AVIDIUS

CASSIUS (d. A.D. 175)  , Roman general, a Syrian by birth, lived during the reign of Marcus Aurelius . He especially distinguished himself during the Parthian War (A.D . 162-165), at the conclusion of which he was apparently appointed military governor of Asia, though the actual extent of his jurisdiction is doubtful . In 172 he was sent to Egypt, where he put down a dangerous rising of the Bucolici, the robber herdsmen of the delta of the Nile, after which he returned to Syria . In 175 the emperor Aurelius fell ill, and his wife Faustina, to secure her position in case of his death, offered her hand and the throne to the successful general . A rumour of Aurelius's death having reached Syria, Cassius, without waiting for confirmation, pro-claimed himself emperor; when the report proved false, it was too late for him to draw back, and he accordingly prepared for war . The senate declared him a public enemy, although Aurelius even then expressed the hope that he might have the opportunity of pardoning him . Deploring the necessity for taking up arms against his trusted officer, Aurelius set out for the east . While in Illyria, he received the news that Cassius had been slain by his own officers . The murderers offered his head to Aurelius, who refused to admit them, and ordered its immediate burial . See Dio Cassius lxxi . 2-4, 17, 22-28, 30, 31; Fronto, Letters, i .

6; Lives of Marcus Aurelius, Verus and

Commodus in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, and the special biography of Avidius Cassius in the same by Vulcacius Gallicanus . The various letters and documents in the last-named are generally considered spurious, and the portions of the narrative founded on them consequently untrustworthy . See also article in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, ii . pt . 2 (1896) .