Plutarch
46-119 A.C.E - Wrote in Greek
The Comparison of
Crassus with Nicias
Written 75 A.C.E.
Translated by John Dryden
The Comparison of Crassus with Nicias
By Plutarch
IN the comparison of these two, first, if we compare the estate of Nicias
with that of Crassus, we must acknowledge Nicias's to have been more honestly
got. In itself, indeed, one cannot much approve of gaining riches by working
mines, the greatest part of which is done by malefactors and barbarians,
some of them, too, bound, and perishing in those close and unwholesome
places. But if we compare this with the sequestrations of Sylla, and the
contracts for houses ruined by fire, we shall then think Nicias came very
honestly by his money. For Crassus publicly and avowedly made use of these
arts, as other men do of husbandry, and putting out money to interest;
while as for other matters which he used to deny, when taxed with them,
as, namely, selling his voice in the senate for gain's sake, and injuring
allies, and courting women, and conniving at criminals, these are things
which Nicias was never so much as falsely accused of; nay, he was rather
laughed at for giving money to those who made a trade of impeachments,
merely out of timorousness, a course, indeed, that would by no means become
Pericles and Aristides, but necessary for him who by nature was wanting
in assurance, even as Lycurgus, the orator, frankly acknowledged to the
people; for when he was accused for buying off an evidence, he said that
he was very much pleased that, having administered their affairs for so
long a time; he was at last accused, rather for giving than receiving.
Again, Nicias, in his expenses, was a more public spirit than Crassus,
priding himself much on the dedication of gifts in temples, on presiding
at gymnastic games, and furnishing choruses for the plays, and adorning
processions, while the expenses of Crassus, in feasting and afterwards
providing food for so many myriads of people, were much greater than all
that Nicias possessed as well as spent put together. So that one might
wonder at any one's failing to see that vice is a certain inconsistency
and incongruity of habit, after such an example of money dishonourably
obtained and wastefully lavished away.
Let so much be said of their estates; as for their management of
public affairs, I see not that any dishonesty, injustice, or arbitrary
action can be objected to Nicias, who was rather the victim of Alcibiades's
tricks, and was always careful and scrupulous in his dealings with the
people. But Crassus is very generally blamed for his changeableness in
his friendships and enmities, for his unfaithfulness, and his mean and
underhand proceedings; since he himself could not deny that to compass
the consulship he hired men to lay violent hands upon Domitius and Cato.
Then at the assembly held for assigning the provinces, many were wounded
and four actually killed, and he himself, which I had omitted in the narrative
of his life, struck with his fist one Lucius Analius, a senator, for contradicting
him, so that he left the place bleeding. But as Crassus was to be blamed
for his violent and arbitrary courses, so is Nicias no less to be blamed
for his timorousness and meanness of spirit, which made him submit and
give in to the basest people, whereas in this respect Crassus showed himself
lofty-spirited and magnanimous, who having to do not with such as Cleon
or Hyperbolus, but with the splendid acts of Caesar and the three triumphs
of Pompey, would not stoop, but bravely bore up against their joint interests,
and in obtaining the office of censor, surpassed even Pompey himself. For
a statesman ought not to regard how invidious the thing is, but how noble,
and by his greatness to overpower envy; but if he will be always aiming
at security and quiet, and dread Alcibiades upon the hustings, and the
Lacedaemonians at Pylos, and Perdiccas in Thrace, there is room and opportunity
enough for retirement, and he may sit out of the noise of business, and
weave himself, as one of the sophists says, his triumphal garland of inactivity.
His desire of peace, indeed, and of finishing the war was a divine and
truly Grecian ambition, nor in this respect would Crassus deserve to be
compared to him, though he had enlarged the Roman empire to the Caspian
Sea or the Indian Ocean.
In a state where there is a sense of virtue, a powerful man ought
not to give way to the ill-affected, or expose the government to those
that are incapable of it, nor suffer high trusts to be committed to those
who want common honesty. Yet Nicias, by his connivance, raised Cleon, a
fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face, to the
command of an army. Indeed, I do not commend Crassus, who in the war with
Spartacus was more forward to fight than became a discreet general, though
he was urged into it by a point of honour, lest Pompey by his coming should
rob him of the glory of the action, as Mummius did Metellus at the taking
of Corinth, but Nicias's proceedings are inexcusable. For he did not yield
up a mere opportunity of getting honour and advantage to his competitor,
but believing that the expedition would be very hazardous, was thankful
to take care of himself, and left the commonwealth to shift for itself.
And whereas Themistocles, lest a mean and incapable fellow should ruin
the state by holding command in the Persian war, bought him off, and Cato,
in a most dangerous and critical conjuncture, stood for the tribuneship
for the sake of his country, Nicias, reserving himself for trifling expeditions
against Minoa and Cythera, and the miserable Melians, if there be occasion
to come to blows with the Lacedaemonians, slips off his general's cloak
and hands over to the unskillfulness and rashness of Cleon, fleet, men,
and arms, and the whole command, where the utmost possible skill was called
for. Such conduct, I say, is not to be thought so much carelessness of
his own fame, as of the interest and preservation of his country. By this
means it came to pass he was compelled to the Sicilian war, men generally
believing that he was so much honestly convinced of the difficulty of the
enterprise, as ready out of mere love of ease and cowardice to lose the
city the conquest of Sicily. But yet it is a great sign of his integrity,
that though he was always averse from war, and unwilling to command, yet
they always continued to appoint him as the best experienced and ablest
general they had. On the other hand Crassus, though always ambitious of
command, never attained to it, except by mere necessity in the servile
war, Pompey and Metellus and the two brothers Lucullus being absent, although
at that time he was at his highest pitch of interest and reputation. Even
those who thought most of him seem to have thought him, as the comic poet
says-
"A brave man anywhere but in the field." There was no help, however,
for the Romans, against his passion for command and for distinction. The
Athenians sent out Nicias against his will to the war, and Crassus led
out the Romans against theirs; Crassus brought misfortune on Rome, as Athens
brought it on Nicias.
Still this is rather ground for praising Nicias, than for finding
fault with Crassus. His experience and sound judgment as a general saved
him from being carried away by the delusive hopes of his fellow-citizens,
and made him refuse to entertain any prospect of conquering Sicily. Crassus,
on the other hand, mistook, in entering on a Parthian war as an easy matter.
He was eager, while Caesar was subduing the west, Gaul, Germany, and Britain,
to advance for his part to the east and the Indian Sea, by the conquest
of Asia, to complete the incursion of Pompey and the attempts of Lucullus,
men of prudent temper and of unimpeachable worth, who nevertheless entertained
the same projects as Crassus, and acted under the same convictions. When
Pompey was appointed to the like command, the senate was opposed to it;
and after Caesar had routed three hundred thousand Germans, Cato recommended
that he should be surrendered to the defeated enemy, to expiate in his
own person the guilt of breach of faith. The people, meantime (their service
to Cato!), kept holiday for fifteen days, and were overjoyed. What would
have been their feelings, and how many holidays would they have celebrated,
if Crassus had sent news from Babylon of victory, and thence marching onward
had converted Media and Persia, the Hyrcanians, Susa and Bactra, into Roman
provinces?
If wrong we must do, as Euripides says, and cannot be content with
peace and present good things, let it not be for such results as destroying
Mende or Scandea, or beating up the exiled Aeginetans in the coverts to
which like hunted birds they had fled, when expelled from their homes,
but let it be for some really great remuneration: nor let us part with
justice, like a cheap and common thing, for a small and trifling price.
Those who praise Alexander's enterprise and blame that of Crassus, judge
of the beginning unfairly by the results.
In actual service, Nicias did much that deserves high praise. He
frequently defeated the enemy in battle, and was on the very point of capturing
Syracuse; nor should he bear the whole blame of the disaster, which may
fairly be ascribed in part to his want of health and to the jealousy entertained
of him at home. Crassus, on the other hand, committed so many errors as
not to leave fortune room to show him favour. It is no surprise to find
such imbecility fall a victim to the power of Parthia; the only wonder
is to see it prevailing over the wonted good fortune of Rome. One scrupulously
observed, the other entirely slighted the arts of divination: and as both
equally perished, it is difficult to see what inference we should draw.
Yet the fault of over-caution, supported by old and general opinion, better
deserves forgiveness than that of self-willed and lawless
transgression.
In his death, however, Crassus had the advantage, as he did not
surrender himself, nor submit to bondage, nor let himself be taken in by
trickery, but was the victim only of the entreaties of his friends and
the perfidy of his enemies; whereas Nicias enhanced the shame of his death
by yielding himself up in the hope of disgraceful and inglorious
escape.
THE END
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