Marcus Licinius Crassus is no stranger to…

Marcus Licinius Crassus is no stranger to Roman politics, or to military command, as he had been a field commander under Sulla during the second civil war between Sulla and the Marian faction in 82 BCE, and had served under Sulla during the following dictatorship.

His concern now is to rebuild the fortunes of his family, which had been confiscated during the Marian-Cinnan proscriptions.

Sulla's own proscriptions have ensured that his survivors will recoup their lost fortunes from the fortunes of wealthy adherents to Gaius Marius or Lucius Cornelius Cinna.

Proscriptions mean that their political enemies lose their fortunes and their lives; that their female relatives (notably, widows and widowed daughters) are forbidden to remarry; and that in some cases, their families' hopes of rebuilding their fortunes and political significance are destroyed.

Crassus is said to have made part of his money from proscriptions, notably the proscription of one man whose name was not initially on the list of those proscribed but was added by Crassus who coveted the man's fortune.

Crassus's wealth is estimated by Pliny at approximately two hundred million sestertii.

The rest of Crassus's wealth is acquired more conventionally, through traffic in slaves, the working of silver mines, and judicious purchases of land and houses, especially those of proscribed citizens.

Most notorious is his acquisition of burning houses: when Crassus receives word that a house is on fire, he arrives and purchases the doomed property along with surrounding buildings for a modest sum, and then employes his army of five hundred clients to put the fire out before much damage has been done.

Crassus's clients employ the Roman method of firefighting—destroying the burning building to curtail the spread of the flames.

After rebuilding his fortune, Crassus's next concern is his political career.

As an adherent of Sulla, and the wealthiest man in Rome, and a man who hails from a line of consuls and praetors, Crassus's political future is apparently assured.

His problem is that despite his military successes, he is eclipsed by his contemporary Pompey, who is pushing Sulla into granting him a triumph for victory in Africa over a ragtag group of dissident Romans; a first in Roman history on a couple of counts.

First, Pompey is not even a praetor, on which grounds a triumph had been denied in 206 BCE to the great Scipio Africanus, who had defeated Rome’s outstanding enemy, Hannibal, and brought Rome an entire province in Hispania.

Second, Pompey has defeated fellow Romans; however, a precedent had been set when the consul Lucius Julius Caesar (a relative of Gaius Julius Caesar) had been granted a triumph for a small victory over Italian peoples in the Social War.

Yet, until now, no triumph has been granted to any Roman for victory over another Roman general.

Crassus's rivalry with Pompey and his envy of Pompey's triumph will influence this subsequent career.

Pompey, after his string of victories in Sicily and Africa, had been proclaimed Imperator (a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic) by his troops on the field in Africa; once back in Rome, he is given an enthusiastic popular reception and hailed by Sulla as Magnus (the Great)—probably in recognition of Pompey's undoubted victories and popularity, but also with some degree of sarcasm.

The young general is still officially a mere privatus (private citizen) who had held no offices in the cursus honorum.

The title may have been meant to cut Pompey down to size; he himself will use it only later in his career.

When Pompey demands a triumph for his African victories, Sulla refuses; it would be an unprecedented, even illegal, honor for a young privatus—he must disband his legions.

Pompey refuses, and presents himself expectantly at the gates of Rome.

Sulla concedes.

However, Sulla has his own triumph first, then allows Metellus Pius his triumph, relegating Pompey to an extralegal third place in a quick succession of triumphs.

On the day, Pompey attempts to upstage both his seniors in a triumphal chariot towed by an elephant, representing his exotic African conquests.

The elephant would not fit through the city gate.

Some hasty replanning is needed, much to the embarrassment of Pompey and amusement of those present.

His refusal to give in to his troops' near-mutinous demands for cash probably impresses his mentor and Rome's conservatives.