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CASSIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 462 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CASSIUS , the name of a distinguished See also:

ancient See also:Roman See also:family, originally patrician. Its most important members are the following. I. SPURIUS CASSIUS, surnamed Vecellinus (Vicellinus, Viscellinus), Roman soldier and statesman, three times See also:consul, and author of the first agrarian See also:law. In his first consulate (502 B.C.) he defeated the Sabines; in his second (493) he renewed the See also:league with the Latins, and dedicated the See also:temple of Ceresin the See also:Circus; in his third (486) he made a treaty with the conquered See also:Hernici. The See also:account of his agrarian law is confused and contradictory; it is clear, however, that it was intended to benefit the needy plebeians (see AGRARIAN See also:LAWS). As such it was violently opposed both by the See also:patricians and by the wealthy plebeians. Cassius was condemned by the See also:people as aiming at kingly See also:power, and hurled from the Tarpeian See also:rock. Another account says he was tried by the family See also:council and put to See also:death by his own See also:father, who considered his proposal prejudicial to the patrician See also:interest. According to See also:Livy, his proposal to bestow a See also:share of the See also:land upon the Latins was regarded with See also:great suspicion. According to See also:Mommsen (Romische Forschungen, ii.), the whole See also:story is an invention of a later See also:age, founded upon the proposals of the Gracchi and M. Livius See also:Drusus, to which See also:period belongs the See also:idea of sharing public land with the Latins.

See Livy ii. 33, 41; See also:

Dion Halic. v. 49, viii. 69-8o; See also:Cicero, See also:Pro See also:Balbo, 23 (53), De Republica, ii. 27 (49), 35 (6o) ; Val. Max. v. 8. 2. The following Cassii are all plebeians. It is suggested that the sons of Spurius Cassius either were expelled from, or voluntarily See also:left, the patrician See also:order, in consequence of their father's See also:execution. 2. See also:GAIUS CASSIUS See also:LONGINUS, consul 73 B.C.

With his colleague, Terentius See also:

Varro See also:Lucullus, he passed a law (lex Terentia See also:Cassia), the See also:object of which was to give authority for the See also:purchase of See also:corn at the public expense, to be retailed at a fixed See also:price at See also:Rome. It is doubtful whether this Cassius (who is often called by the additional name Varus) is identical with the Varus who was proscribed by the triumvirs, and put to death at See also:Minturnae (43). According to See also:Orosius he was killed at the See also:battle of Mutina. See Cicero, In Verrem, 70, 75,V. 21; Livy, Epit. 96; See also:Appian, See also:Bell. Civ. iv. 28; Orosius v. 24. , 3. GAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS, See also:prime mover in the See also:conspiracy against See also:Julius See also:Caesar. Little is known of his See also:early See also:life.

In 53 B.C. he served in the See also:

Parthian See also:campaign under M. See also:Licinius See also:Crassus, saved the remnants of the See also:army after the defeat at Carrhae, and for two years successfully repelled the enemy. In 49 B.C. he became See also:tribune of the See also:plebs. The outbreak of the See also:civil See also:war saved him from being brought to trial for See also:extortion in See also:Syria. He at first sided with See also:Pompey, and as See also:commander of See also:part of his See also:fleet rendered considerable service in the Mediterranean. After Pharsalus he became reconciled to Caesar, who made him one of his legates. In 44 B.C. he became See also:praetor peregrinus with the promise of the Syrian See also:province for the ensuing See also:year. The See also:appointment of his junior, M. See also:Junius See also:Brutus, as praetor urbanus deeply offended him, and he was one of the busiest conspirators against Caesar, taking an active part in the actual assassination. He then left See also:Italy for Syria, raised a considerable army, and defeated P. See also:Cornelius See also:Dolabella, to whom the province had been assigned by the See also:senate. On the formation of the triumvirate, Brutus and he, with their combined armies, crossed the See also:Hellespont, marched through See also:Thrace, and encamped near See also:Philippi in See also:Macedonia.

Their intention was to starve out the enemy, but they were forced into an engagement. Brutus was successful against Octavian, but Cassius, defeated by M. See also:

Antonius (See also:Mark Antony), gave up all for lost, and ordered his freedman to slay him. He was lamented by Brutus as " the last of the See also:Romans," and buried at See also:Thasos. A See also:man of consider-able ability, he was a See also:good soldier, and took an interest in literature, but in politics he was actuated by vanity and ambition. His portrait in See also:Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, though vivid, is scarcely See also:historical. See See also:Plutarch, Brutus, passim, Crassus, 27, 29, Caesar, 62, 69; Dio Cassius xl. 28, xlii. 13, xliv. 14, xlvii. 20; See also:Veil. Pat. ii.

46, 56, 58, 69, 70, 87; Cicero, See also:

Philippics, xi. 13, 14, ad Att. v. 21, xiv. 21, ad See also:Ram. xi. 3, 15, i6; Appian, Bell. Civ. ii. III, 113, iii. 2, 8, iv. 6o-62, 87, 90, 111-113, 132; Caesar, Bell Civ. iii. io1. 4. See also:QUINTUS CASSIUS LONGINUS, the See also:brother or See also:cousin of the murderer of Caesar, See also:quaestor of Pompey in Further See also:Spain in 54 B.C. In 49, as tribune of the people, he strongly supported the cause of Caesar, by whom he was made See also:governor of Further Spain.

He treated the provincials with great See also:

cruelty, and hi, appointment (48) to take the See also:field against See also:Juba, See also:king of ),Vumidia, gave him an excuse for. fresh oppression. The result was an unsuccessful insurrection at Corduba. Cassius punished the leaders with merciless severity, and made the See also:lot of the provincials harder than ever. At last some of his troops revolted under the quaestor NI. See also:Marcellus, who was proclaimed governor of the province. Cassius was surrounded by Marcellus in Ulia. Bogud, king of See also:Mauretania, and M. See also:Lepidus, proconsul of Hither Spain, to whom Cassius had applied for assistance, negotiated an arrangement with Marcellus whereby Cassius was to be allowed to go See also:free with the legions that remained loyal to him. Cassius sent his troops into See also:winter quarters, hastened on See also:board See also:ship at Malaca with his See also:ill-gotten gains, but was wrecked in a See also:storm at the mouth of the Iberus (See also:Ebro). His tyrannical See also:government of Spain had greatly injured the cause of Caesar. See Dio Cassius xli. 15, 24, xlii.

15, 16, xliii. 29; Livy, Epit. III; Appian, B.C. ii. 33, 43; Bellum Alexandrinum, 48-64. 5. GAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS (1st See also:

century A.D.), Roman jurist, consul in 30, proconsul of See also:Asia 40-41, and governor of Syria under See also:Claudius 45-50. On his return to Rome his See also:wealth and high See also:character secured him considerable See also:influence. He was banished by See also:Nero (65) to See also:Sardinia, because among the images of his ancestors he had preserved that of the murderer of Caesar. He was recalled by See also:Vespasian, and died at an advanced age. As he was consul in 30, he must have been See also:born at the latest in the year 3 B.C. Cassius was a See also:pupil of Masurius Sabinus, with whom he founded a legal school, the followers of which were called Cassiani. His See also:chief See also:work was the Libri See also:Juris See also:Civilis in ten books, which was used by the compilers of the See also:Digest of Justinian.

See See also:

Tacitus, See also:Annals, xvi. 7-9; Suetonius, Nero, 37; Dio Cassius lix. 29; See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Literature, §298, 3.

End of Article: CASSIUS

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