Cassius

Family: Romans · Role: quaestor · First appears: Crassus

As quaestor, Cassius was among those with Marcus Crassus, and later opposed Spartacus when he met him in Gaul with ten thousand men and was defeated. He also bore a private grudge against Caesar, becoming more eager to encourage Caesar’s ambition, and was counted an enemy of Antony, though “That night Cassius supped at Antony's house.”

Cassius was a trusted friend of Marcus Brutus in their enterprise, but competition between them set them further at variance. He married Junia, Marcus Brutus’s sister, and Marcus Brutus gained Caesar’s forgiveness for him; Cassius also contributed to the war through his boldness, skill, and activity. After Caesar was assassinated and Antony’s funeral oration stirred riots against the conspirators, Cassius and Marcus Brutus fled Rome and were condemned in absentia.

After the condemnation, Cassius employed Demetrius Poliorcetes and took Pindarus, one of his freedmen, with him. When he mistakenly believed Pindarus had been captured, he withdrew into an empty tent and commanded Pindarus to strike, having “made his neck bare” for the blow.

Relationship record

Life events

• Caesar was assassinated, prompting Antony to hide in disguise.(Antony)
  • With: Caesar Antony Marcus Brutus
  • “So when all was proceeded with, according to their plan, and Caesar had fallen in the senate-house, Antony, at the first moment, took a servant's dress, and hid himself.”
• Antony’s funeral oration provoked riots against Caesar’s assassins.(Antony)
  • With: Antony Caesar Marcus Brutus
  • “All which excited the people to such indignation, that they would not defer the funeral, but, making a pile of tables and forms in the very market-place, set fire to it; and everyone, taking a brand, ran to the conspirators' houses, to attack them.”
• Young Caesar condemned Brutus and Cassius in absentia for Caesar's murder.(Marcus Brutus · 📍 Rome)
  • With: young Caesar Marcus Brutus
  • “At his first entry upon the consulship he immediately ordered a judicial process to be issued out against Brutus and his accomplices for having murdered a principal man of the city, holding the highest magistracies of Rome, without being heard or condemned; and appointed Lucius Cornificius to accuse Brutus, and Marcus Agrippa to accuse Cassius. None appearing to the accusation, the judges were forced to pass sentence and condemn them both.”
• Cassius mistakenly believed Titinius captured and ordered Pindarus to kill him.(Marcus Brutus)
  • With: Pindarus
  • “After which words he retired into an empty tent, taking along with him only Pindarus, one of his freedmen, whom he had reserved for such an occasion ever since the disasters in the expedition against the Parthians, when Crassus was slain. From the Parthians he came away in safety; but now, pulling up his mantle over his head, he made his neck bare, and held it forth to Pindarus, commanding him to strike.”
• Brutus and Cassius fled Rome after being condemned to death and pursued.(Comparison of Dion and Brutus · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Marcus Brutus
  • “Besides this, Brutus and Cassius, when they fled from Rome, could not live safe or quiet, being condemned to death and pursued”

Crassus

• with Marcus Crassus (interaction) “amongst whom in particular was Cassius, the quaestor”
• enemies with Spartacus “As he made toward the Alps, Cassius, who was praetor of that part of Gaul that lies about the Po, met him with ten thousand men, but being overcome in battle, he had much ado to escape himself”

Caesar

• enemies with Caesar “Cassius, when he perceived his ambition a little raised upon this, was more instant than before to work him yet further, having himself a private grudge against Caesar”

Antony

• enemies with Antony “That night Cassius supped at Antony's house”
• friends with Marcus Brutus “Brutus and Cassius, who, in making choice of trusty friends for such an enterprise”

Marcus Brutus

• friends with Marcus Brutus “Cassius, Brutus's connection and familiar friend”
• rivals with Marcus Brutus “this competition set them much more at variance”
• married with Junia “Cassius having married Junia, the sister of Brutus”
• patron: Marcus Brutus “Brutus in the meantime gained Caesar's forgiveness for his friend Cassius”
• servant: Pindarus “taking along with him only Pindarus, one of his freedmen”
• servant: Demetrius Poliorcetes “a servant of Cassius, named Demetrius”
• with Pindarus (interaction) “Pindarus, one of his freedmen, whom he had reserved for such an occasion”
• enemies with Faustus “Cassius rose up and struck him two or three boxes on the ear”

Comparison of Dion and Brutus

• with Marcus Brutus (They were partners in the war and enterprise.) “For he had no partner to contest his glory, as Brutus had in Cassius, who was not, indeed, his equal in proved virtue and honor, yet contributed quite as much to the service of the war by his boldness, skill, and activity;”

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Extracted from the original text of Plutarch's Lives. Made with Rho MD.