CA'SSIUS, CAIUS LONGI'NUS, appears In history for the first time as the (Faster of Crasaus, in tho unfortunate campaign against the Parthlans, B.o. 53. Ho foresaw the consequences of the expedition into Mesopotamia, and warned his general against it, but without effect lie commanded a wing of the Roman army in the battle where they were defeated ; and in the retreat from Carrhre, discovering the treachery of the gnidea, he took his own course with 500 horse, whom ho conducted alone out of that army safely back into Syria. Succeeding to the command of that province, he held out Antioch against the Parthiana, inflicted a signal defeat upon their troops retiring from Antigonia, and drove them, for a time, across the Euphrates. Upon the arrival of the proconsul Bibulus, 'Lc. 51, Cassius returned to Rome, having acquired great credit by his conduct A break occurs in his history, until, after the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 48, when we find him in Pompey's service, commanding a fleet in the Hellespont. There he had the opportunity of ending the war by taking Caesar prisoner, who fell in his way accompanied by a very few ships; but instead of doing so, by some strange indiscretion or trea chery, he obeyed Cmsar's summons to surrender, and passed over to his side. Again we hear no more of him until the conspiracy against the dictator's life, in which he was a principal; and he was chiefly instrumental in drawing M. J. Brutus, whose sister be had married, into the plot. He had shared in Cmsar's favours, having been appointed by him to a prretorship, and to the command of Syria. Of the latter Antony endeavoured to deprive him, and procured a vote of the people to transfer it to Dolabella. Cassius, who had passed iuto Greece with Brutus, no sooner heard of this than he hastened into Asia, and speedily collected forces, with which he mastered Syria, Phcenicia, and Judrea; and he was on the point of invading Egypt, when letters from Brutus summoned him to return towards Europe, to make head against the triumviri. After conquering and plundering Rhodes
(a.o. 42), he joined Brutus at Sardis, and the united army marching through Thrace into Macedonia, encountered Antony and Oetavianus in the plain of Philippi. Cassius wished to avoid a battle as long as possible, being aware that the enemy must soon become straitened for provisions. But Brutus was eager to fight, and as the soldiery also began to murmur at what they called the cowardice of their generals, Cassius was obliged to yield. In the battle he commanded the left wing, and was opposed to Antony. Brutus in the right broke the troops of Octavianus, and drove them off the field; but pursuing his advantage too far, he exposed the flank of Cassius, who was then taken at disadvantage by his able antagonist, and compelled to quit the field. Thinking that all was lost, he put an end to his life. On bearing of his death, Brutus honoured him with the appellation of the "last of the Romans." Cassius was esteemed one of the best generals of the age; his private character was good, though his temper was stern, and he professed a warm attachment to the republican cause. He has not escaped the imputation of being influenced by private enmity in his hostility to Caesar; and the abrupt way in which he abandoned Pompey 'm cause is calculated to excite auspicious unfavourable to his character. In his philosophical opinions, he belonged to the Epicureans. See Cicero, 'Ep. ad Div.' xv. 19.