Gaius Calvisius Sabinus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 39 BC under the Second Triumvirate. He and his consular colleague Lucius Marcius Censorinus had been the only two senators who tried to defend Julius Caesar when his assassins struck on 15 March 44 BC, and their consulship under the triumvirate is taken as a recognition of their loyalty. An inscription, described by Ronald Syme as "one of the most remarkable inscriptions ever set up in honour of a Roman senator," praises Calvisius for pietas, his sense of duty or devotion. As a military officer, Calvisius is notable for his long service and competence, though he was not without serious defeats. Family, origin, and affiliations Gaius Calvisius Sabinus is the only member of the gens Calvisia listed in Broughton's Magistrates of the Roman Republic as holding office during the Republican era. He is one of several novi homines ("new men") who achieved not only the consulship but triumphal honors during the 30s BC. He is the first consul whose nomen gentilicium has the non-Latin ending -isius. The ethnic cognomen "Sabinus" ("Sabine") is found with the nomen Calvisius for the first time in his name, but inscriptions point toward a probable origin in the Latin colony of Spoletium (Spoleto). He belonged to the voting tribe Horatia. His son and grandson, both of whom carried the same name, were consuls, the son in 4 B.C. under Augustus, toward whom the father had demonstrated consistent loyalty. The grandson held the office under Tiberius and continued his political career as a Roman governor under Caligula, but maintaining loyalty had become a trickier matter: he and his wife, a Cornelia, were accused of conspiring against the emperor and committed suicide. Civil wars of the 40s During the civil wars of the 40s, Calvisius Sabinus was an officer under Caesar. In 48 BC, Caesar received envoys from Aetolia and Thessaly. In response, he sent Calvisius to Aetolia and L. Cassius Longinus to Thessaly. Calvisius commanded five cohorts and a small number of cavalry, drawn from the legion that had garrisoned Oricum. Caesar's reference marks Calvisius's first appearance in the historical record. Both Cassius and Calvisius were charged with maintaining the supply of grain for the army. The Aetolians welcomed Calvisius, and he was able to capture Calydon and Naupactus from Caesar's opposition and gained possession of the region. Praetor and governor Calvisius was praetor possibly