Crassitius

a Latin grammarian, was a native of Tarentum and a freedman, and was surnamed Pasicles, which he afterwards changed into Pansa. He was first employed in assisting the writers of the mimes for the stage, afterwards gave lectures on grammar, and at length wrote a commentary on the obscure poem of C. Helvius Cinna, entitled Smyrna, which gained him great renown : his praises were celebrated in an epigram preserved by Suetonius, but the meaning of it is difficult to understand. He taught the sons of many of the noblest families at Rome, and among others Julius Antonius, the son of the triumvir, but eventually he gave up his school, in order to be compared to Verrius Flaccus, and betook himself to the study of philosophy. (Suet. Illustr. Gramm. 18; Weichert, Poet. Latin. Reliqu. p. 184.)

It is not impossible that this Crassitius was originally the slave of the Crassitius or Crassicius mentioned by Cicero in B. C. 43 (Philip. 5.6. 13.2) as one of the friends of Antony. His original name would therefore have been Pasicles, and he would have taken the name of his patron as a matter of course upon manumission. It may be, however, that the Crassitius mentioned by Cicero is the same as the grammarian.