CASSIUS, CAIUS

one of the leaders of the conspiracy to murder Caesar in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. With what seems a presentiment of Cassius' threat to him, Caesar remarks to Antony, Let me have men about me that are fat, / Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. / Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. / He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. Cassius' envy and fear of Caesar's growing power and perceived ambition lead him to persuade Brutus that Caesar is dangerous and must be stopped.