I don't know if I would agree with the notion of Crassus being a "pawn." In many ways he was better at manipulating the political atmosphere than his co-triumvirates, especially Pompey, who was abysmal at politics. Crassus often manipulated events in such a way that left Pompey the worse of the two, in a political sense. This can be seen as early as 70 BC, when a tribune expressed concern about the consuls feuding and Crassus played the better man, embracing Pompey and endearing himself to the citizenry (some evidence suggest that the tribune who did this was in fact one of Crassus' stooges). Consider also, that after the triumvirate had been formed, and Pompey and Caesar were beginning to exclude Crassus from power, Crassus manipulated events in Rome to such an extent that Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus had to meet again and re-establish their alliance in terms very favorable to Crassus (although it did ultimately lead to his death).
I think an interest fact about Crassus that is often overlooked, is that he appears to have been more connected to the "optimates" than Pompey, who eventually became their champion. Allan Ward, in his book Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic (an excellent read that I highly recommend) drew attention to the fact that when the triumvirate was formed the senate often went to Crassus, hoping to play him against the other two, especially playing Crassus against Pompey. So I was curious what everyone's thoughts on this were. Do you think that the optimates were simply exploiting a rift that had long existed between the two, or do you agree with Ward's idea that the senate preferred Crassus over the others? And finally, another interesting question that he brings up, had Crassus been successful in his Parthian invasion, but Civil War still occurred, do we think that senate would have turned to him or Pompey or perhaps both?
I know conjecture of this type is not necessarily accurate, but Ward raises the questions and I thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss.
Any thoughts?