Crispus's tutor in rhetoric was the Late Latin historian of Early Christianity, Lactantius. Crispus may be the young prince depicted on the Gemma Constantiniana, a great cameo depicting Constantine and his wife Fausta, though the depiction may instead be of Fausta's own son, the future "augustus" Constantius II. While at Augusta Treverorum, Crispus's praetorian prefect for the prefecture of Gaul was the great Junius Annius Bassus. After his elevation to imperial rank, at which point he was also entitled "princeps iuventutis" ("Prince of Youth"), the Latin rhetorician Nazarius composed a panegyric preserved in the "Panegyrici Latini", which honoured Crispus's military victories over the Franks in . Crispus was three times Roman consul, for the years 318, 321, and 324.