Talk:Gaius Cassius Longinus

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This article is confusing. The 2nd paragraph reads:

... The outbreak of the civil war saved him from being brought to trial for extortion in Syria.

There were several civil wars in Rome around this time. In fact the whole Roman Republican civil wars page-group needs work, especially those dealing with the various wars around the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar. Most of the information seems to be in the articles about the two individuals. There's not much information in this article about Cassius' involvement in Caesar's assassination. Oh, and this statement seems borderline POV: A man of considerable ability, he was a good soldier, and took an interest in literature, but in politics he was actuated by vanity and ambition. That's prettu dubious without references (of which there are none ). I know, I know, {{sofixit}}. But that takes research :) I'm sure I'll be back later.Kiaparowits 18:45, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Both a plus and minus of 1911EB derivation. You can bet the original writer was totally qualified to make assessments of ability and character, based on his own authority and extensive knowledge. Us lesser mortals can only reconstruct the basis for the assessment by painstakingly digging up modern papers and original sources. (Appian has a lot of mentions.) Worthwhile though, sometimes the modern view has changed. Stan 18:59, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Lean and hungry

Dropped this from end of article:

Dante speaks of Cassius as having "sinewy arms", though it is possible he is thinking of another Cassius, as the one of Shakespeare's play is described as having a "lean and hungry look" the marked man distrusts.

In Shakespearean context, "look" means "vision" or "gaze" i.e. "way of seeing" rather than "appearance". In modern parlance, we would say that Cassius has "hungry eyes". This is a case of the meaning of a phrase changing but in a way where it still makes sense to the modern reader. Ellsworth 20:18, 12 January 2006 (UTC)