77. Crassus, for his part, felt he could not fall behind, and entered into an unlikely if formidable alliance with his political rival. As both men ran on a strong popularis platform, the Senate now found itself between hammer and anvil. Consequently, the Conscript Fathers had little choice but to grant Pompeius as well as Crassus the required dispensations from the Cornelian Law. Although they subsequently honoured their popular commitments as consuls, that neither Pompeius nor Crassus chose to disband their armies until sometime late in their tenure suggests that their entente was anything but cordial. Interestingly, it was Crassus who defused this dangerous stalemate by making the decisive first move towards formal reconciliation, albeit in the face of massive public pressure. Paradoxically, the defining features of Sulla’s new constitutional arrangement were buried by two of his foremost associates as they first trampled two critical Cornelian laws in order to seize a joint consulship and next passed legislation restoring the powers of the tribunes of the plebs and altering the balance of power in the court juries.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Tlos, Oinoanda and the Hittite Invasion of the Lukka lands. Some Thoughts on the History of North-Western Lycia in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages
- Formen von Konsumption, Lebensstilen und Öffentlichkeiten von Homer bis Theognis
- Tucidide, Pausania e l’iscrizione nel portico degli Ateniesi a Delfi
- Pyrokausis: Its meaning and function in the organisation of the Macedonian army
- Soil quality, social status and locatio-conductio
- Los cuestores republicanos. Origen, funciones y analogías
- Estudio sobre la responsabilidad derivada de la gestión del patrimonio público de municipios y colonias
- Zur Kritik historischer Darstellung im Zweiten Makkabäerbuch
- Crassus’ Command in the War against Spartacus (73–71 BCE): His Official Position, Forces and Political Spoils
- Theoderic and the Italic Kingdom in Cassiodorus’ „Gothic History“: A Hypothesis of Reconstruction
- Eckart Olshausen – Vera Sauer (Hgg.), Die Schätze der Erde – Natürliche Ressourcen in der antiken Welt
- Daniela Dueck, Geography in Classical Antiquity. With a Chapter by Kai Brodersen
- Holger Sonnabend, Katastrophen in der Antike
- Vivian Nutton, Ancient Medicine
- Wiebke Friese, Die Kunst vom Wahn- und Wahrsagen
- Felix Arnold – Alexandra Busch – Rudolf Haensch – Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt (Hgg.), Orte der Herrschaft. Charakteristika von antiken Machtzentren, Rahden/Westf (Leidorf) 2012 (Menschen – Kulturen – Traditionen
- Beate Dignas – Roland R. R. Smith (Hgg.), Historical & Religious Memory in the Ancient World
- Polly Low – Graham Oliver – Peter John Rhodes (Hgg.), Cultures of Commemoration
- Johann Rasmus Brandt – Jon W. Iddeng (Hgg.), Greek and Roman Festivals
- Jean-Marie Kowalski, Navigation et géographie dans l’antiquité gréco-romaine
- William E. Metcalf (Hg.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage
- Wolfgang Decker, Sport am Nil. Texte aus drei Jahrtausenden ägyptischer Geschichte
- Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi, Frontiers of Pleasure
- Koray Konuk (Hg.), Stephanèphoros
- Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans
- Martina Hirschberger (Hg.), Jüdisch-hellenistische Literatur in ihrem interkulturellen Kontext
- Gilbert Labbé, L’Affirmation de la Puissance Romaine en Judée (63 avant J.-C.–136 après J.-C.)
- Ernst Baltrusch, Herodes. König im Heiligen Land
- Rachel Feig Vishnia, Roman Elections in the Age of Cicero
- Tom Walter, Die Funktionen der actio depositi
- Jan Bernhard Meister, Der Körper des Princeps
- Clifford Ando, Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284. The Critical Century
- Michael Blömer – Engelbert Winter (Hgg.), Iuppiter Dolichenus
- Manfred Clauss, Mithras. Kult und Mysterium
- Moritz Schnizlein, Patchworkfamilien in der Spätantike
- Ralf Behrwald – Christian Witschel (Hgg.), Rom in der Spätantike
- Alexis Oepen, Villa und christlicher Kult auf der Iberischen Halbinsel in Spätantike und Westgotenzeit
- Giovanni R. Ruffini, Medieval Nubia
- Tomoko Elisabeth Emmerling, Studien zu Datierung, Gestalt und Funktion der ‚Kultbauten‘ im Zeus-Heiligtum von Dodona
- Lauren Hackworth Petersen, The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History
- Giovanna Ceserani, Italy’s Lost Greece
- Bonnie Effros, Uncovering the Germanic past
- Gustav Adolf Seeck, Platons Politikos
- Julien du Bouchet – Christophe Chandezon (Hgg.), Études sur Artémidore et l’interprétation des rêves
- Gesine Manuwald (Hg.), Tragicorum Romanorum fragmenta
- Tiziana J. Chiusi – Hans-Dieter Spengler (Hgg.), Dieter Nörr. Schriften 2001–2010 anläßlich seines 80. Geburtstags (in Zusammenarbeit mit J. Paricio)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Tlos, Oinoanda and the Hittite Invasion of the Lukka lands. Some Thoughts on the History of North-Western Lycia in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages
- Formen von Konsumption, Lebensstilen und Öffentlichkeiten von Homer bis Theognis
- Tucidide, Pausania e l’iscrizione nel portico degli Ateniesi a Delfi
- Pyrokausis: Its meaning and function in the organisation of the Macedonian army
- Soil quality, social status and locatio-conductio
- Los cuestores republicanos. Origen, funciones y analogías
- Estudio sobre la responsabilidad derivada de la gestión del patrimonio público de municipios y colonias
- Zur Kritik historischer Darstellung im Zweiten Makkabäerbuch
- Crassus’ Command in the War against Spartacus (73–71 BCE): His Official Position, Forces and Political Spoils
- Theoderic and the Italic Kingdom in Cassiodorus’ „Gothic History“: A Hypothesis of Reconstruction
- Eckart Olshausen – Vera Sauer (Hgg.), Die Schätze der Erde – Natürliche Ressourcen in der antiken Welt
- Daniela Dueck, Geography in Classical Antiquity. With a Chapter by Kai Brodersen
- Holger Sonnabend, Katastrophen in der Antike
- Vivian Nutton, Ancient Medicine
- Wiebke Friese, Die Kunst vom Wahn- und Wahrsagen
- Felix Arnold – Alexandra Busch – Rudolf Haensch – Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt (Hgg.), Orte der Herrschaft. Charakteristika von antiken Machtzentren, Rahden/Westf (Leidorf) 2012 (Menschen – Kulturen – Traditionen
- Beate Dignas – Roland R. R. Smith (Hgg.), Historical & Religious Memory in the Ancient World
- Polly Low – Graham Oliver – Peter John Rhodes (Hgg.), Cultures of Commemoration
- Johann Rasmus Brandt – Jon W. Iddeng (Hgg.), Greek and Roman Festivals
- Jean-Marie Kowalski, Navigation et géographie dans l’antiquité gréco-romaine
- William E. Metcalf (Hg.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage
- Wolfgang Decker, Sport am Nil. Texte aus drei Jahrtausenden ägyptischer Geschichte
- Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi, Frontiers of Pleasure
- Koray Konuk (Hg.), Stephanèphoros
- Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans
- Martina Hirschberger (Hg.), Jüdisch-hellenistische Literatur in ihrem interkulturellen Kontext
- Gilbert Labbé, L’Affirmation de la Puissance Romaine en Judée (63 avant J.-C.–136 après J.-C.)
- Ernst Baltrusch, Herodes. König im Heiligen Land
- Rachel Feig Vishnia, Roman Elections in the Age of Cicero
- Tom Walter, Die Funktionen der actio depositi
- Jan Bernhard Meister, Der Körper des Princeps
- Clifford Ando, Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284. The Critical Century
- Michael Blömer – Engelbert Winter (Hgg.), Iuppiter Dolichenus
- Manfred Clauss, Mithras. Kult und Mysterium
- Moritz Schnizlein, Patchworkfamilien in der Spätantike
- Ralf Behrwald – Christian Witschel (Hgg.), Rom in der Spätantike
- Alexis Oepen, Villa und christlicher Kult auf der Iberischen Halbinsel in Spätantike und Westgotenzeit
- Giovanni R. Ruffini, Medieval Nubia
- Tomoko Elisabeth Emmerling, Studien zu Datierung, Gestalt und Funktion der ‚Kultbauten‘ im Zeus-Heiligtum von Dodona
- Lauren Hackworth Petersen, The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History
- Giovanna Ceserani, Italy’s Lost Greece
- Bonnie Effros, Uncovering the Germanic past
- Gustav Adolf Seeck, Platons Politikos
- Julien du Bouchet – Christophe Chandezon (Hgg.), Études sur Artémidore et l’interprétation des rêves
- Gesine Manuwald (Hg.), Tragicorum Romanorum fragmenta
- Tiziana J. Chiusi – Hans-Dieter Spengler (Hgg.), Dieter Nörr. Schriften 2001–2010 anläßlich seines 80. Geburtstags (in Zusammenarbeit mit J. Paricio)
