Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman jurist and politician from the first century AD. A grandnephew of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, he was also a nephew or great-grandson of Gaius Cassius Longinus, one of Caesar's assassins. [1] Longinus was suffect consul of the second half of the year 30 as the colleague of Lucius Naevius Surdinus. [2]
Cassius, a pupil of Sabinus, was head of the legal school called the Sabinians or Cassinians. His principal works are the libri (commentarii) iuris civilis in at least ten volumes, which only survive in quotes by later authors such as Iavolenus. After completing his term as suffect consul, Longinus served as proconsular governor of Asia in 40–41, then governor of the imperial province of Syria in 41–49. He was exiled by Nero to Sardinia in 65, but returned to Rome when Vespasian acceded to the purple. [3]
Tacitus includes a speech of Cassius, when he was a senator in the time of Nero, on the debate that arose when there had been mass protests in Rome when 400 innocent slaves were to be executed because they belonged to the household of Lucius Pedanius Secundus who had been murdered by his slave. [4] [5] It is open to question as to what extent the speech we have reflected what Cassius actually said, and to what extent it represents Tacitus's views, though it is at least possible that Tacitus made use of the Senate's records; the hard line expressed is in line with what we know about Cassius. [6] In the speech Cassius conceded that the execution would be unjust. He also conceded it violated the rights of private interests but justified it on the grounds of the public good. The private interests that concerned him did not include any right to life for the slaves but the loss to the heirs. [6] Modern commentators side with those who protested at the time in regarding the law as inherently unjust. [6]
He married Junia Lepida, a descendant of Augustus. They had two children: Cassia Longina (born c. AD 35), who married the general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, and Cassius Lepidus (born c. AD 55). The latter married an unknown woman by whom he had a daughter, Cassia Lepida (born c. AD 80). She married Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus consul in AD 116 and proconsul of Asia in AD 132.
The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
Antonia the Elder was a niece of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, being the eldest daughter of Octavia the Younger and her second husband, the Triumvir Mark Antony. She married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and became the paternal grandmother of the emperor Nero.
Gaius Calpurnius Piso was a Roman senator in the first century. He was the focal figure in the Pisonian conspiracy of AD 65, the most famous and wide-ranging plot against the throne of Emperor Nero.
The gens Cassia was a Roman family of great antiquity. The earliest members of this gens appearing in history may have been patrician, but all those appearing in later times were plebeians. The first of the Cassii to obtain the consulship was Spurius Cassius Vecellinus, in 502 BC. He proposed the first agrarian law, for which he was charged with aspiring to make himself king, and put to death by the patrician nobility. The Cassii were amongst the most prominent families of the later Republic, and they frequently held high office, lasting well into imperial times. Among their namesakes are the Via Cassia, the road to Arretium, and the village of Cassianum Hirpinum, originally an estate belonging to one of this family in the country of the Hirpini.
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a popular Roman general, brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula and father-in-law of Domitian. The emperor Nero, highly fearful of Corbulo's reputation, ordered him to commit suicide, which the general carried out faithfully, exclaiming "Axios", meaning "I am worthy", and fell on his own sword.
Poppaea Sabina, also known as Ollia, was a Roman empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. She had also been wife to the future emperor Otho. The historians of antiquity describe her as a beautiful woman who used intrigues to become empress.
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus was a member of the imperial Julio-Claudian dynasty of Ancient Rome. Domitius was the son of Antonia Major. He married Agrippina the Younger and became the father of the emperor Nero.
Two noblemen, an uncle and nephew, who shared the name Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus and were descendants of the Roman Emperor Augustus, lived during the 1st century AD.
Junia Lepida was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the first century.
Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a Roman senator who lived during the Principate. Blandus was the grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur, a member of the Equestrian class, who was the first Roman to teach rhetoric. He was suffect consul from August to December AD 18 with Marcus Vipstanus Gallus as his colleague. In AD 33, he married Julia Livia, granddaughter of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the Roman Empire during the first century. He held the consulship twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor Nero.
Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman rhetorician, poet and senator. Tacitus writes that Scaurus was "a man of distinguished rank and ability as an advocate, but of infamous life." He was suffect consul from July to the end of the year AD 21, with Gnaeus Tremellius as his colleague.
Appius Junius Silanus, whom Cassius Dio calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was consul in AD 28, with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. He was accused of majestas, or treason, in AD 32 along with a number of senators, but he and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus were saved by one of the informers, Celsus, a tribune of a city cohort.
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was the son of consul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Aemilia Lepida. His mother was a paternal relative of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. His paternal grandmother was Porcia. Ahenobarbus married Antonia Major and through his son with her he became the grandfather of emperor Nero.
Aemilia Lepida was a noble Roman woman and matron. She was the first great-grandchild of the Emperor Augustus.
Lucius Pedanius Secundus was a Roman senator of the first century. In AD 43, during the reign of Claudius, he was consul suffectus from the Kalends of March to the Kalends of July, together with Sextus Palpellius Hister. Secundus was the first senator from the Spanish provinces to achieve the rank of consul since the anomalous tenure of Lucius Cornelius Balbus in 40 BC.
Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus was a Cilician Prince and second-born son to King Gaius Julius Alexander and Queen Julia Iotapa of Cetis. His eldest brother was Gaius Julius Agrippa and his younger sister was Julia Iotapa.
Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague.
The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.
Lucius Annius Vinicianus was a Roman senator during the Principate. He is best known for his involvement in the assassination of Caligula and a rebellion against Claudius.