DR-532 | Crawford: 413/1
Lucius Cassius Longinus
Lucius Cassius Longinus

Gens: Casia
Moneyer: Lucius Cassius Longinus
Date and mint: 63 BC - Rome


Obverse: Bust of Vesta, left, veil and diadem. Dotted border.
Legend:
Symbols: Obverse before, control mark | Obverse behind, Dish

Reverse: Voter, left, dropping the tablet marked with a V into the cist. Dotted border.
Legend: LONGIN III V

Comment: In the Roman legislative assemblies, the two tablets given to voters were marked, one with the letter “V” for Vti Rogas (however you indicate), to express their approval of the proposal and another with the “A” for Ancient (I keep things as they are), to express their disapproval.

That year Roma was on the verge of internal collapse: Lucius Sergius Catilina tried to overthrow the Senate through a conspiracy that was frustrated by the consul Cicero, who denounced the conspiracy and executed the main people involved. In this climate of maximum political tension, the moneyer man L. Cassius Longinus minted this denarius with a deeply republican message. On the obverse appears Vesta, goddess guarantor of purity and cohesion of the State. On the reverse, three citizens are represented casting their vote with the inscription LONGIN III V, alluding to the lex tabellaria approved by a family ancestor, who introduced the secret vote in Rome. The design vindicates the strength of republican institutions and the role of the people in political life, in a year in which the city was saved from falling into the hands of the conspiracy.

Provenance: Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins (2014)
Price: 3,524 €