A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

5. L.MinuciusBasilus, whose original name was M. Satrius, took the name of his uncle, by whom he was adopted. [No. 4.] He served under Caesar in Gaul, and is mentioned in the war against Ambiorix, B. C. 54, and again in 52, at the end of which campaign he was stationed among the Remi for the winter with the command of two legions. (Caes. Gal. 6.29, 30, 7.92.) He probably continued in Gaul till the breaking out of the civil war in 49, in which he commanded part of Caesar's fleet. (Flor. 4.2.32; Lucan, 4.416.) He was one of Caesar's assassins in B. C. 44, although, like Brutus and others, he was a personal friend of the dictator. In the following year he was himself murdered by his own slaves, because he had punished some of them in a barbarous manner. (Appian, App. BC 2.113, 3.98; Oros. 6.18.) There is a letter of Cicero's to Basilus, congratulating him on the murder of Caesar. (Cic. Fam. 6.15.)