Longinus

• a Roman surname in the gens Cassia.—So, Cassius Longinus, v. Cassius.—
• II A Grecian philosopher, minister of Zenobia, who was put to death by Aurelian, Vop. Aur. 30; Hier. Ep. 95.

a deserter from the first legion, murdered Vocula, at the instigation of Classicus, in the great revolt of the Treviri against the Romans, A. D. 70; but was shortly afterwards put to death by the soldiers of the sixteenth legion. (Tac. Hist. 4.59, 62.)

a celebrated plebeian family.

1. Q. Cassius Longinus, tribune of the soldiers in the second Punic war, B. C. 252, was sent by the consul, C. Aurelius Cotta, to blockade Lipara, but with strict orders not to engage in battle. As Longinus, however, disobeyed these orders, and suffered a severe defeat, he was deprived of his command by Cotta. (Zonar. 8.14.)

2. Q. Cassius Longinus, L. F. Q. N., grandson of No. 1, was praetor urbanus B. C. 167, in which year he conducted to Alba Perseus, the conquered king of Macedonia. He was consul B. C. 164, with A. Manlius Torquatus. and died in his year of office. (Liv. 45.16, 35, 42; Fasti Capitol.)

3. Q. Cassius Longinus, son of No. 2, only known from the Fasti.

4. L. Cassius Longinus Raviila, Q. F. L. N., second son of No. 2, received his agnomen of Ravilla from his ravi oculi. (Festus, s. v. Ravi.) He was tribune of the plebs, B. C. 137, and proposed the second law for voting by ballot (tabellaria lex), the first having been brought forward by Gabinius two years before, B. C. 139. The law of Cassius introduced the ballot in the "Judicium Populi," by which we must understand criminal cases tried in the comitia by the whole body of the people; but cases of perduellio were excepted from the operation of the law. This law gave great dissatisfaction to the optimates, as it deprived them of much of their influence in the comitia. (Cic. de Leg. 3.16, Brut. 25, pro Sext. 48; Ascon. in Corn. p. 78, ed. Orelli.) It is commemorated on many coins of the Cassia gens, a specimen of which is given below.

Longinus was consul B. C. 127, with L. Cornelius Cinna, and censor B. C. 125, with Cn. Servilius Caepio. (Cic. Ver. 1.55.) Their censorship was celebrated for its severity, of which an instance is related in the condemnation of M. Lepidus Porcina. [Lepidus, No. 10.] Longinus had the character of great severity as a judex, whence his tribunal was called the scopulus reorum (V. Max. 3.7.9); but he was at the same time looked up to as a man of great integrity and justice. It is related of him that in all criminal trials he was accustomed to ask, before every thing else, with what object (cui bono) a crime had been committed. It was in consequence of this reputation for justice and severity that he was appointed by the people in B. C. 113 to investigate certain cases of incest, because the pontiffs were thought to have improperly acquitted two of the vestal virgins, Licinia and Marcia, while they condemned one, Aemilia. Longinus condemned not only Licinia and Marcia, but also several other persons; but the extreme severity with which he acted on this occasion was generally reprobated by public opinion. [Licinia, No. 2.1 (Cic. pro S. Rosc. 30; Ascon. in Milon. 12, p. 46, ed. Orelli; Dion Cas. Fr. 92; Oros. 5.15; Liv. Epit. 63; Obsequ. 97; Plut. Quest. Rom. p. 284b.)

Ernesti (Clavis Cic.) and Orelli (Onom. Tull.) regard the tribune of B. C. 137, who proposed the tabellaria lex, as the father of the consul of B. C. 127, and of the censor of B. C. 125. It is, however, very improbable that a tribune of the plebs should be the father of a person who was consul ten years afterwards; and their identity is strongly supported by the character which Cicero (Cic. Brut. 25) gives of the tribune, which is quite in accordance with the well-known severity of the judex and the censor.

5. L. Cassius Longinus, Q. F. Q. N., son of No. 3, was praetor B. C. 111, and was sent to Numidia to bring Jugurtha to Rome, under promise of a safe conduct. Cassius also pledged his own word to Jugurtha for his security; and so high was the reputation of Cassius, that the Numidian king valued this as much as the public promise. In B. C. 107 he was consul with C. Marius, and received as his province Narbonese Gaul, in order to oppose the Cimbri and their allies; but in the course of the same year he was defeated and killed by the Tigurini in the territory of the Allobroges. (Sal. Jug. 32; Liv. Epit. 65; Oros. 5.15; Caes. Gal. 1.7; Tac. Germ. 37.)

6. L. Cassius Longinus, described as L. F. by Asconius (in Cornel. p. 78, ed. Orelli), son of No. 4, was tribune of the plebs B. C. 104; and being a warm opponent of the aristocratical party, he I rought forward many laws to diminish their power. Among them was one which enacted that no one should be a senator whom the people had condemned, or who had been deprived of their imperium: this law was levelled against his personal enemy, Q. Servilius Caepio, who had been deprived of his imperium on account of his defeat by the Cimbri. (Ascon. l.c.)

7. C. Cassius Longinus, L. F. Q. N., brother of No. 6, was consul B. C. 96, with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. He is mentioned by Cicero as one of those persons who were elected consuls notwithstanding their having failed to obtain the aedileship. (Cic. pro Planc. 21.)

8. C. Cassius Longinus, C. F. C. N., of uncertain descent. He was chosen in B. C. 173 as one of the decemviri for distributing a portion of the Ligurian land; and two years afterwards, B. C. 171, was consul with P. Licinius Crassus. He obtained as his province Italy and Cisalpine Gaul; but anxious to distinguish himself in the war which had now commenced against Macedonia, he attempted to reach Macedonia by marching through Illyricum; he was obliged, however, to relinquish his design, and return to Italy. In the following year, while he was serving as legate in Macedonia under the consul A. Hostilius Mancinus, he was accused before the senate by ambassadors of the Gallic king, Cincibilus, as well as by ambassadors of the Carni, I stri and Iapydes, who complained that Cassius had treated them as enemies in his attempt to penetrate into Macedonia in the previous year. The senate intimated their disapproval of the conduct of Cassius, but stated that they could not condemn a man of consular rank unheard, and while he was absent on the service of the state. In B. C. 154 Cassius was censor with M. Valerius Messalla. (Liv. 42.4, 28, 32, 43.1, 5; Oros. 4.20; Plin. Nat. 7.3. s. 4; Cic. pro Dom. 50, 53; Plin. Nat. 17.25. s. 38.) A theatre, which these censors had contracted to have built, was pulled down by order of the senate, at the suggestion of P. Scipio Nasica, as useless and injurious to public morals. (Liv. Epit. 48; Vell. 1.15; V. Max. 2.4.2; Oros. iv, 21; Augustin, de Civ. Dei, 1.31 ; Appian, App. BC 1, 28, who erroneously calls Cassius Lucius, and places the event at too late a period.) Cassius accused M. Cato in his extreme old age: the speech of the latter, which he delivered in his defence, was extant in the time of Gellius. (Gel. 10.14; comp. Liv. 39.40; V. Max. 8.7.1; Plut. Cat. 15; Meyer, Orat. Rom. Frag. p. 111, 2d. ed.)

9. C. Cassius Longinus, C. F. C. N., son of No. 8, was consul B. C. 124, with C. Sextius Calvinus. (Fast. Sic.; Cassiod.; Vell. 1.15.) Eutropius (4.22) says that the colleague of Longinus was C. Domitius Calvinus, and that he carried on war with him against Bituitus; but both statements are erroneous. [Bituitus.] Obsequens (100.91) calls the other consul Sextilius.

10. C. Cassius Longinus Varus, of uncertain descent, was consul B. C. 73, with M. Terentius Varro Lucullus. In order to quiet the people, the consuls of this year brought forward a law (lex Terentia Cassia) by which corn was to be purchased and then sold in Rome at a small price. (Cic. Ver. 1.23, 3.41.) In the following year Longinus commanded as proconsul in Cisalpine Gaul, and was defeated by Spartacus near Mutina, but was not killed in the battle, as Orosius states. (Liv. Epit. 96; Flor. 3.20; Plut. Crass. 9; Oros. 5.24.) In B. C. 66 he supported the Manilian law for giving the command of the Mithridatic war to Pompey. (Cic. pro Leg. Man. 23.) He must have lived to a very advanced age: the consular Varus, who was proscribed and killed at Millturnae in B. C. 43, can have been no other than the subject of this article, as we find no other consul with this surname from B. C. 73. (Appian, App. BC 4.28.)

11. C. Cassius Longinus, the murderer of Julius Caesar, is sometimes represented as the son of the preceding [No. 10], but this is quite uncertain. He first appears in history as the quaestor of Crassus in his unfortunate campaign against the Parthians in B. C. 53, in which he greatly distinguished himself by his prudence and military skill ; and if his advice had been followed by Crassus, the result of the campaign would probably have been very different. Indeed at first he attempted to dissuade Crassus from invading the country of the Parthians at all, and recommended him to take up a strong position on the Euphrates. In the fatal battle of Carrhae Cassius commanded one of the wings of the Roman army, and recommended the Roman general to extend his line, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking them on their flank, and likewise to distribute cavalry on the wings; but here again his advice was not followed. After the defeat of the Roman army, Cassius and the legate, Octavius, conducted the remnants of it back to Carrhae, as Crassus had entirely lost all presence of mind, and was incapable of giving any orders. So highly was Cassius thought of by the Roman soldiers, that they offered him in Carrhae the supreme command of the army; but this he declined, although Crassus, in his despondency, was quite willing to resign it. In the retreat from Carrhae, which they were soon afterwards obliged to make, Crassus was misled by the guides, and killed [Crassus, p. 878]; but Cassius, suspecting treachery, returned to Carrhae, and thence made his escape to Syria with 500 horsemen by another way. After crossing the Euphrates, he collected the remains of the Roman army, and made preparations to defend the province against the Parthians. The enemy did not cross the river till the following year, B. C. 52, and then only with a small force, which was easily driven back by Cassius, upon whom the government of the province had devolved as proquaestor, as no successor to Crassus had yet been appointed. Next year, B. C. 5], the Parthians again crossed the river, with a much larger army, under the command of Osaces and Pacorus, the son of Orodes, the Parthian king. As M. Bibulus, who had been appointed proconsul of Syria, had not yet arrived, the conduct of the war again devolved upon Cassius. He thought it more prudent to retire at first before the Parthians, and threw himself into the strongly fortified city of Antioch; and when the barbarians withdrew finding it impossible to take the place, he followed them, and gained, in September, a brilliant victory over them. Osaces died a few days after of the wounds which he had received in the battle, and the remains of the army fled in confusion across the Euphrates. Cicero, who commanded in the neighbouring province of Cilicia, was now delivered from the great fear he had entertained of being obliged to meet the Parthians himself, and accordingly wrote to Cassius to congratulate him on his success (ad Fam. 15.14.3), but notwithstanding this attempted, in every possible way, to rob him of the honour of the victory. (Ad Fam. 3.8, 8.10, ad Att. 5.21.) On the arrival of Bibulus, Cassius returned to Italy. He expected to be accused of extortion; and he was generally supposed, and apparently with justice, to have fleeced the provincials unmercifully. But the breaking out of the civil war, almost immediately afterwards, saved him from the accusation which he dreaded.

In B. C. 49 Cassius was tribune of the plebs. He was a supporter of the aristocratical party, and, with the rest of the leaders of that party, left Rome in the month of January. He crossed over to Greece with Pompey in the month of March, and subsequently received the command of the Syrian, Phoenician, and Cilician ships. With these he went to Sicily in the following year, B. C. 48, where he burnt off Messana thirty-five ships, commanded by the Caesarian, M. Pomponius, and subsequently five ships belonging to the squadron of Sulpicius and Libo. After that he made many descents upon the coasts of Sicily and Italy, till the news of the battle of Pharsalia obliged him to put a stop to his devastations.

Cassius sailed to the Hellespont, with the hope of inducing Pharnaces to join him against Caesar; but in that sea he accidentally fell in with Caesar, and although he had a much larger force, he was so much astonished and alarmed at meeting with the conqueror, that he did not attempt to make any resistance, but surrendered himself unconditionally into his power. Caesar not only forgave hint, but made him soon afterwards one of his legates. Whether Cassius took part in the Alexandrian war, is unknown; but he appears to have been engaged in that against Pharnaces. In B. C. 46 he remained in Rome, as he did not wish to accompany Caesar to Africa in order to fight against his former friends, and he was busily engaged during this time in studying along with Cicero. In the following year, B. C. 45, he retired from Rome to Brundisium, waiting to hear the result of the struggle in Spain, and intending to return to Rome on the first news of the victory of the dictator. During this time he and Cicero kept up a diligent correspondence with one another. (Cic. Fam. 17-19; comp. ad Att. 13.22.)

In B. C. 44 Cassius was praetor peregrinus, and was to receive the province of Syria next year. But although his life had been spared, and he was thus raised to honours by Caesar, yet he was the author of the conspiracy against the dictator's life. He was said to have been deeply aggrieved, because M. Brutus, although his junior, had been appointed by Caesar as city praetor, in preference to himself; but this slight only exasperated the feelings he had previously entertained. He had never ceased to be Caesar's enemy, and Caesar seems to have looked upon him with more mistrust than upon most of his former foes (comp. Plut. Caes. 62; Vell. 2.56). One thing, however, is clear, that it was mere personal hatred and ambition which urged on Cassius to take away the dictator's life; and that a love of country and of liberty was a sheer pretext. His groat object was to gain over M. Brutus, the dictator's favourite, and when this was done, everything else was easily arranged. In the bloody tragedy of the 15th of March, Cassius took a distinguished part. When the conspirators pressed round Caesar, and one of them hesitated to strike, Cassius called out " Strike, though it be through me," and he himself is said to have wounded Caesar in the face.

After the murder the conspirators fled to the Capitol; but they were bitterly disappointed in finding that the supreme power fell into the hands of Antony, who was supported by the army of Lepidus, which was in the neighbourhood of the city. [Lepidus, p. 767.] A hollow agreement was patched up between Antony and the conspirators, in consequence of which the latter left the Capitol; but the riots which broke out at Caesar's funeral showed the conspirators that even their lives were not safe in Rome. Many of them immediately quitted the city, but Cassius and Brutus remained behind, till the attempts of the Pseudo-Marius, who was executed by Marius, hastened their departure in the middle of April. They did not, however, go far, but flattering themselves with the hope that there might be some change in their favour, they remained for the next four months in Latium and Campania. As praetors, they ought of course to have continued in Rome; and the senate, anxious to make it appear that they had not fled from the city, passed a decree on the 5th of June, by which they were commissioned to purchase corn in Sicily and Asia. But Cassius looked upon this as an insult in the guise of a favour. About the same time he and Brutus received Cyrene and Crete as praetorian provinces, but this was a poor compensation for the provinces of Syria and Macedonia, the former of which Caesar had promised to Cassius and the latter to Brutus, but which had now been assigned to Dolabella and Antony respectively. Resolving to make a final effort to regain the popular favour, Brutus celebrated the Ludi Apollinares with extraordinary splendour in the month of July; but as this was not followed by the expected results, they resolved to leave Italy. They accordingly published a decree, in which they resigned their office as praetors, and declared that they would for the future live in banishment, in order to preserve the harmony of the state. This, however, was only done to excite odium against Antony. Instead of going to the provinces which had been assigned to them by the senate, Brutus went into Macedonia, and Cassius hastened to take possession of Syria before Dolabella could arrive there. In Asia Cassius received the support of the proconsul L. Trebonius, and of the quaestor P. Lentulus Spinther, who supplied him with money. On his arrival in Syria, where his former victories over the Parthians had gained him a great reputation, Cassius soon collected a considerable army. He was joined by the troops of Caecilius Bassus, the Pompeian, as well as by those of the Caesarian generals, who had for some years been carrying on war against one another. [BASSUS, CAECILIUS.] His army was still further strengthened by the addition of four legions, commanded by A. Allienus, the legate of Dolabella, and which went over to Cassius in Judea, at the beginning of B. C. 43. Cassius was now prepared to meet Dolabella; he was at the head of twelve legions, besides the troops which he had brought with him into Syria. The senate, meantime, who had come to an open rupture with Antony, confirmed Cassius in his province, and entrusted to him the conduct of the war against Dolabella. The latter, after he had killed Trebonius in Smyrna, entered Syria in the month of April. After an unsuccessful attack upon Antioch, he obtained possession of Laodiceia, where he maintained himself for a short time; but the town was soon afterwards betrayed to Cassius, and Dolabella, to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, ordered one of his soldiers to put him to death. The inhabitants of Laodiceia, as well as those of Tarsus, which had also submitted to Dolabella, were obliged to purchase their pardon by large contributions.

Cassius now proposed to march against Cleopatra in Egypt; but Brutus summoned him to his assistance, in consequence of the formation of the celebrated triumvirate, in the month of October, by Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus. After appointing his brother's son, L. Cassius Longinus, governor of Syria, and leaving him one legion, he set out with the rest of his forces to join Brutus. They met at Smyrna, and there concerted measures for the prosecution of the war. Brutus was anxious to proceed at once into Macedonia, but Cassius was of opinion that they should first put down all the friends of the triumvirs in Asia, and not proceed further till they had increased their army and fleet, and obtained further resources by plundering the provinces. The latter plan was resolved upon, and Rhodes, which had assisted Dolabella, was first destined to feel the vengeance of Cassius. After conquering the Rhodians in a sea-fight, he obtained possession of their city by treachery, executed fifty of the leading inhabitants, and plundered them so unmercifully that the booty was said to amount to 8500 talents. This immense sum only whetted still more the appetite of Cassius, and accordingly, on his return to Asia, he imposed upon the province a ten years' tribute, which was to be raised immediately. Meanwhile, the colleague of Cassius, M. Brutus, was employed in the same way in robbing the towns of Lycia; and the liberators of the Roman world made it pay very dearly for its freedom.

At the beginning of the following year, B. C. 42, Brutus and Cassius met again at Sardis, where their armies greeted them with the title of imperators. Here they had some serious differences, and were nearly coming to an open rupture; but the common danger to which they were exposed produced a reconciliation between them. They crossed over the Hellespont, marched through Thrace, and finally took up their position near Philippi in Macedonia. Here Antony also soon appeared with his army, and Octavian followed ten days afterwards. Brutus and Cassius, whose position was far more favourable than that of the enemy, resolved to avoid a battle, and to subdue them by hunger. But this plan was frustrated by the bold manoeuvres of Antony, who forced them into a general engagement. The left wing, commanded by Brutus, conquered Octavian's forces, and took his camp; but Antony, who commanded the other wing, defeated Cassius and obtained possession of his camp. Cassius himself, supposing all was lost, and ignorant of the success of Brutus, commanded his freedman Pindarus to put an end to his life. Brutus mourned over his companion, calling him the last of the Romans, and caused him to be buried in Thasos.

Cassius was married to Junia Tertia or Tertulla, half-sister of his confederate, M. Brutus: she survived him upwards of sixty years, and did not die till the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 22. [Junia, No. 3.] Only one of his children is mentioned [See No. 13], and we do not know whether he had any more.

Cassius was a man of literary tastes and habits. He received instruction in the Greek language and literature from Archelaus of Rhodes, and he both wrote and spoke Greek with facility. He was a follower of the Epicurean philosophy; but was absteimious and simple in his mode of life. His abilities were considerable; and though he would certainly have been incapable, like Caesar or Augustus, of governing the Roman world, yet he excelled the rest of the conspirators in prudence, resolution, and power of ruling. His campaigns against the Parthians had early gained for him a military reputation, and he was always respected and cheerfully obeyed by his soldiers. But with all this he had a mean soul. He was a lover of money, and a lover of self of the worst kind. In his first government of Syria he was notorious for his rapacity; and when a second time in Asia, he availed himself of the pretext of liberating his country, in order to increase his private fortune by plundering the provincials. It was his high estimate of himself, his envy of Caesar's position, and mortification at becoming an inferior and a subject, which led him to become a murderer of the greatest man that Rome ever produced. Further Information

Cicero, in the passages collected in Orelli's Onomast. Tull. vol. ii. p. 134, &c.; Plut. Cress. 18, 20, 22, 24, 27, Brut. 39-44; Appian, App. BC 2.88, 4.114; Dio Cass. lib. xl.--xlvii. All the authorities are collected in Drumann, Gesch. Roms, vol. ii. pp. 117-152.

12. L. Cassius Longinus, brother of No. 1, assisted M. Laterensis in accusing Cn. Plancius, in B. C. 54 [Laterensis], and the speech which he delivered on that occasion is replied to by Cicero at considerable length. (Cic. pro Planc. 24, &c.) He is again mentioned in B. C. 52 as the accuser of M. Saufeius. (Ascon. in 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 legates 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. Jul. 63; D. C. 42.6) confound him with his brother, and erroneously state that it was Lucius, and not Caius, who fell in with Caesar in the Hellespont after the battle of Pharsalia. [See above, p. 800b.]

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 received with applause as the brother of Caius. He subsequently espoused the side of Octavian, in opposition 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 the decree of the senate. [Comp. Ti. Canutius.] In March, B. C. 43, L. Cassius, in conjunction with his mother and Servilia, the mother-in-law of his brother Caius, attempted 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. Civ. 3.34, &c., 55; D. C. 41.51; Cic. Att. 14.2, ad Fam. 12.2, 7, Philipp. 3.9; Appian, App. BC 5.7.)

13. C. Cassius Longinus, the son of the murderer 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. Brut. 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, App. BC 4.63, 135.)

15. Q. Cassius Longinus, is called by Cicero (Cic. Att. 5.21) the frater of C. Cassius [No. 11], 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 commenced 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 measures of the aristocracy. They put their veto upon the decrees of the senate, and when they were driven out of the senate-house by the consuls on the 6th 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 conqueror. 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 Cassius with him; and after the defeat of the Pompeians, 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 him 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 putting down the insurrection, and executed Laterensis and all the other conspirators who were unable to purchase their lives. The province was treated with greater severity than ever. Shortly afterwards 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 separated by the river Baetis (Guadalquiver). From this position, however, he was obliged to retire, and take refuge in the town of Ulia, which Marcellus proceeded to enclose by lines of circumvallation. 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 departure. 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. Att. 5.20, 21, 6.6, 8, 7.3, 18, ad Fam. 16.11; Caes. Civ. 1.2, 2.19, 21; Hirt. B. Alex. 48-64; Appian, App. BC 2.33, 43; D. C. 41.15, 24, 42.15, 16, 43.29; Liv. Epit. 111.)

16. Q. Cassius (Longinus) is mentioned without any cognomen; but as he is said to have been a legate of Q. Cassius Longinus [No. 15] in Spain in B. C. 48, he was probably a son of the latter. He seems to be the same as the Q. Cassius to whom Antony gave Spain in B. C. 44. (Hirt. B. Alex. 52, 57; Cic. Philipp. 3.10.)

17. L. Cassius Longinus, of unknown descent, probably the same as the L. Cassius whom Cicero names among the judges of Cluentius (pro Cluent. 38), was, along with Cicero, one of the competitors for the consulship for the year B. C. 63. At the time he was considered to be rather deficient in abilities than to have any evil intentions; but a few months afterwards he was found to be one of Catiline's conspirators, and the proposer of the most dreadful measures. He undertook to set the city on fire; and he also carried on the negotiation with the ambassadors of the Allobroges, but was prudent enough not to give them any written document under his seal, as the others had done. He left Rome before the ambassadors, and accordingly escaped the fate of his comrades. He was condemned to death in his absence, but whether he was apprehended and executed afterwards we do not know. (Ascon. in Tog. Cand. p. 82, ed. Orelli; Appian, App. BC 2.4; Sal. Cat. 17, 44, 50; Cic. Cat. 3.4, 6, 7, pro Sull. 13, 19.)

18. L. Cassius Longinus, consul, A. D. 30, was married by Tiberius to Drusilla, the daughter of Germanicus; but her brother Caligula soon afterwards carried her away from her husband's house, and openly lived with her as if she were his wife. [Drusilla, No. 2.] (Tac. Ann. 6.15, 45; Suet. Cal. 24.) Cassius was proconsul in Asia in A. D. 40, and was commanded by Caligula to be brought in chains to Rome, because an oracle had warned the emperor to beware of a Cassius. Caligula thought that the oracle must have had reference to Cassius Longinus, because he was descended from the great republican family, whereas it really meant Cassius Chaerea. [Chaerea] (Suet. Cal. 57; D. C. 59.29, who erroneously calls him Caius, confounding him with No. 19.)

19. C. Cassius Longinus, the celebrated jurist, was governor of Syria, A. D. 50, in the reign of Claudius, and conducted to the Euphrates Meherdates, whom the Parthians had desired to have as their king. Though there was no war at that time, Cassius endeavoured, by introducing stricter discipline into the army and keeping the troops well trained, to maintain the high reputation which his family enjoyed in the province. [See above, No. 11.] On his return to Rome he was regarded as one of the leading men in the state, and possessed great influence both by the integrity of his character and his ample fortune. On these accounts he became an object of suspicion to the emperor Nero, who imputed to him as a crime that, among his ancestral images, he had a statue of Cassius, the murderer of Caesar, and accordingly required the senate to pronounce a sentence of banishment against him, A. D. 66. This order was, of course, obeyed, and Cassius was removed to the island of Sardinia, but was recalled from banishment by Vespasian. At the time of his banishment he is said by Suetonius to have been blind. The mother of Cassius was a daughter of Tubero, the jurist [Tubero], and she was a granddaughter of the jurist Serv. Sulpicius. (Tac. Ann. 12.11, 12, 13.41, 48, 14.43, 15.52, 16.7, 9, 22; Suet. Nero 37; Plin. Ep. 7.24; Pompon. de Orig. Juris, in Dig. 1. tit. 2.47.)

Considerable controversy has arisen from Pomponius (l.c.) stating that C. Cassius Longinus was consul in A. D. 30, whereas other authorities make L. Cassius Longinus [No. 19] consul in that year. Hence, some writers suppose that C. Cassius and L. Cassius were the same person, while others maintain that they were both jurists, and that Pomponius has confounded them. Others, again, think that L. Cassius was consul suffectus in the same year that C. Cassius was consul. It is, however, more probable that Pomponius has made a mistake. (See Reimarus, ad Dion. Cass. 59.29.)

C. Cassius wrote ten books on the civil law (Libri Juris Civilis), and Commentaries on Vitellius and Urseius Ferox, which are quoted in the Digest. Cassius was a follower of the school of Masurius Sabinus and Ateius Capito; and as he reduced their principles to a more scientific form, the adherents of this school received afterwards the name of Cassiani. The characteristics of this school are given at length under Capito, p. 601. (Compare Steenwinkel, Dissert. de C. Cassio Longino JCto. Lugd. Bat. 1778.)

the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology, one of which is imitated from the thirteenth epigram of Leonidas of Tarentum (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 200; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. ii. p. 184). Nothing is known of him, except his name, and even that is doubtful. His first epigram, which, in the Planudean Anthology, bears the name as above given, is entitled in the Vatican MS. Κορνηλίου Λόγγου; the second is entitled in the Planudean Κορνηλίου simply, and is not found in the Vatican. (Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. xiii. p. 912.) [P.S]

(Διονύσιος Κάσσιος Λογγῖνος), a very distinguished Greek philosopher of the third century of our era. His original name seems to have been Dionysius; but, either because he entered into the relation of client to some Cassius Longinus, or because his ancestors had received the Roman franchise, through the influence of some Cassius Longinus, he bore the name of Dionysius Longinus, Cassius Longinus, or in the complete form given at the head of this article. He was born about A. D. 213, and was killed in A. D. 273, at the age of sixty. His native place is uncertain; some say that he was born at Palmyra, and others call him a Syrian or a native of Emesa. The belief that he was of Syrian origin is only an inference from the fact that his mother was a Syrian woman, and from an obscure passage in Vopiscus (Aurelian. 30), from which it may be inferred that he was conversant with the Syriac language. But it is clear that these circumstances prove nothing, for he may have learned the Syriac language either from his mother or during his subsequent residence at Palmyra. There is more ground for believing that Longinus was born at Athens, for Suidas (s. v. Φρόντων) states that Phronto of Emesa, the uncle of Longinus, taught rhetoric at Athens, and on his death in that place left behind him Longinus, the son of his sister. It would seem that this Phronto took especial care of the education of his nephew, and on his death-bed he instituted him as his heir. In the preface to his work περὶ τέλους, which is preserved in Porphyrius's life of Plotinus (p. 127), Longinus himself relates that from his early age he made many journeys with his parents, that he visited many countries, and became acquainted with all the men who at the time enjoyed a great reputation as philosophers, and among whom the most illustrious are Ammonius Saccas, Origen, Plotinus, and Amelius. Of the first two Louginus was a pupil for a long time, though they did not succeed in inspiring him with any love for that kind of speculative philosophy of which they were the founders. Longinus in his study of philosophy went to the fountain-head itself, and made himself thoroughly familiar with the works of Plato; and that he was a genuine Platonist is evident from the character of his works. or rather, fragments still extant, as well as from the commentaries he wrote on several of Plato's dialogues; and the few fragments of these commentaries which have come down to us, show that he had a clear and sound lead, and was free from the allegorical fancies in which his contemporaries discovered the great wisdom of the ancients. His commentaries not only explained the subject-matter discussed by Plato, but also his style and diction. This circumstance drew upon him the contempt and ridicule of such men as Plotinus, who called him a philologer, and would not admit his claims to be a philosopher. (Porphyr. Vit. Plot. p. 116; Proclus, ad Plat. Tim. p. 27.)

After Longinus had derived all the advantages he could from Ammonius at Alexandria, and the other philosophers whom he met in his travels, he returned to Athens, where he had been born and bred. He there devoted himself with so much zeal to the instructions of his numerous pupils, that he had scarcely any time left for the composition of any literary production. The most distinguished among his pupils was Porphyrius, whose original name was Malchus, which Longinus changed into Porphyrius, i. e. the king, or the man clad in purple. At Athens he seems to have lectured on philosophy and criticism, as well as on rhetoric and grammar (Eunap. Porphyr. init.; Porphyr. Vit. Plot. p. 131; Vopisc. Aurelian. 30; Suid. s. v. Λογγῖνος), and the extent of his information was so great, that Eunapius calls him "a living library" and "a walking museum ;" but his knowledge was not a dead encumbrance to his mind, for the power for which he was most celebrated was his critical skill (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 259; Sopat. Proleg. in Aristid. p. 3; Suid. s. vr. Πορφύριος, Λογγῖνος), and this was indeed so great, that the expression κατὰ Λογγῖνον κρίνειν became synonymous with "to judge correctly." (Hieronym. Epist. 95; Theophylact. Epist. 17.)

After having spent a considerable part of his life at Athens, and composed the best of his works, he went to the East, either for the purpose of seeing his friends at Emesa or to settle some of his family affairs. It seems to have been on that occasion that he became known to queen Zenobia of Palmyra, who, being a woman of great talent, and fond of the arts and literature, made him her teacher of Greek literature. As Longinus had no extensive library at his command at Palmyra, he was obliged almost entirely to abandon his literary pursuits, but another sphere of action was soon opened to him there; for when king Odenathus had died, and Zenobia had undertaken the government of her empire, she availed herself most extensively of the advice of Longinus, and it was he who, being an ardent lover of liberty, advised and encouraged her to shake off the Roman yoke, and assert her dignity as an independent sovereign. In consequence of this, Zenobia wrote a spirited letter to the Roman emperor Aurelian. (Vopisc. Aurelian. 27.) In A. D. 273, when Aurelian took and destroyed Palmyra, Longinus had to pay with his life for the advice which he had given to Zenobia. (Vopisc. Aurelian. 30; Suid. s. v. Λογγῖνος.) This catastrophe must have been the more painful to Longinus, since the queen, after having fallen into the hands of the Romans, asserted her own innocence, and threw all the blame upon her advisers, and more especially upon Longinus. But he bore his execution with a firmness and cheerfulness worthy of a Socrates. (Zosimus, 1.56.) Works

Longinus was unquestionably by far the greatest philosopher of the age, and stands forth so distinct and solitary in that age of mystic and fanciful quibblers, that it is impossible not to recognise in him a man of excellent sense, sound and independent judgment, and extensive knowledge. He had thoroughly imbibed the spirit of Plato and Demosthenes, from whom he derived not only that intellectual culture which distinguished him above all others, but also an ardent love of liberty, and a great frankness both in expressing his own opinions and exposing the faults and errors of others. (Porphyr. Vit. Plot. p. 126.) Περὶ ὕψους

Longinus' work Περὶ ὕψους, a great part of which is still extant, surpasses in oratorical power every thing that was ever written after the time of the Greek orators, and he, like Cicero among the Romans, is the only Greek who not only knew how to teach rhetoric, but was able by his own example to show what true oratory is. Besides the Greek and Syriac languages, he was also familiar with the Latin, as we must conclude from his comparison of Cicero with Demosthenes (Περὶ ὕψ. § 12; comp. Suid. s. v. Αἰωνοάριος; Tzetz. Posthom. p. 75.) In his private life he seems to have been a man of a very amiable disposition; for although his pupil Porphyrius left him, declaring that he would seek a better philosophy in the school of Plotinus, still Longinus did not show him any ill-will on that account, but continued to treat him as a friend, and invited him to come to Palmyra. (Porphyr. Vit. Plot. pp. 120, 124, 131.) He was, and remained throughout his life, a pagan, though he was by no means hostile either to Judaism or Christianity. Lost Works

Notwithstanding his manifold avocations, Longinus composed a great number of works, which appear to have been held in the highest estimation, but nearly all of which have unfortunately perished. All that has come down to us consists of a considerable part of his work Περὶ ὕψους, or De Sublimitate, and a number of fragments, which have been preserved as quotations in the works of contemporary and later writers. There is scarcely any work in the range of ancient literature which, independent of its excellence of style, contains so many exquisite remarks upon oratory, poetry, and good taste in general. It is addressed to one Postumius Terentianus, but contains many lacunae, which cannot be filled up, since all the MSS. extant are only copies of the one which is preserved at Paris. The following is a list of his lost works :-- 1. Οἱ Φιλόλογοι

Οἱ Φιλόλογοι, a very extensive work, since a 21st book of it is quoted. It seems to have contained information and critical remarks upon a variety of subjects. (Auctor, Vit. Apollon. Rhod., Rulhnken, Dissertatio Philol. De Vit. et Script. Long. p. 28, &c.) 2. Περὶ τοῦ κατὰ Μειδίου

Περὶ τοῦ κατὰ Μειδίου, i. e. on the oration of Demosthenes against Meidias. (Suid. s. v. Λογγῖνος; comp. Phot. Bibl. Cod. 265.) 3. Ἀπορήματα Ὁμηρικά

Ἀπορήματα Ὁμηρικά. (Suid. l.c.; comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Il. pp. 67, 106.) 4. Εἰ φιλόσοφος Ὅμηρος

Εἰ φιλόσοφος Ὅμηρος. (Suid. l.c.) 5. Προβλήματα Ὁμήρου καὶ λύσεις

Προβλήματα Ὁμήρου καὶ λύσεις, in two books. (Suid. l.c.) 6. Τίνα παρὰ τὰς ἱστορίας οἱ λραμματικοὶ ὡς ἱστορικὰ ἐξηγοῦνται

Τίνα παρὰ τὰς ἱστορίας οἱ λραμματικοὶ ὡς ἱστορικὰ ἐξηγοῦνται. (Suid. l.c.) 7. Περὶ τῶν παῤ Ὁμήρῳ πολλὰ σημαινουσῶν λέξεων

Περὶ τῶν παῤ Ὁμήρῳ πολλὰ σημαινουσῶν λέξεων,in three books. (Suid. l.c.) 8. Ἀττικῶν λέξεων ἐκδόσεις

Ἀττικῶν λέξεων ἐκδόσεις, in the form of a dictionary. (Phot. Lexic. s. v. Σέρφιο; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1919.) 9. Λέξεις Ἀντιμάχου καὶ Ἡρακλέωνος

Λέξεις Ἀντιμάχου καὶ Ἡρακλέωνος. (Suid. l.c.) 10. Περὶ ἐθνικῶν

Περὶ ἐθνικῶν. (Grammat. in Biblioth. Coislin. p. 597.) 11. Σχόλια εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος ἐγχειρίδιον

Σχόλια εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἡφαιστίωνος ἐγχειρίδιον, are still extant in MSS., and have been transcribed by the scholiast commonly printed with Hephaestion. (Schol. ad Hermog. p. 387.) 12. Περὶ συνθέσεως λόγων

Περὶ συνθέσεως λόγων. (Longin. περὶ ὕφ. § 39.) 13. Τέχνη π̔ητορική

Τέχνη π̔ητορική, or a manual of rhetoric. (Schol. ad Hermog. p. 380.) 14. Εἰς τὴν ῥητορικὴν Ἑρμογένους

Εἰς τὴν ῥητορικὴν Ἑρμογένους, of which some extracts are still extant in MS. at Vienna. 15. A commentary on the Prooemium of Plato's Timaeus.

(Proclus, in Tim. pp. 10, 11, 16, 20, 21, 29, 50, 63, 98.) 16. A commentary on Plato's Phaedon.

(Ruhnken, l.c. p. 18.) 17. Περὶ ἀρχῶν

Περὶ ἀρχῶν, i.e. on the principles of things. (Porphyr. Vit. Plot. p. 116.) 18. Περὶ τέλους

Περὶ τέλους, i. e. De finibus bonorum et malorum; the excellent introduction to it is preserved in Porphyrius's life of Plotinus (p. 127). 19. Περὶ ὁρμῆς

Περὶ ὁρμῆς, or on natural instinct. (Porphyr. Vit. Plotin. p. 120.) 20. Εʼπιοστολὴ πρὸς τὸν Ἀμέλιον

Εʼπιοστολὴ πρὸς τὸν Ἀμέλιον, on the philosophy of Plotinus. (Ruhnken, l.c. p. 43.) 21. Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα δικαιοσύνης

Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα δικαιοσύνης, was directed against Amelius. (Ruhnken, l.c. p. 43.) 22. Περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν

Περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν. Longinus wrote two works under this title, one against Plotinus, and the other against Porphyrius. (Ruhnken, l.c. ; Syrian. ad Aristot. Metaphys.) 23. Περὶ φυχῆς

Περὶ φυχῆς, a fragment of it is quoted by Eusebius. (Praep. Evang. 15.21; comp. Porphyr. apud Stob. Eclog. Phys. i. p. 109; Proclus, ad Plat. Polit. p. 415.) 24. Ὀδαίναθος

Ὀδαίναθος seems to have been the latest of the works of Longinus, and to have been an elogy on Odenathus, the husband of Zenobia. (Liban. Epist. 998.) Editions

The first edition of the treatise περὶ ὕψους is that of Fr. Robortello, Basel, 1554, 4to. The next important edition is that of F. Portus (Geneva, 1569, 8vo.), which forms the basis of all subsequent editions until the time of Tollius. We may, however, mention those of G. Langbaene (Oxford, 1636, 1638, and 1650, 8vo.) and T. Fabri (Salmur. 1663, 8vo.). In 1694 there appeared the edition of Tollius, with notes, and Latin translation (Traject. ad Rhen. 4to.): it was followed in the editions of Hudson (Oxford, 1710, 1718, 1730, 8vo., and Edinburgh, 1733, 12mo.), Pearce (London, 1724, 4to., 1732, 8vo., and often reprinted), and N. Morus (Leipzig, 1769-73, 8vo.). A collection of all that is extant of Longinus was published by J. Toupius, with notes and emendations by Ruhnken, of which three editions were printed at Oxford (1778, 1789, and 1806, 8vo.). The most recent editions are those of B. Weiske (Leipzig. 1809, 8vo.) and A. E. Egger, forming vol. i. of the Scriptorum Graec. Nova Collectio (Paris, 1837, 16mo.). Further Information

Compare Ruhnken, Dissertatio de Vita et Scriptis Longini, which is printed in Toupius and other editions of Longinus; Spongberg, de Commentario) Dionysii Cassii Longini περὶ ὕφους Expositio, Upsala, 1835, 4to.; Westermann, Gesch. der Griech. Beredtsamk. § 98, notes 1-9. [L.S]

(1) Dionysius Cassius (Αογγῖνος). A Greek rhetorician, born at Athens about A.D. 213, who studied Neoplatonism at Alexandria, and practised as teacher of philosophy, grammar (i. e. literary criticism), and rhetoric, in his native city, from about 260, until the accomplished queen Zenobia of Palmyra summoned him as minister to her court. As he persuaded her to resist the Roman yoke, the emperor Aurelian caused him to be executed after Zenobia's overthrow in 273. He possessed such an extent of learning that Eunapius called him a living library and a walking museum. His versatility is proved by compositions on philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, chronology, and literature. Of these, only fragments are extant, for example, the introduction to a commentary on Hephaestion's handbook of metres, and a short Rhetoric incomplete at the beginning. A brief treatise On the Sublime (Περὶ Ὕψους), commonly ascribed to him, is more probably to be assigned to an unknown writer about the Christian era. It treats and illustrates by classic examples the characteristics of the lofty style from a philosophical and aesthetic point of view. It is written in a vigorous manner. Good editions are those of Weiske (1820), Egger (1837), both with excellent notes; and Jahn (1867; revised by Vahlen, 1887). On the question of authorship, see Buchenau, De Scriptore Libri Περὶ ὕψους (Marburg, 1849); Martens, De Libello Περὶ ὕψους (Bonn, 1877); and Egger, Essai sur l'Histoire de la Critique chez les Grecs (Paris, 1886).

(2) See Cassius.