Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/816

Rh 802 LONGINUS. H. c. 54 [Laterensis], and the speech which he delivered on that occasion is replied to by Cicero at considerable length. (Cic. pro Plane. 24, &c.) He is again mentioned in b. c. 52 as the accuser of M. Saufeius, (Ascon. i7i Mil. p. 54, ed. Orelli.) On the breaking out of the civil war he joined the party of Caesar, while his brother espoused that of Pompey. He is mentioned as one of Caesar's le- gates in Greece in B. c. 48, and was sent by him into Thessaly, in order to keep a watch upon the movements of Metellus Scipio, Before the battle of Pharsalia he was despatched by Caesar with Fufius Calenus into Southern Greece [Calenus.] Some ancient writers (Suet. Cues. 63 ; Dion Cass, xlii. 6) confound him with his brother, and erro- neously state that it Wjis Lucius, and not Cuius, who fell in with Caesar in the Hellespont after the battle of Pharsalia. [See above, p. 800, b.] In B. c. 44 L. Cassius was tribune of the plebs, but was not one of the conspirators against Caesar's life. He is mentioned by Cicero as present at the Ludi Apollinares, which Brutus exhibited in the month of July, in order to conciliate the people [see above, p. 801, a,], and is said to have been re- ceived with applause as the brother of Caius. He subsequently espoused the side of Octavian, in op- position to Antony ; and consequently, when the latter assembled the senate in the capitol on the 28th of November, in order to declare Octavian an enemy of the state, he forbade Cassius and two of his colleagues to approach the capitol, lest they should put their veto upon th,e decree of the senate. [Comp. Ti. Canutius.] In March, b. c. 43, L. Cassius, in conjunction with his mother and Ser- vilia, the mother-in-law of his brother Caius, at- tempted to prevent the latter from obtaining the conduct of the war against Dolabella, because the consuls Hirtius and Pansa laid claims to it. On the reconciliation of Octavian and Antony in the latter end of this year, Lucius, who dreaded the anger of the latter, fled to Asia ; but after the battle of Philippi he was pardoned by Antony at Ephesus, in b. c. 41. (Caes. B. C. iii. 34, &c., 55; Dion Cass. xli. 51 ; Cic. ao? yltt. xiv. 2, ad Fam. xii. 2, 7, Phitipp. iii. 9 ; Appian, B. C. v. 7.) 13. C. Cassius Longinus, the son of the mur- derer of Caesar [No. 11], to whom his father gave the toga virilis on the 15th of March, b. c. 44, just before the assassination of the dictator. (Plut. LruL 14.) 14. L. Cassius Longinus, son of No. 12, was left by his uncle C. Cassius [No. 11] as governor of Syria, in b. c. 43, when the latter departed from the province in order to unite his forces with those of M. Brutus. He subsequently joined his uncle, and fell in the battle of Philippi in the following year. (Appian, B. C. iv. 63, 135.) 15. Q. Cassius Longinus, is called by Cicero {ad Att.y.2) the f rater of C. Cassius [No. 1 1], by which he probably means the first cousin rather than the brother of Caius, more especially as both Quintus and Caius were tribunes of the plebs in the same year. The public life of Quintus com- menced and ended in Spain. In B. c. 54 he went as the quaestor of Pompey into that country, and availed himself of the absence of the triumvir to accumulate vast treasures in Further Spain. His conduct was so rapacious and cruel, that a plot was formed to take away his life. In B. c. 49 he was tribune of the plebs, and, in conjunction with his colleague M. Antony, warmly opposed the LONGINUS. measures of the aristocracy. They put their veto upon the decrees of the senate, cind when they were driven out of the senate-house by the consuls on the fith of January, they left Rome, and fled to Caesar's camp. Caesar's victorious advance through Italy soon restored them to the city, and it was they who summoned the senate to receive the con- queror. Upon Caesar's setting out for Spain in the course of this year, in order to oppose Afranius and Petreius, the legates of Pompey, he took Cas- sius with him ; and after the defeat of the Pom- peians, when he departed from the province, he left Cassius governor of Further Spain. Hated by the inhabitants, on account of his former exactions, and anxious to accumulate still further treasures, he was obliged to rely entirely upon the support of his soldiers, whose favour he courted by presents and indulgencies of every kind. Meantime, he received orders from Caesar to pass over to Africa, in order to prosecute the war against Juba, king of Numidia, who had espoused the side of Pompey ; orders which delighted hira much, as Africa afforded a fine field for plunder. Accordingly, in B. c. 48, he collected his army at Corduba ; but while he was thus employed, a conspiracy broke out which had been formed against him by the provincials, and in which many of his troops joined. He was openly attacked in the market-place of Corduba, and received many wounds : the conspirators, thinking that he was killed, chose L. Laterensis as his successor. [Laterensis, No. 2.] Cassius, however, escaped with his life, succeeded in put- ting down the insurrection, and executed Lateren- sis and all the other conspirators who were unable to purchase their lives. The province was treated with greater severity than ever. Shortly after- wards two legions, which had formerly served under Varro, the legate of Pompey, and which were marching to Calpe to be shipped for Africa, openly declared against Cassius, and elected one T. Torius as their commander. The inhabitants of Corduba also rose in insurrection, and the quaestor, M. Marcellus Aeserninus, who had been sent by Cassius to quiet the town, placed himself at their head. Cassius immediately sent to Bogud, king of Mauritania, and to M. Lepidus, who commanded in Nearer Gaul, for succours ; and till these should arrive, he took up a strong position on a hill, about 4000 paces from Corduba, from which it was se- parated by the river Baetis (Guadalquiver). From this position, however, he was obliged to retire, and take refuge in the town of Ulia, which Mar- cellus proceeded to enclose by lines of circunival- lation. But before these were completed Bogud came to his assistance, and shortly afterwards Lepidus appeared with a numerous force. The latter called upon Marcellus and Cassius to lay aside hostilities ; Marcellus immediately obeyed, and joined Lepidus, but Cassius hesitated to place himself in his power, and asked for a free de- parture. This was granted to him ; and as he heard about the same time that his successor, C. Trebonius, had arrived in the province, he hastened to place his troops in winter-quarters (b. c. 47), and to escape from the province with his treasures. He embarked at Malaca, but his ship sank, and he was lost, at the mouth of the Iberus. (Cic. ad Att. v. 20, 21, vi. C, 8, vii. 3, 18, ad Fam. xvi. 1 1 ; Caes. B.C. i. 2, ii. 19, 21; Hirt. B. Alex. 48—64; Appian, B.C. ii. 33, 43 ; Dion Cass. xli. 15, 24, xlii. 15, 16, xliii. 29 ; Liv. Epit. 111.)