Our navigation bar is loading . . . . . .


Advertise on JCSM - Hear JCSM's Weekly Devotions via Podcast/RSS Feed! - Skip These Ads

You can advertise your site right here!Click here to learn more!

 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings by Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service! Join the Online Christ-Centered Ministries!

-
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



CASSIUS

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 462 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAR-CAU
CASSIUS , the name of a distinguished ancient Roman family, originally patrician. Its most important members are the following.
I. SPURIUS CASSIUS, surnamed Vecellinus (Vicellinus, Viscellinus), Roman soldier and statesman, three times
consul
 , and author of the first agrarian law. In his first consulate (502 B.C.) he defeated the Sabines; in his second (493) he renewed the league with the Latins, and dedicated the temple of Ceresin the
Circus
 ; in his third (486) he made a treaty with the conquered Hernici. The account of his agrarian law is confused and contradictory; it is clear, however, that it was intended to benefit the needy plebeians (see AGRARIAN LAWS). As such it was violently opposed both by the patricians and by the wealthy plebeians. Cassius was condemned by the people as aiming at kingly power, and hurled from the Tarpeian rock. Another account says he was tried by the family council and put to death by his own father, who considered his proposal prejudicial to the patrician
interest
 . According to Livy, his proposal to bestow a share of the land upon the Latins was regarded with great suspicion. According to Mommsen (Romische Forschungen, ii.), the whole story is an invention of a later age, founded upon the proposals of the Gracchi and M. Livius Drusus, to which period belongs the idea of sharing public land with the Latins.
See Livy ii. 33, 41;
Dion
  Halic. v. 49, viii. 69-8o; Cicero, Pro 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 left, the patrician order, in consequence of their father's execution.
2. GAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS,
consul
  73 B.C. With his colleague, Terentius Varro Lucullus, he passed a law (lex Terentia Cassia), the object of which was to give authority for the purchase of corn at the public expense, to be retailed at a fixed price at 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 Minturnae (43). According to Orosius he was killed at the battle of Mutina.
See Cicero, In Verrem, 70, 75,V. 21; Livy, Epit. 96; Appian, Bell. Civ. iv. 28; Orosius v. 24. ,
3. GAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS, prime mover in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar. Little is known of his early life. In 53 B.C. he served in the Parthian campaign under M. Licinius Crassus, saved the remnants of the army after the defeat at Carrhae, and for two years successfully repelled the enemy. In 49 B.C. he became tribune of the plebs. The outbreak of the civil war saved him from being brought to trial for extortion in Syria. He at first sided with Pompey, and as
commander
  of part of his
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 praetor peregrinus with the promise of the Syrian province for the ensuing year. The appointment of his junior, M. Junius 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 Italy for Syria, raised a considerable army, and defeated P. Cornelius Dolabella, to whom the province had been assigned by the senate. On the formation of the triumvirate, Brutus and he, with their combined armies, crossed the Hellespont, marched through Thrace, and encamped near
Philippi
  in 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. Antonius (Mark Antony), gave up all for lost, and ordered his freedman to slay him. He was lamented by Brutus as " the last of the Romans," and buried at Thasos. A man of consider-able ability, he was a good soldier, and took an
interest
  in literature, but in politics he was actuated by vanity and ambition. His portrait in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, though vivid, is scarcely historical.
See Plutarch, Brutus, passim, Crassus, 27, 29, Caesar, 62, 69; Dio Cassius xl. 28, xlii. 13, xliv. 14, xlvii. 20; Veil. Pat. ii. 46, 56, 58, 69, 70, 87; Cicero, Philippics, xi. 13, 14, ad Att. v. 21, xiv. 21, ad 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. QUINTUS CASSIUS LONGINUS, the brother or cousin of the murderer of Caesar, quaestor of Pompey in Further Spain in 54 B.C. In 49, as tribune of the people, he strongly supported the cause of Caesar, by whom he was made
governor
  of Further Spain. He treated the provincials with great cruelty, and hi,
appointment (48) to take the field against Juba, 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 lot of the provincials harder than ever. At last some of his troops revolted under the quaestor NI. Marcellus, who was proclaimed
governor
  of the province. Cassius was surrounded by Marcellus in Ulia. Bogud, king of Mauretania, and M. 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 free with the legions that remained loyal to him. Cassius sent his troops into winter quarters, hastened on board ship at Malaca with his ill-gotten gains, but was wrecked in a storm at the mouth of the Iberus (Ebro). His tyrannical 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 century A.D.), Roman jurist, consul in 30, proconsul of Asia 40-41, and governor of Syria under
Claudius
  45-50. On his return to Rome his wealth and high character secured him considerable influence. He was banished by Nero (65) to Sardinia, because among the images of his ancestors he had preserved that of the murderer of Caesar. He was recalled by Vespasian, and died at an advanced age. As he was consul in 30, he must have been born at the latest in the year 3 B.C. Cassius was a pupil of Masurius Sabinus, with whom he founded a legal school, the followers of which were called Cassiani. His
chief
  work was the Libri Juris Civilis in ten books, which was
used by the compilers of the Digest of Justinian.
See Tacitus, Annals, xvi. 7-9; Suetonius, Nero, 37; Dio Cassius lix. 29; Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Literature, 298, 3.


End of Article: CASSIUS


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CAR_CAU/CASSIUS.html">
CASSIUS
</a>
(Previous)
CASSITRRITE (from the Gr. Kavvirepos, tin) 		(Next)
CASSIUS, AVIDIUS (d. A.D. 175)

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

The JCSM Study CenterAmerica's Christian FoundationSkeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and ExplainedNKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3The Online Christ-Centered MinistriesDo You Have A Web Site?  Your Ad Could Be Here!Seminary Notes and PapersThe Picturesque Photo Albums


Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.


Kingdom Debt Solutions - Be Debt Free! Sport Logos - Quality Athletic Equipment The JCSM Study Center Your Ad Could Be Here! Launch A Successful Internet Organization or Business! Learn Guitar, Bass, or Piano in San Diego county!

You can advertise your site right here!

Free & Cheap Cell Phones  |  Cheap Long Distance Phone Service Carriers  |  Talk America Local Phone Service  |  Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare Cell Phone Plans & Companies  |  International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards  |  Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone Service  |  Wireless Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones

Dr. Jason Gastrich

Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries is directed by Dr. Jason Gastrich.  It was founded in 1997 and it exists to bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ.  JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, discussion boards, weekly html and mp3 devotionals, free email accounts, and much more.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-877-850-3878 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2008.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  The Online Christ Centered Ministries  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  The Inerrancy Discussion Board  .  Free Email Accounts  .  Home Equity Loans  .  JasonGastrich.com  .  The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference  .  Young Earth Creation Science  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Gastrich.net  .  Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success  .  Louisiana Baptist University  .  NKJV Web Hosting and Services  .  Michael Newdow  .  San Diego Soccer Training  . Christian Guitar Lessons  .  Jesus Christ Saves Ministries  .  Eternal Security