«Symposion» and «Philanthropia» in Plutarch - Bad Request ...

Crassus as Symposiast in Plutarch’s Life of Crassusphilosophical predilections – are intellectual pursuits, and the latter reveal theprobable source of the “good cheer” (φιλφροσύμην) for which Crassus’ guestsappreciate – and presumably seek out – his company 10 .Crassus’ disinclination to host elaborate dinner parties is not a decision hemakes on his own, for, as Plutarch writes in the opening sentence of the Life,Crassus’ paideia shaped his attitudes in this area:Marcus Crassus was the son of a man who had been censor and had enjoyed atriumph; but he was reared in a small house with two brothers. His brotherswere married while their parents were still alive, and all shared the same table,which seems to have been the main reason why Crassus was temperate andmoderate in his manner of life. (1.1-2)The moderate appetite of Crassus’ family is supported by a passage inMacrobius’ Saturnalia (3.17.7-9), which ascribes to Crassus’ father a sumptuarylaw in his tribunate of 103 BCE. By beginning the Life in this way, Plutarchimplies that his presentation of Crassus may not follow the historical traditionestablished by his sources 11 . Plutarch immediately establishes Crassus assomeone who eschews unnecessary ostentation, and the tautology “temperateand moderate” (σώφρων καὶ μέτριος) situates Crassus in an exceptionallyadvantageous position upon which he can draw or away from which he candeviate. By how much he does the former or how quickly he does the latterdetermines the final verdict on Crassus’ character.A very illuminating perspective is offered by a passage which featuresCrassus not as a host, but as a guest of Vibius Paciacus in Spain during Crassus’self-imposed exile under Cinna:Now, the meals were abundant, and so prepared as to gratify the taste and notmerely to satisfy hunger. For Vibius had made up his mind to pay Crassusevery sort of friendly attention, and it even occurred to him to consider theyoung man his guest, and he was quite a young man, and that some provisionbe made for the enjoyments appropriate to his years; the mere supply of hiswants he regarded as the work of one who rendered help under compulsionrather than with ready zeal. (5.2)Vibius is the attentive host by providing Crassus’ needs and anticipatinghis desires. Plutarch does not indicate whether Crassus partook of the extraprovisions, gastronomical and otherwise, but one might reasonably expect thathad Crassus refrained from so doing, it would be mentioned here. One mightpostulate that Crassus’ abstemiousness in this instance would have appearedinappropriate; that is, while he became a good host, his behaviour as a guest10Table-Talk 6.14b indicates that history and contemporary events are appropriate topicsfor a dinner party.11Pace C. B. R. Pelling, 1979, I do not believe that Pollio (or the Pollio-source) was themain source for Crassus. In my view, the most likely main source on Crassus available to Plutarchin this instance was Livy.183