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RRC413/1 (L. Cassius Longinus)
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bv. Anepigraphic, draped vestal virgin facing left, shallow vessel (culullus) behind, control letter (L?) before; punch marks.
Rev. Male togate figure left, left hand on hips, right hand placing a tablet inscribed with V(ti rogas) in a cista. LONGIN(VS) IIIV(ir) ro right.
Rome, 63 B.C. or 52 B.C.
RRC 413/1, Sear 364, RSC Cassia 10
This coin was struck by the brother of the famous Cassius who, with Brutus, was the head of the conspiracy to kill Caesar. L. Cassius rose to proconsul under Caesar, and was Tribune of the People in 44 B.C. He was later reconciled to the triumvirs, however (Appian B.C. 5.7).
On both sides of the coin, the allusion is made to L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla (cos. 127 B.C.; censor 125 B.C.), who was responsible for the condemnation of wayward Vestals, which had previously been acquitted by the Pontifex Maximus (Cassius Dio 26.87, Asconius, Comm. in Pis. 32). The penalty for the Vestals would have been live burial, and for their accomplices, death by flogging.
While he was a tribune of the people (137 B.C.), Cassius Longinus introduced the secret vote for jury trials (following the Lex Gabinia of 139 B.C., which had made the vote at elections secret). This made Cicero (consul the year this coin seems to have been struck) see Ravilla as a traitor to the Boni (Cicero, de leg. 3.35, pro Sest. 48.103). The scene thus shows a voter placing a tablet marked with Vti Rogas ("as you ask", "aye") in the polling box. A "nay" would have been marked "A(ntiquo)".
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