Quintus Asconius Pedianus (BC 9 - AD 76) was a Roman

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but he was familiar both with Roman government of his time and with the geography of the city. He may, therefore, have written much of his works in the city. During the reigns of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

and

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

he compiled for his two sons, from various sources – e.g. the Gazette (''acta publica''), shorthand reports or skeletons (''commentarii'') of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

's unpublished speeches, Tiro's life of Cicero, speeches and letters of Cicero's contemporaries, various historical writers, e.g.

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

, Atticus, Antias,

Tuditanus ''Tuditanus'' is an extinct genus of tuditanid microsaur from the Carboniferous, ~ 306 Ma ago. It was of small size, reaching a length of about 24 cm. See also * Prehistoric amphibian * List of prehistoric amphibians This list of preh ...

and Fenestella (a contemporary of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

whom he often criticizes) – historical commentaries on

's speeches, of which only five survive: ''in Pisonem'', ''pro Scauro'', '' pro Milone'', ''pro Cornelio de maiestate'', and '' in toga candida''. Other works attributed to Asconius include a ''Vita Sallustii'', a work referenced in Pliny's Naturalis Historiae, and ''contra Vergilii obtrectatores''. In a note upon the speech ''pro Scauro'', he speaks of

Longus Caecina Longus, sometimes Longos ( el, Λόγγος), was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, ''Daphnis and Chloe''. Nothing is known of his life; it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos (setting for ''Daphnis and Chloe'') during ...

(died AD 57) as still living, while his words imply that Claudius (died AD 54) was not alive. This statement, therefore, must have been written between AD 54 and 57. These valuable notes, written in good Latin, relate chiefly to historical and antiquarian matters. A grammatically commentary on Cicero's ''Verrines'' was transmitted alongside Asconius' main commentaries but has been shown to be a 5th century work. Both works were found by Poggio in a manuscript at St Gallen in 1416. This manuscript is lost, but three transcripts were made by Poggio, Zomini (Sozomenus) of Pistoia and Bartolommeo da Montepulciano. That of Poggio is now at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

(''Matritensis'' X. 81), and that of Zomini is in the Forteguerri library at Pistoia (No. 37). A copy of Bartolommeo's transcript exists in Florence (Laur. 5). The later manuscripts are derived from Poggio's copy. Other works attributed to Asconius were: *a life of

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisa ...

*a defence of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

against his detractors *a treatise (perhaps a symposium in imitation of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

) on health and long life.

Editions

* Kiessling and Scholl (1875) *

Albert Curtis Clark Albert Curtis Clark, (21 February 1859 – 5 February 1937) was an English classical scholar, who specialised in Latin literature, Cicero, and the New Testament. From 1913 to 1934, he was Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at the University of Oxf ...

(Oxford, 1907), contains a previously unpublished collation of Poggio's manuscript.
Asconius online on Attalus.org

References

; Citations ; Sources *

Editions

References

Further reading