CRASSUS, :lances LICINIUS, the triumvir, was born sometime before 115 u.c. His father and brother suffered death from the party of Marius, 81 tic., and he himself— though young—was subjected to a jealous and dangerous surveillance. In 85 B.C., to escape from this, he went to Spain. Ile afterwards joined Sulla (83 me.), and dis tinguished himself in the battle against the Samnites at the gates of Rome. As prmtor lie crushed the Servile revolt, by the conquest of Spartacus at the battle of Lucania (71 n.c.), and in the following year was made consul with Pompey, a colleague whom he hated. On the other hand, Cmsar valued the friendship of C., the most wealthy of Roman citizens. During his consulate, C. gave a feast to the people, which was spread on 10,000 tables, and distributed a provision of corn for three mouths. Plutarch estimates the wealth of C. at more than 7,000 talents, and Pliny states that the lands of C. were worth 8,000 talents. About GO Cesar, Pompey, and C. entered into a private arrangement for their common benefit. This paction is known as the first triumeirate. See CiESAR. In 37 B.C., as consul with Pompey, he gained. the province' of Syria, and professed to make preparations of war against the Parthians; but the acquisition of more wealth seems to have been his main object, and this he effected by plundering the towns and temples in Syria. At length, however, he set out, but was misguided by a treacherous Arab, and utterly defeated at the river Bilecha by the Parthians. C. now retreated to the town of Carrhm, intending to pass into Armenia; but was beguiled into a conference with the Parthian gen., and was slain at the appointed place of meeting. His qurestor, Cassius, with 500 cavalry, escaped into Syria; but the remaining Romans were scattered and made prisoners, or put to death.
CRATArGUS, a genus of plants of the natural order rosacece, sub-order pornece, very nearly allied to mespilus (medlar) and pyres (pear, apple, etc.), but distinguished by the
acute calycine segments, and by the round or oval fruit, closed at the apex, and con cealing the upper end of the bony cells. The species are pretty numerous, natives of the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, and in general have flowers in beauti ful terminal corymbs. They are all large shrubs or small trees, more or less spiny, whence the name THORN has been very generally applied to them. The only native' of Britain is the common hawthorn (q.v.), (a oxyacantha). Most of the species resemble it considerably in habit, size, form of leaf, etc. A number of them are now frequent' in plantations and shrubberies in Britain, of which perhaps the most common is the COCK'S-S.PUR Tuohy (C. a native of North America from Canada to Carolina. Its leaves are not lobed; its fruit rather larger than that of the hawthorn. - The AZA nOLE (C. azarolus), a native of the s. of Europe, and the AROMA (C. amnia), a native of the Levant, are occasionally cultivated for their fruit, which is about the size of the Siberian crab, and is used either for dessert or for pies. C. orientalis or odaratimirna) and C. tancteetifolia have also fruit of considerable size. The latter is much eaten in Armenia. a .Jfaricana has a large fruit, like a small apple, but not eatable. It is. however, very ornamental. The wood of most of the species much resembles that of the hawthorn. It is common to graft the rarer species on the hawthorn.—a pyracanthra differs much in appearance from most of the genus; being a pretty evergreen•shrub, with lanceolate crenate leaves, and rich clusters of red berries, which remain on it all winter; a native of rocky places in the s. of Europe and the Caucasus. It is often. employed in Britain as an ornamental covering for walls, and is known as the