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Gaius Asinius Pollio
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Gaius Asinius Pollio
Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporaneous history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace; poems to him were dedicated by both men.
Asinius Pollio was born in Teate Marrucinorum, the modern Chieti in Abruzzi, central Italy. According to an inscription, his father was called Gnaeus Asinius Pollio. He had a brother named Asinius Marrucinus, whom Catullus calls out for his tasteless practical joke, whose name suggests a family origin among the Marrucini. Pollio may therefore have been the grandson of Herius Asinius, a plebeian and a general of the Marrucini who fought on the Italian side in the Social War.
Pollio moved in the literary circle of Catullus and entered public life in 56 BC by supporting Lentulus Spinther. In 54, he unsuccessfully attempted to impeach Gaius Porcius Cato (a distant relative of the more famous Cato the Younger). Gaius Porcius Cato had acted as the tool of the triumvirs Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar in his tribunate in 56 BC.
Despite his initial support of Lentulus Spinther in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Pollio sided with Caesar. He was present when Caesar deliberated whether to cross the Rubicon river and begin the war. After Pompey and the Senate fled to Greece, Caesar sent Pollio to Sicily to relieve Cato of his command. He and Gaius Scribonius Curio were sent to Africa to fight the province's governor, the Pompeian Publius Attius Varus. Despite the poisoning of the water supply by his opponents, Curio defeated Varus at Utica. Curio marched to face Pompey's ally King Juba of Numidia, and was defeated and killed, along with most of his men, at the Bagradas River. Pollio managed to retreat to Utica with a small force. He was present as Caesar's legate at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 and recorded Pompeian casualties at 6,000.
In 47 BC, Pollio was probably tribune and resisted the efforts of another tribune, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, to cancel all debts. He returned to Africa the following year, this time with Caesar, in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio.
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Pollio was leading his forces in Hispania against Sextus Pompeius and distinguishing himself early in the campaign. He had accepted the commission reluctantly because of a personal enmity with another of Caesar's allies. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was appointed the new governor of the province, but Pollio, while remaining loyal to Caesar's supporters, held out against him, announcing at Corduba that he would not hand over his province to anyone who did not have a commission from the Senate. A few months later his quaestor, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, absconded from Gades with the money intended to pay the soldiers and fled to Mauretania. Pollio was then so severely defeated by Pompeius that he had to escape the battlefield in disguise.
As civil war brewed between Mark Antony and Octavian, Pollio vacillated, but ultimately supported Mark Antony. Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian soon joined forces in the Second Triumvirate. In their series of bloody proscriptions, Pollio's father-in-law, Lucius Quintius, was one of the first to be marked for assassination. He fled by sea, but committed suicide by throwing himself overboard. In the division of the provinces, Gaul fell to Antony, who entrusted Pollio with the administration of Gallia Transpadana (the part of Cisalpine Gaul between the Po and the Alps). In superintending the distribution of the Mantuan territory amongst the veterans, he used his influence to save the property of the poet Virgil from confiscation.
In 40, Pollio helped to arrange the peace of Brundisium by which Octavian and Antony were for a time reconciled. In the same year, Pollio entered upon his consulship, which had been promised him in 43 BC by the Second Triumvirate. Virgil addressed the famous fourth eclogue to him, although there is uncertainty regarding whether Virgil composed the poem in anticipation of Pollio's consulship or to celebrate his part in the Treaty of Brundisium. Virgil, like other Romans, hoped that peace was at hand and looked forward to a Golden Age under Pollio's consulship. However, Pollio did not complete his consular year. He and his co-consul were removed from office by Antony and Octavian in the final months of the year.
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Gaius Asinius Pollio
Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporaneous history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace; poems to him were dedicated by both men.
Asinius Pollio was born in Teate Marrucinorum, the modern Chieti in Abruzzi, central Italy. According to an inscription, his father was called Gnaeus Asinius Pollio. He had a brother named Asinius Marrucinus, whom Catullus calls out for his tasteless practical joke, whose name suggests a family origin among the Marrucini. Pollio may therefore have been the grandson of Herius Asinius, a plebeian and a general of the Marrucini who fought on the Italian side in the Social War.
Pollio moved in the literary circle of Catullus and entered public life in 56 BC by supporting Lentulus Spinther. In 54, he unsuccessfully attempted to impeach Gaius Porcius Cato (a distant relative of the more famous Cato the Younger). Gaius Porcius Cato had acted as the tool of the triumvirs Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar in his tribunate in 56 BC.
Despite his initial support of Lentulus Spinther in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Pollio sided with Caesar. He was present when Caesar deliberated whether to cross the Rubicon river and begin the war. After Pompey and the Senate fled to Greece, Caesar sent Pollio to Sicily to relieve Cato of his command. He and Gaius Scribonius Curio were sent to Africa to fight the province's governor, the Pompeian Publius Attius Varus. Despite the poisoning of the water supply by his opponents, Curio defeated Varus at Utica. Curio marched to face Pompey's ally King Juba of Numidia, and was defeated and killed, along with most of his men, at the Bagradas River. Pollio managed to retreat to Utica with a small force. He was present as Caesar's legate at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 and recorded Pompeian casualties at 6,000.
In 47 BC, Pollio was probably tribune and resisted the efforts of another tribune, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, to cancel all debts. He returned to Africa the following year, this time with Caesar, in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio.
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Pollio was leading his forces in Hispania against Sextus Pompeius and distinguishing himself early in the campaign. He had accepted the commission reluctantly because of a personal enmity with another of Caesar's allies. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was appointed the new governor of the province, but Pollio, while remaining loyal to Caesar's supporters, held out against him, announcing at Corduba that he would not hand over his province to anyone who did not have a commission from the Senate. A few months later his quaestor, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, absconded from Gades with the money intended to pay the soldiers and fled to Mauretania. Pollio was then so severely defeated by Pompeius that he had to escape the battlefield in disguise.
As civil war brewed between Mark Antony and Octavian, Pollio vacillated, but ultimately supported Mark Antony. Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian soon joined forces in the Second Triumvirate. In their series of bloody proscriptions, Pollio's father-in-law, Lucius Quintius, was one of the first to be marked for assassination. He fled by sea, but committed suicide by throwing himself overboard. In the division of the provinces, Gaul fell to Antony, who entrusted Pollio with the administration of Gallia Transpadana (the part of Cisalpine Gaul between the Po and the Alps). In superintending the distribution of the Mantuan territory amongst the veterans, he used his influence to save the property of the poet Virgil from confiscation.
In 40, Pollio helped to arrange the peace of Brundisium by which Octavian and Antony were for a time reconciled. In the same year, Pollio entered upon his consulship, which had been promised him in 43 BC by the Second Triumvirate. Virgil addressed the famous fourth eclogue to him, although there is uncertainty regarding whether Virgil composed the poem in anticipation of Pollio's consulship or to celebrate his part in the Treaty of Brundisium. Virgil, like other Romans, hoped that peace was at hand and looked forward to a Golden Age under Pollio's consulship. However, Pollio did not complete his consular year. He and his co-consul were removed from office by Antony and Octavian in the final months of the year.
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