Although his father had been censor and had celebrated a triumph, Crassus grew up in a small house which was home not only to him and his parents but also to his two elder brothers and their families.
When he was in his late twenties, Marius and Cinna captured Rome from Sulla's supporters (87). In the ensuing bloodbath, Crassus' father and one of his brothers were killed but Crassus himself escaped with three of his friends and ten servants to Spain, where his father had served as praetor. He hid in a seaside cave on land belonging to Vibius Pacacius. Every day Vibius sent him provisions through a slave, who was ordered to leave the food on the beach and then go without looking back. Later Vibius sent two slave girls to live with Crassus in the cave, run errands, and see to his other physical needs.
Eight months later, after the death of Cinna, Crassus came out of hiding, collected an army of 2500 men, and joined Sulla. Crassus won a reputation for himself as a soldier in Sulla's campaigns in Italy (83), but fell out of favour because of his excessive greed in purchasing estates at knock-down prices during Sulla's proscriptions of his political opponents. Another source of his wealth was buying up property at risk from fire very cheaply and only then putting his private fire brigade into action. Other sources of his wealth were mines, and his business buying slaves, training them, and then re-selling them. In these ways he came to own most of Rome and increased his fortune from 300 talents to 7100 talents. It is difficult to compare the value of money then and now, but Bill Thayer puts the value of a talent as US$ 20,000 or £14,000 in 2003 money.
Crassus saw Pompey as his great rival, but knew he could not match Pompey's military achievements. So, he set about winning popularity by acting as an advocate in lawsuits where other advocates refused to act and lending money without charging interest - provided the loan was paid back on time.
In 73 the great slave revolt under Spartacus broke out. The praetor Clodius was sent against Spartacus and was besieging him and his men on a hill with only one way up or down. However, Spartacus' men made ladders out of vines growing on the hill and having got down the cliffs in this way surprised and defeated the besieging army. Another army was sent out from Rome under the praetor Publius Varinus but Spartacus defeated him as well. Spartacus now wanted to escape over the Alps but his troops insisted on staying in Italy to plunder the countryside. One of the consuls, Gellius, defeated a contingent of Germans, but the other consul, Lentulus, was defeated by Spartacus, as was Cassius, the governor of Cisalpine Gaul (Gaul this-side-of-the-Alps, i.e., Northern Italy).
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