Cassius

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Cassius , ancient Roman family. There were a number of well-known members. Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, d. c.485 BC, seems to have been consul several times. In 493 BC he negotiated a treaty establishing equal military assistance between Rome and the Latin cities. In 486 he proposed that land be distributed equally among the Roman and the Latin poor (see agrarian laws ). It is said that the patricians, outraged at the suggestion, accused Cassius of royal aspirations and had him executed. A descendant, Quintus Cassius Longinus, d. 45 BC, won a reputation for greed and corruption when he was a quaestor in Spain (54 BC). He and Antony , as tribunes in 49 BC, vetoed the attempts of the senate to deprive Julius Caesar of his army. When the senate overrode the tribunes on Jan. 7, 49 BC, Cassius and Antony fled to Caesar, who crossed the Rubicon and began the civil war. After Caesar's triumph, Cassius was given (47 BC) a post in Farther Spain. There was a rebellion against him, and Caesar had to come from Italy to put it down. Cassius died in a shipwreck. Best known of all was Caius Cassius Longinus, d. 42 BC, leader in the successful conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. He fought as a quaestor under Marcus Licinius Crassus (see under Crassus , family) at Carrhae in 53 BC and saved what was left of the army after the battle. He supported Pompey against Caesar but was pardoned after the battle of Pharsalus . He was made (44 BC) peregrine praetor and Caesar promised to make him governor of Syria. Before the promise could be fulfilled, Cassius had become ringleader in the plot to kill Caesar. The plot involved more than 60 men (including Marcus Junius Brutus, Publius Servilius Casca, and Lucius Tillius Cimber) and was successfully accomplished in the senate on the Ides of March in 44 BC When the people were aroused by Antony against the conspirators, Cassius went to Syria. He managed to capture Dolabella at Laodicea and coordinated his own movements with those of Brutus. Antony and Octavian (later Augustus ) met them in battle at Philippi. In the first engagement Cassius, thinking the battle lost, committed suicide. Another of the conspirators was Caius Cassius Parmensis, d. 30 BC He fought at Philippi and later with Sextus Pompeius. He later sided with Antony in the naval battle off Actium and was killed by order of Octavian.

Cassius ♂ From an old Roman family name, borne most notably by the senator Gaius Cassius Longinus, who led the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. The Latin name is of uncertain derivation, possibly connected with cassus ‘empty, hollow’. Like other famous names from Roman history, such as Caesar and Pompey, this name was commonly bestowed on slaves by their owners, and at one time it was fairly common among African Americans in the United States. Because of these associations it was repudiated by the boxer Cassius Clay (b. 1942), who changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

Cassius (Longinus), Gaius (d.42 bc) Roman general who led the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. He sided with Pompey during the war against Caesar but was pardoned after Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus (48 bc). After the assassination of Caesar in 44 bc he left for Sicily. Believing he had lost the battle against Mark Antony and Octavian (Augustus) at Philippi, Cassius committed suicide.

Cassius, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, friend of Brutus and leader of the conspiracy against Caesar.

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