1. Journal of Ancient History 2 (289)
  2. Crassus the Profit-Seeker: The Character of Crassus in Cicero’s Paradoxa Stoicorum

Crassus the Profit-Seeker: The Character of Crassus in Cicero’s Paradoxa Stoicorum

Lyubimova Olga V.

Cicero’s Paradoxa is chronologically the first source dealing with Crassus’s self-interest in detail. In this treatise Cicero accuses Crassus of a number of unseemly deeds performed for the sake of profit and creates an impression that all the political activity of the triumvir had no other end but profit. However, analyzing the accounts of the same facts in other sources (including Cicero’s) one can see that wealth was not Crassus’ end in itself, but a means of exercising political influence (the fact Cicero himself could not but realize). The sixth paradox was composed as an element of an imaginary invective against Crassus and became a basis for developing the image of Crassus the Profit-Seeker, which sometimes overshadows that of Crassus the Politician.

Keywords: Crassus, Cicero, Paradoxa stoicorum.
References:
  1. Bugaeva N.V. 2010: «Expositio consiliorum suorum»: tainstvennyj trud Cicerona // Antiquitas iuventae. Sbornik nauchnyh trudov studentov i aspirantov Saratovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Saratov, 81–91.
  2. Grincer N.P. 2000: Rimskij profil grecheskoj filosofii // Mark Tullij Ciceron. O predelah blaga i zla. Paradoksy stoikov / Per. N.A. Fedorova, komment. B.N. Nikol'skogo. M., 9–38.
  3. Egorov A.B. 2007: Mark Licinij Krass, biznesmen i politik // Stavropol'skij al'manah Rossijskogo obshhestva intellektual'noj istorii. Vyp. 9. Stavropol', 226–249.
  4. Kvashnin V.A. 2006: Zakony o roskoshi v Drevnem Rime jepohi Punicheskih vojn. Vologda.
  5. Plinij 1994: Estestvoznanie. Ob iskusstve / Per. s lat., predisl. i prim. G.A. Taronjana. M.
  6. Ciceron 2000: Mark Tullij Ciceron. O predelah blaga i zla. Paradoksy stoikov / Per. N.A. Fedorova, komment. B.M. Nikolskogo. M.
  7. Adcock F.E. 1966: Marcus Crassus, Millionaire. Cambr.
  8. Alexander M. 1990: Trials in the Late Roman Republic. 149 BC to 50 BC. Toronto.
  9. Alexander M. 2002: The Case for the Prosecution in the Ciceronian Era. Ann Arbor.
  10. Andreau J. 1999: Banking and Business in the Roman World. Cambr.
  11. Badian E. 1968: Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic. Oxf.
  12. Badian E. 1970: Additional Notes on the Roman Magistrates // Athenaeum. 48, 3–14.
  13. Badian E. 1972: Publicans and Sinners: Рrivate Enterprise in the Service of the Roman Republic. Ithaca.
  14. Badian E. 1984: Foreign Clientelae. 264–70 B.C. Oxf.
  15. Balsdon J.P.V.D. 1958: The Ides of March // Historia. 7, 80–94.
  16. Berry D.H. 1996: Introduction // Cicero. Pro Sulla Oratio / Ed. with introduct. and comm. by D.H. Berry. Cambr., 1–79.
  17. Billows R.A. 2009: Julius Caesar. The Colossus of Rome. N.Y.
  18. Birt Th. 1930: Zu Ciceros Paradoxa 46 // 85, 100.
  19. Brunt P.A. 1971: Italian Manpower 225 B.C.–A.D. 14. Oxf.
  20. Cadoux J.T. 1956: Marcus Crassus: A Revaluation // Greece and Rome. 2nd Ser. 3, 160–161.
  21. Cadoux T.J. 2005: Catiline and the Vestal Virgins // Historia. 54, 162–179.
  22. Cadoux T.J. 2006: The Absent Senator of 5 December 63 B.C. // CQ. 56, 612–618.
  23. Cicero 1846: Paradoxa / G.H. Moser (ed.). Göttingen.
  24. Cicero 1908: Paradoxa stoicorum, Academicorum reliquiae cum Lucullo, Timaeus, De natura deorum, De divinatione, De fato. Fasc. I / O. Plasberg (ed.). Lipsiae.
  25. Cicero 1923: Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino Oratio / Ed., transl., comm. by J.C. Nicol. Cambr.
  26. Cicero 1942: De Oratore. Vol. II. Book III. Together with De Fato, Paradoxa Stoicorum, De Partitione Oratoria / Engl. transl. by H. Rackham. L.
  27. Cicero 1953: Paradoxa Stoicorum / With introduction and notes by A.G. Lee. L.
  28. Cicero 2010: Pro Sexto Roscio. / A.R. Dyck (ed.). Cambr.
  29. Cicéron 1971: Les paradoxes des Stoïciens / Texte établ. et trad. par J. Molager. P.
  30. D’Arms J.H. 1981: Commerce and Social Standing in Ancient Rome. Cambr. (Mass.).
  31. Drumann W. 1908: Geschichte Roms in seinem Übergange von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung; oder, Pompeius, Caesar, Cicero und ihre Zeitgenossen. 2. Aufl. / P. Groebe (Hrsg.). Bd 4. Lpz.
  32. Englert W. 1990: Bringing Philosophy to the Light: Cicero’s «Paradoxa Stoicorum» // Apeiron. 23, 117–142.
  33. Fantham E. 1975: The trials of Aulus Gabinius in 54 B.C. // Historia. 24, 425–443.
  34. Frank T. 1919: Cicero and the Poetae Novi // AJPh. 40, 396–415.
  35. Garzetti A.M. 1996: Scritti di storia repubblicana e augustea. Roma.
  36. Gelzer M. 1926: Licinius (68) // Hlbd 25, 295–331.
  37. Gelzer M. 1969: The Roman Nobility. Oxf.
  38. Groebe P. 1920: Die Abfassungszeit des Brutus und der Paradoxa Ciceros // Hermes. 55, 105–107.
  39. Gruen E. 1995: The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. Berkeley–Los Angeles.
  40. Harris W.V. 1979: War and Imperialism in Republican Rome. 327–70 B.C. Oxf.
  41. Kumaniecki K. 1957: Ciceros Paradoxa Stoicorum und die Römisсhe Wirtlichkeit // Philologus. 101, 113–134.
  42. Lee A.G. 1953: Introduction // Tullii Ciceronis Paradoxa Stoicorum / With introduction and notes by A.G. Lee. L., ix–xxxv.
  43. Marshall B.A. 1973: Crassus and the Command against Spartacus // Athenaeum. 51, 109–121.
  44. Marshall B.A. 1976: Crassus: A Political Biography. Amsterdam.
  45. Mehl D. 2002: The Stoic Paradoxes According to Cicero // Vertis in Usum. Studies in Honor of Edward Courtney / J.F. Miller, C. Damon, K.S. Myers (ed.). Münich, 39–46.
  46. Michel A. 1968: Cicéron et les paradoxes stoïciens // Acta antiqua Academiae scientiarum Hungaricae. 16, 223–232.
  47. Molager J. 1971: Introduction // Cicéron. Les paradoxes des Stoïciens / Texte établ. et trad. par J. Molager. P., 7–79.
  48. Münzer F. 1932a: Minucius (37) // RE. Hlbd 30, 1947–1948.
  49. Münzer F. 1932b: Minucius (38) // RE. Hlbd 30, 1948–1950.
  50. Nicolet C. 1980: The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome. Berkeley–Los Angeles.
  51. Oltramare A. 1926: Les origines de la diatribe romaine. Genève.
  52. Peter H. 1906: Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae. Vol. II. Lipsiae.
  53. Philippson R. 1939: M. Tullius Cicero (29). Die philosophischen Schriften // RE. 2. Reihe. Hlbd 13, 1104–1192.
  54. Plinius 1827: Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII. Vol. 8 / A.J. Valpy (ed.). L.
  55. Plinius 1831: Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII. Vol. 9 / N.E. Lemaire (ed.). P.
  56. Rackham H. 1942: Introduction // Cicero. De Oratore. Vol. II. Book III. Together with De Fato, Paradoxa Stoicorum, De Partitione Oratoria / Engl. transl. by H. Rackham. L., 252–253.
  57. Ravizza M. 2006: Catilina, Crasso e le vestali // Rivista di Diritto Romano. 6, 1–10.
  58. Ronnick M.V. 1991: Cicero’s «Paradoxa Stoicorum»: A Commentary, an Interpretation and a Study of Its Influence. Frankfurt am Main.
  59. Salmon E. 1935: Catiline, Crassus and Caesar // AJPh. 56, 302–316.
  60. Schmidt J. 1949: Paradoxa // RE. Hlbd 36, 1134–1137.
  61. Shackleton Bailey D.R. 1965: Cicero’s Letters to Atticus. Vol. 1. Cambr.
  62. Shatzman I. 1972: The Roman General’s Authority over Booty // Historia. 21, 177–205.
  63. Shatzman I. 1975: Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics. Brussels.
  64. Smutny R.J. 1951: Sources of Cicero’s Income // The Classical Weekly. 45, 49–56.
  65. Stanton G.R., Marshall B.A. 1975: The Coalition between Pompeius and Crassus 60–59 B.C. // Historia. 24, 205–219.
  66. Tatum J. 1999: The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher. Chapel Hill.
  67. Taylor L.R. 1971: Party Politics in the Age of Caesar. Berkeley–Los Angeles–London.
  68. Ward A. 1972: Cicero’s Fight against Crassus and Caesar in 65 and 63 B.C. // Historia. 21, 244—258.
  69. Ward A. 1977: Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic. Columbia.
  70. Wassmann H. 1996: Ciceros Widerstand gegen Caesars Tyrannis. Untersuchengen zur politischen Bedeutung der philosophischen Spätschriften. Bonn.
  71. Whitehead D. 1986: The Measure of a Millionaire: what Crassus really said // Liverpool Classical Monthly. 11. 5, 71–74.
  72. Wiseman T.P. 1968: Two Friends of Clodius in Cicero’s Letters // CQ. 18, 297–302.
  73. Wiseman T.P. 1971: New Men in the Roman Senate. 139 B.C.–A.D. 14. Oxf.