st be admitted, however, that Crassus was eager to show kindness and hospitality. …. He became one of the best speakers in Rome, and by care and application, was able to surpass those who were more highly gifted by nature. …. often when Pompey and Cicero and Caesar were reluctant to speak, he undertook the whole management of the case himself, thereby gaining an advantage over them in popularity, since people thought of him as a man willing to take trouble to help others. In fact, this readiness to help others in their time of need was his one saving grace was instrumental in his retention of power in Rome. He often threw lavish parities, lent people money willingly, and was always eager to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed his assistance in court. Crassus also always treated everyone in a warm and courteous manner no matter his or her wealth, power, or station in society. For these reasons, the people truly liked him. In Rome, such popularity was the handmaiden of power.Plutarch does not leave Crassus’s virtues untainted. He makes sure to point out that greed often overcame and interfered with the good things that Crassus did, to further support his belief that greed is such a terrible thing that it overpowers everything else: … and he used to lend money to his friends without interest; but when the time came for repayment, he was quite relentless about demanding it back from the borrower, so that his readiness to lend often proved more burdensome than the payment of heavy interest would have been. One of the things that made Crassus popular was his kindness and willingness to help others. However, even this he could not do whole-heartedly because of his underlying greediness, which kept him from being a truly giving person. Plutarch gives the reader a sense that the things that made Crassus popular were simply illusions that were created, for the public, to benefit his own aspirations. Along th...
