Cassius, Gaius

Cassius (Longinus), Gaius

(died 42 BC, near Philippi, Macedonia) Roman general and administrator. He fought alongside Pompey the Great against Julius Caesar but was reconciled with Caesar after Pompey's defeat. Motivated by jealousy and bitterness, he joined Brutus in the successful conspiracy to assassinate Caesar (44 BC). Forced to leave Rome after the assassination, he went to Syria, and there he ousted the Roman governor (43). With Brutus he raised an army in Macedonia to challenge the Second Triumvirate. Defeated at the Battle of Philippi by Mark Antony, he had his freedmen slay him. He was lamented by Brutus as “the last of the Romans.”