Rome, amidst scenes of contention, and the uproar of civil discord. Though he lived in rude unpolished times, he applied himself, when far advanced in the vale of years, to the study of Greek literature, and thereby gave a signal proof that even in old age the willing mind may be enriched with new stores of knowledge. _Marcus Censorius Cato, idem orator, idem historiæ conditor, idem juris, idem rerum rusticarum peritissimus fuit. Inter tot opera militiæ, tantas domi contentions, ridi sæculo literas Græcas, ætate jam declinatâ didicit, ut esset hominibus documento, ea quoque percipi posse, quæ senes concupissent._ Lib. xii. cap. 11. [f] Lucius Licinius Crassus is often mentioned, and always to his advantage, by Cicero DE CLARIS ORATORIBUS. He was born, as appears in that treatise (sect. 161), during the consulship of Lælius and Cæpio, A.U.C. 614: he was contemporary with Antonius, the celebrated orator, and father of Antony the triumvir. Crassus was about four and thirty years older than Cicero. When Philippus the consul shewed himself disposed to encroach on the privileges of the senate, and, in the presence of that body, offered indignities to Licinius Crassus, the orator, as Cicero informs us, broke out in a blaze of eloquence against that violent outrage, concluding with that remarkable sentence: He shall not be to me A CONSUL, to whom I am not A SENATOR. _Non es mihi consul, quia nec ego tibi senator sum._ See _Valerius Maximus_, lib. xli. cap. 2. Cicero has given his oratorical character. He possessed a wonderful dignity of language, could enliven his discourse with wit and pleasantry, never descending to vulgar humour; refined, and polished, without a tincture of scurrility. He preserved the true Latin idiom; in his selection of words accurate, with apparent facility; no stiffness, no affectation appeared; in his train of reasoning always clear and methodical; and, when the cause hinged upon a question of law, or the moral distinctions of good and evil, no man possessed such a fund of argument, and happy illustration. _Crasso nihil statuo fieri potuisse perfectius: erat summa gravitas; erat cum gravitate junctus facetiarum et urbanitatis oratorius, non scurrilis, lepos. Latinè loquendi accurata, et, sine molestiâ, diligens elegantia; in disserendo mira explicatio; cum de jure civili, cum de æquo et bono disputaretur, argumentorum et similitudinum copia._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 143. In Cicero's books DE ORATORE, Licinius Crassus supports a capital part in the dialogue; but in the opening of the third book, we have a pathetic account of his death, written, as the Italians say, _con amore_. Crassus returned from his villa, where the dialogue passed, to take part in the debate against Philippus the consul, who had declared to an assembly of the people, that he was obliged to seek new counsellors, for with such a senate he could not conduct the affairs of the commonwealth. The conduct of Crassus, upon that occasion, has been mentioned already.