Quintus Asconius Pedianus (c. 9 BC - c.
AD 76Year 76 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Arts and sciences:* Chinese historian Ban Gu develops a theory of the origins of the universe.-Religion:...
), Roman
grammarIn linguistics, grammar is the set of logical and structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology,...
ian and
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, 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 study of all events in time...
, was probably a native of Patavium (
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
).
In his later years he resided in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, and there he died, after having been blind for twelve years, at the age of eighty-five. During the reigns of
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
and
NeroNero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne...
he compiled for his sons, from various sources -- e.g. the Gazette (
Aetablica), shorthand reports or skeletons (
commentarii) of
CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome...
's unpublished speeches, Tiro's life of Cicero, speeches and letters of Cicero's contemporaries, various historical writers, e.g.
Quintus Asconius Pedianus (c. 9 BC - c.
AD 76Year 76 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Arts and sciences:* Chinese historian Ban Gu develops a theory of the origins of the universe.-Religion:...
), Roman
grammarIn linguistics, grammar is the set of logical and structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology,...
ian and
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, 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 study of all events in time...
, was probably a native of Patavium (
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
).
In his later years he resided in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, and there he died, after having been blind for twelve years, at the age of eighty-five. During the reigns of
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
and
NeroNero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne...
he compiled for his sons, from various sources -- e.g. the Gazette (
Aetablica), shorthand reports or skeletons (
commentarii) of
CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome...
's unpublished speeches, Tiro's life of Cicero, speeches and letters of Cicero's contemporaries, various historical writers, e.g.
VarroMarcus Terentius Varro , also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer.-Biography:...
,
AtticusTitus Pomponius Atticus, born Titus Pomponius , came from an old but not strictly noble Roman family of the equestrian class and the Gens Pomponia. He was a celebrated editor, banker, and patron of letters with residences in both Rome and Athens...
,
AntiasValerius Antias was an ancient Roman annalist whom Livy mentions as a source. No complete works of his survive but from the sixty-five fragments said to be his in the works of other authors it has been deduced that he wrote a chronicle of ancient Rome in at least seventy-five books...
,
TuditanusTuditanus is an extinct genus of prehistoric amphibian from the Carboniferous.-See also:* Prehistoric amphibian* List of prehistoric amphibians...
and
FenestellaFenestella, , Roman historian and encyclopaedic writer, flourished in the reign of Tiberius. If the notice in Jerome is correct, he lived from 52 BC to AD 19 ....
(a contemporary of
LivyTitus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
whom he often criticizes) -- historical commentaries on Cicero's speeches, of which only five, viz,
in Pisonem,
pro Scauro,
pro MiloneThe Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio is a speech made by Marcus Tullius Cicero on behalf of his friend Titus Annius Milo. Milo was accused of murdering his political enemy Publius Clodius Pulcher on the Via Appia...
,
pro Cornelio and
in toga candida, in a very mutilated edition, are preserved, under the modern title
Q. Asconii Pediani Orationvm Ciceronis qvinqve enarratio.
In a note upon the speech
pro Scauro, he speaks of Longus Caecina (d.
AD 57Year 57 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:*Envoys from Cilicia come to Rome to accuse their late governor, Cossutianus Captio, of extortion; the Roman Senate is supported in the case by Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus.* Roman emperor Nero is also a Roman...
) as still living, while his words imply that Claudius (d. 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 commentary, of superior Latinity and mainly of a grammatical character, on Nero's Verrine orations, is universally regarded as spurious.
Both works were found by
Poggio Poggio Bracciolini was one of the most important Italian humanists. He recovered a great number of classical texts, mostly lying forgotten in German and French monastic libraries, and disseminated manuscript copies among the educated world.- Biography :Poggio di Duccio was...
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 Montelciano. That of Poggio is now at
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
(
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
For the philosopher, see Sallustius; for other uses, see Sallust .Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust, , a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines...
- a defence of Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works—the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the Aeneid—although several minor poems are also attributed to him.The son of a farmer, Virgil came to be...
against his detractors
- a treatise (perhaps a symposium in imitation of Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
) on health and long life.