CASS0020 Sp. Cassius (91) Vecellinus
Status
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Patrician?
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Broughton, MRR III - "Plebeian Consul? In the listing of the consuls up to 366 in MRR, vol. I, the Roman tradition as stated in Livy 6.42.9 (ut L. Sextius primus de plebe consul factus) is the basis for describing all the consuls up to that date as patrician. The considerable number of gentilicia which appear in the Fasti of consuls of the early fifth century and are known in later times to be exclusively plebeian, such as Cassius, Cominius, Iunius, Tullius, and Sempronius, is inconsistent with that tradition, and supports strongly the view that the patricians in spite of ready access to priesthoods and magistracies were not in complete and exclusive control. That these consuls were plebeians was accepted by Fraccaro (La storia romana arcaica 10-14-Opuscula 1-23) and is noted several times in Ogilvie's Commentary on Livy, Books 1-5 (e.g., p. 275 on 2.16.6, 232 on 1.60.4, and 277-278 on 2.17.1 on Sp. Cassius himself). A discussion of this problem cannot be undertaken here. The conclusions depend very largely on conceptions we may have formed of the origin and development of both patricians and plebeians in archaic Roman society under the kings and in the early years of the Republic. The explanation that these consuls were members of patrician branches of their gentes which died out while plebeian branches continued on is unsatisfactory because, as Momigliano remarks (RS1 79, 1967, 306-307), they were invented simply to harmonize with the tradition. He suggests, as a hypothesis, that these few non-patrician consuls were drawn from the conscripti, the additional senators described in the phrase qui patres quique conscripti (Liv. 2.1.11), who were originally neither patrician nor plebeian but were soon assimilated to the plebeian order as it formed (RS179, 1967, 197-312-Quarto Contributo 443-454; ""Osservazioni"" in Entretiens 13, 1966, 199-221, esp. 20811.). For a full discussion and survey of the various views, see J.-C. Richard, Les origines de la plebe romaine, esp. 519-540. Momigliano's hypothesis has the merit, in its distinction between conscripti and plebeians, of preserving in form at least the truth of the statement in Livy 6.42.9. On Cassius himself, see now R. M. Ogilvie, Comm. Liv. 337-345."
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Nobilis
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Liv. 4.15.5
Life Dates
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485, death - violent (Broughton MRR I)
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Executed.