Cassius
(1) Spurius Cassius Viscellnus. A Roman distinguished for having carried through the first agrarian law at Rome, by which he gained the enmity of his fellow-patricians, who accused him of seeking regal power and put him to death. He held the consulship in B.C. 502, 493, and 486. From his time, the Cassii are plebeians, having probably abandoned the patriciate. See Agrariae Leges.
(2) Gaius Cassius Longnus, one of the conspirators against Iulius Caesar. Even when a boy he is said to have been remarkable for his pride and the violence of his temper, if we may believe the anecdotes recorded of him by Plutarch ( Brut.9) and Valerius Maximus (iii. 1). He accompanied Crassus into Parthia as his quaestor, and distinguished himself, after the death of his general, by conducting the wreck of the Roman army back to Syria in safety. At the beginning of the Civil War he was one of the tribunes of the people. We find him after this commanding the Syrian squadron in Pompey's fleet, and infesting the coasts of Sicily. A short time before the battle of Pharsalia he had burned the entire fleet of the enemy, amounting to thirty-five ships, in the harbour of Messana. The news of Pompey's defeat, however, deterred him from pursuing his advantages; and, resigning the contest, he submitted to Caesar in Asia Minor, when the latter was returning from Egypt into Italy. Cicero, however, asserts that at this very time Cassius had intended to assassinate the man whose clemency he was willing to solicit, had not an accident prevented the accomplishment of his purpose (Philipp. ii. 11). He was not only spared by Caesar, but was appointed by him one of his lieutenants, a favour bestowed by magistrates upon their friends, in order to invest them with a public character, and thus enable them to reside or to travel in the provinces with greater comfort and dignity. Even during the last campaign of Caesar in Spain, Cassins wrote to Cicero, saying that he was anxious that Caesar should be victorious, for that he preferred an old and merciful master to a new and cruel one ( Ep. ad Fam. xv. 19). He also, together with Brutus, was appointed one of the praetors for the year 709, at a moment in which he was entirely discontented with Caesar's government; and he is said to have been the person by whose intrigues the first elements of the conspiracy were formed. Cassius had married Iunia, the sister of Brutus, and it was partly through her means that he made his approaches, when seeking to gain over her brother and induce him to join in the plot. After the assassination of Caesar, Cassius, together with Brutus, raised an army, and was met by Octavius and Antony at Philippi. The wing which Cassius commanded being defeated, he imagined that all was lost, and killed himself, B.C. 42. Brutus gave him an honourable burial, and called him, with tears, the last of the Romans.
(3) Parmensis, so called from his having been born at Parma in Italy, was a Latin poet of considerable talent. He sided with Brutus and Cassius in the Civil War, and obtained the office of military tribune. After the defeat of the republican forces he retired to Athens, and was put to death by Q. Varius, who had been sent for that purpose by Octavianus. He must not be confounded with Cassius the Etrurian, who appears to have been a very rapid and poor writer.
(4) Hemna, an early annalist of Rome, who flourished about B.C. 145.
(5) A Roman lawyer, who reduced to a scientific system the legal principles set forth by Ateius Capito. His school is called Cassiani.
(6) A Roman orator, distinguished for his eloquence, and fond, at the same time, of indulging in satirical composition. He was exiled by Augustus to the island of Seriphus, where he ended his days in wretchedness. His full name was Titus Cassius Severus.
(7) Cassius Longnus. See Longinus.
(8) Cassius Felix. A Greek physician, who lived in the reign of Tiberius and wrote a treatise with the title Ἰατρικαὶ Ἀπορίαι καὶ Προβλήματα Φυσικά. It is printed in Ideler's Physici et Medici Graeci Minores (Berlin, 1841).
(9) Dion. See Dion.