Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
confidence had straggled from Spartacus, cut them all to pieces.
But when Lentulus with a large army besieged Spartacus, he sallied
out upon him, and, joining battle, defeated his chief officers,
and captured all his baggage. As he made toward the Alps,
Cassius, who was praetor of that part of Gaul that lies about the
Po, met him with ten thousand men, but being overcome in battle,
he had much ado to escape himself, with the loss of a great many
of his men.
When the senate understood this, they were displeased at the
consuls, and ordering them to meddle no further, they appointed
Crassus general of the war, and a great many of the nobility went
volunteers with him, partly out of friendship, and partly to get
honor. He stayed himself on the borders of Picenum, expecting
Spartacus would come that way, and sent his lieutenant, Mummius,
with two legions, to wheel about and observe the enemy's motions,
but upon no account to engage or skirmish. But he, upon the first
opportunity, joined battle, and was routed, having a great many
of his men slain, and a great many only saving their lives, with
the loss of their arms. Crassus rebuked Mummius severely, and
arming the soldiers again, he made them find sureties for their
arms, that they would part with them no more, and five hundred
that were the beginners of the flight, he divided into fifty tens,
and one of each was to die by lot, thus reviving the ancient Roman
punishment of decimation, where ignominy is added to the penalty
of death, with a variety of appalling and terrible circumstances,
presented before the eyes of the whole army, assembled as
spectators. When he had thus reclaimed his men, he led them
against the enemy; but Spartacus retreated through Lucania toward
the sea, and in the straits meeting with some Cilician pirate
ships, he had thoughts of attempting Sicily, where, by landing two
thousand men, he hoped to new kindle the war of the slaves, which
was but lately extinguished, and seemed to need but a little fuel
to set it burning again. But after the pirates had struck a
bargain with him, and received his earnest, they deceived him and
sailed away. He thereupon retired again from the sea, and
established his army in the peninsula of Rhegium; there Crassus
came upon him, and considering the nature of the place, which of
itself suggested the undertaking, he set to work to build a wall
across the isthmus; thus keeping his soldiers at once from
idleness, and his foes from forage. This great and difficult work
he perfected in a space of time short beyond all expectation,
making a ditch from one sea to the other, over the neck of land,
three hundred furlongs long, fifteen feet broad, and as much in
depth, and above it built a wonderfully high and strong wall. All
which Spartacus at first slighted and despised, but when
provisions began to fail, and on his proposing to pass further, he
found he was walled in, and no more was to be had in the
peninsula, taking the opportunity of a snowy, stormy night, he
filled up part of the ditch with earth and boughs of trees, and so
passed the third part of his army over.
Crassus was afraid lest he should march directly to Rome, but was
soon eased of that fear when he saw many of his men break out in a
mutiny and quit him, and encamp by themselves upon the Lucanian
lake. This lake they say changes at intervals of time, and is
sometimes sweet, and sometimes so salt that it cannot be drunk.
Crassus falling upon these beat them from the lake, but he could
not pursue the slaughter, because of Spartacus suddenly coming up,
and checking the flight. Now he began to repent that he had
previously written to the senate to call Lucullus out of Thrace,
and Pompey out of Spain; so that he did all he could to finish the
war before they came, knowing that the honor of the action would
redound to him that came to his assistance. Resolving, therefore,
first to set upon those that had mutinied and encamped apart, whom
Caius Cannicius and Castus commanded, he sent six thousand men
before to secure a little eminence, and to do it as privately as
possible, which that they might do, they covered their helmets,
but being discovered by two women that were sacrificing for the
enemy, they had been in great hazard, had not Crassus immediately
appeared, and engaged in a battle which proved a most bloody one.
Of twelve thousand three hundred whom he killed, two only were
found wounded in their backs, the rest all having died standing in
their ranks, and fighting bravely. Spartacus, after this
discomfiture, retired to the mountains of Petelia, but Quintius,
one of Crassus's officers, and Scrofa, the quaestor, pursued and
overtook him. But when Spartacus rallied and faced them, they
were utterly routed and fled, and had much ado to carry off their
quaestor, who was wounded. This success, however, ruined
Spartacus, because it encouraged the slaves, who now disdained any
longer to avoid fighting, or to obey their officers, but as they
were upon their march, they came to them with their swords in
their hand, and compelled them to lead them back again through
Lucania, against the Romans, the very thing which Crassus was
eager for. For news was already brought that Pompey was at hand;
and people began to talk openly, that the honor of this war was
reserved for him, who would come and at once oblige the enemy to
fight and put an end to the war. Crassus, therefore, eager to
fight a decisive battle, encamped very near the enemy, and began
to make lines of circumvallation; but the slaves made a sally, and
attacked the pioneers. As fresh supplies came in on either side,
Spartacus, seeing there was no avoiding it, set all his army in
array, and when his horse was brought him, he drew out his sword
and killed him, saying, if he got the day, he should have a great
many better horses of the enemies, and if he lost it, he should
have no need of this. And so making directly towards Crassus
himself, through the midst of arms and wounds, he missed him, hut
slew two centurions that fell upon him together. At last being
deserted by those that were about him, he himself stood his
ground, and, surrounded by the enemy, bravely defending himself,
was cut in pieces. But though Crassus had good fortune, and not
only did the part of a good general, but gallantly exposed his
person, yet Pompey had much of the credit of the action. For he
met with many of the fugitives, and slew them, and wrote to the
senate that Crassus indeed had vanquished the slaves in a pitched
battle, but that he had put an end to the war. Pompey was honored
with a magnificent triumph for his conquest over Sertorius and
Spain, while Crassus could not himself so much as desire a triumph
in its full form, and indeed it was thought to look but meanly in
him to accept of the lesser honor, called the ovation, for a
servile war, and perform a procession on foot. The difference
between this and the other, and the origin of the name, are
explained in the life of Marcellus.
And Pompey being immediately invited to the consulship, Crassus,
who had hoped to be joined with him, did not scruple to request
his assistance. Pompey most readily seized the opportunity, as he
desired by all means to lay some obligation upon Crassus, and
zealously promoted his interest; and at last he declared in one of
his speeches to the people, that he should be not less beholden to
them for his colleague, than for the honor of his own appointment.
But once entered upon the employment, this amity continued not
long; but differing almost in everything, disagreeing,
quarreling, and contending, they spent the time of their
consulship, without effecting any measure of consequence, except
that Crassus made a great sacrifice to Hercules, and feasted the
people at ten thousand tables, and measured them out corn for
three months. When their command was now ready to expire, and
they were, as it happened addressing the people, a Roman knight,
one Onatius Aurelius, an ordinary private person, living in the
country, mounted the hustings, and declared a vision he had in his
sleep: "Jupiter," said he, "appeared to me, and commanded me to
tell you, that you should not suffer your consuls to lay down
their charge before they are made friends." When he had spoken,
the people cried out that they should be reconciled. Pompey stood
still and said nothing, but Crassus, first offering him his hand,
said, "I cannot think, my countrymen, that I do any thing
humiliating or unworthy of myself, if I make the first offers of
accommodation and friendship with Pompey, whom you yourselves
styled the Great, before he was of man's estate, and decreed him a
triumph before he was capable of sitting in the senate."
This is what was memorable in Crassus's consulship, but as for his
censorship, that was altogether idle and inactive, for he neither
made a scrutiny of the senate, nor took a review of the horsemen,
nor a census of the people, though he had as mild a man as could
be desired for his colleague, Lutatius Catulus. It is said,
indeed, that when Crassus intended a violent and unjust measure,
which was the reducing Egypt to be tributary to Rome, Catulus
strongly opposed it, and falling out about it, they laid down
their office by consent. In the great conspiracy of Catiline,
which was very near subverting the government, Crassus was not
without some suspicion of being concerned, and one man came
forward and declared him to be in the plot; but nobody credited
him. Yet Cicero, in one of his orations, clearly charges both
Crassus and Caesar with the guilt of it, though that speech was
not published till they were both dead. But in his speech upon
his consulship, he declares that Crassus came to him by night, and
brought a letter concerning Catiline, stating the details of the
conspiracy. Crassus hated him ever after, but was hindered by his
son from doing him any open injury; for Publius was a great lover
of learning and eloquence, and a constant follower of Cicero,
insomuch that he put himself into mourning when he was accused,
and induced the other young men to do the same. And at last he
reconciled him to his father.
Caesar now returning from his command, and designing to get the
consulship, and seeing that Crassus and Pompey were again at
variance, was unwilling to disoblige one by making application to
the other, and despaired of success without the help of one of
them; he therefore made it his business to reconcile them, making
it appear that by weakening each other's influence they were
promoting the interest of the Ciceros, the Catuli, and the Catos,
who would really be of no account if they would join their
interests and their factions, and act together in public with one
policy and one united power. And so reconciling them by his
persuasions, out of the three parties he set up one irresistible
power, which utterly subverted the government both of senate and
people. Not that he made either Pompey or Crassus greater than
they were before, but by their means made himself greatest of all;
for by the help of the adherents of both, he was at once
gloriously declared consul, which office when he administered with
credit, they decreed him the command of an army, and allotted him
Gaul for his province, and so placed him as it were in the
citadel, not doubting but they should divide the rest at their
pleasure between themselves, when they had confirmed him in his
allotted command. Pompey was actuated in all this by an
immoderate desire of ruling, but Crassus, adding to his old
disease of covetousness, a new passion after trophies and
triumphs, emulous of Caesar's exploits, not content to be beneath
him in these points, though above him in all others, could not be