Gaius Asinius Pollio

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Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4)

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 and poems to him were dedicated by both men.[2]

Early life

Asinius Pollio was born in Teate Marrucinorum, the modern current

Pollio moved in the literary circle of

in his tribunate in 56.

Political career

Despite his initial support of Lentulus Spinther in the

Bagradas River. Pollio managed to retreat to Utica with a small force.[8] He was present as Caesar's legate at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 and recorded Pompeian casualties at 6,000.[9]

In 47, Pollio was probably

Time in Hispania

When Caesar was assassinated in 44, Pollio was leading his forces in

Lucius Cornelius Balbus, absconded from Gades with the money intended to pay the soldiers and fled to Mauretania.[14] Pollio was then so severely defeated by Pompeius that he had to escape the battlefield in disguise.[15]

Role in civil war

As civil war brewed between

Po and the Alps).[19] 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 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.

The following year, Pollio conducted a successful campaign against the Parthini, an Illyrian people who adhered to Marcus Junius Brutus,[20] and celebrated a triumph on 25 October. Virgil's eighth eclogue was addressed to Pollio while he was engaged in this campaign.

In 31, Octavian asked him to take part in the Battle of Actium against Antony, but Pollio, remembering the kindness that Antony had shown him, remained neutral.[21]

Later life

From the spoils of the war Pollio constructed the first public library at Rome, in the Atrium Libertatis, also erected by him,[22] which he adorned with statues of the most celebrated heroes. The library had Greek and Latin wings, and reportedly its establishment posthumously fulfilled one of Caesar's ambitions.

There was a magnificent art collection attached to this library.[23] Pollio loved Hellenistic art at its most imaginative. Like the library, the art gallery was open to the public.

After his military and political successes, Pollio appears to have retired into private life as a patron of literary figures and a writer. He was known as a severe literary critic, fond of an archaic style and purity.

In retirement, Pollio organized literary readings where he encouraged authors to read their own work, and he was the first Roman author to recite his own works. One of the most dramatic such readings brought the poet Virgil to the attention of the imperial family, when Virgil read from his work-in-progress the Aeneid, and flattered the imperial family by his portrayal of Aeneas, whom the Julii Caesares believed to be their direct patrilineal ancestor. As a result, Virgil was praised by Augustus.[24]

Pollio may have died in his villa at Tusculum. He was apparently a staunch republican, and thus held himself somewhat aloof from Augustus.[citation needed]

Personal life

Married to Quinctia, daughter of Lucius Quinctius, who was proscribed and committed suicide in 43, Pollio is also notable as the father of Gaius Asinius Gallus, the second husband of Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus's partner, second-in-command, and second son-in-law. Gallus and Vipsania had several sons together, two of whom were full consuls and a third was consul suffectus.

Legacy

Although now lost, Pollio's contemporary history provided much of the material for the historians Appian and Plutarch.[

Quintus Metellus Celer
in 60 BC.

University of Leiden
.

Pollio makes a cameo appearance in

Titus Livius
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Jerome (Chronicon 2020) says he died in AD 4 during the seventieth year of his life, which would place the year of his birth at 65 BC.
  2. ^ Virgil, Eclogues 4, 8; Horace, Carmina 2.1
  3. ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, Vol. 3 pp. 437–439 Archived 11 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Catullus, Carmina 12
  5. ^ Livy, Periochae 73.9
  6. ^ Plutarch, Caesar 32
  7. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 2.40
  8. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 2.45
  9. ^ Appian, Civil Wars2.82
  10. ^ Plutarch, Caesar 52
  11. ^ Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.73
  12. ^ Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.63
  13. ^ Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.31
  14. ^ Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.32
  15. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 45.10
  16. ^ Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.32, 10.33; Appian, Civil Wars 3.46
  17. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 3.97
  18. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 4.12, 27
  19. ^ Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.76
  20. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 48.41.7
  21. ^ Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.86
  22. ^ Pliny, Natural History 35.10
  23. ^ Paul Zanker, "The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus"
  24. ^ Tony Perrotet, "The Ancient Roman Reading Craze", The Believer, September 2003

Sources

  • Louis H. Feldman, "Asinius Pollio and Herod's Sons", The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1985), pp. 240–243. Article reading online requires subscription to JSTOR.
  • Miland Brown, Loot, Plunder, and a New Public Library.
  • G. S. Bobinski, (1994). Library Philanthropy. In W.A Wiegand and D.G. Davis (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Library History. New York: Garland Publishing.
Political offices
Preceded by Roman consul
40 BC (renounced)
With: Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus
Succeeded by