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That he spoke thus of Lepidus and Asinius, is agreed; but, instead of Arruntius, some writers have transmitted the name of Cneius Piso: and every one of these great men, except Lepidus, were afterwards cut off, under the imputation of various crimes, all darkly framed by Tiberius.
If there is anything to justify the charge of "Patavinity," or provincialism, made by Asinius Pollio, we, at least, are not learned enough in Latin to detect it; and Pollio, too, appears to have been no gentle critic if we may judge by his equally severe strictures upon Cicero, Cæsar, and Sallust.
Against him it was argued by Asinius Callus, "That with the growth of the Empire private riches were likewise grown, and it was no new thing for citizens to live according to their conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive usage: the ancient Fabricii and the later Scipios, having different wealth, lived differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the Commonwealth.
But the senate also had hopes in the same quarter. L. Munatius Plancus commanded in Northern Gaul, and C. Asinius Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made good his ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio from Bætica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of Cæsar, had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius.
Gaius Asinius Pollio, the first orator and critic of the period, and a magnificent patron of art and science, also composed tragedies more on the antique model of Accius and Pacuvius, in a dry and severe manner.
And if Cæsar himself and Asinius Pollio had not come out of the camp to help the men, and checked the pursuit, the war would have been at an end. In another battle, also, the enemy had the advantage in the encounter, on which occasion it is said that Cæsar, seizing by the neck the man who bore the eagle and was running away, turned him round, and said, "There is the enemy!"
Among these was a history, beginning with the death of Julius Caesar, in forty-three volumes, an autobiography in eight, "magis inepte quam ineleganter scriptum;" a learned defence of Cicero against Asinius Gallus's invective, besides several Greek writings. His philological studies and the innovations he tried to introduce have been referred to in a former chapter.
Pollio Asinius thinks that they were not drawn up with much care, or with a due regard to truth; for he insinuates that Caesar was too hasty of belief in regard to what was performed by others under his orders; and that, he has not given a very faithful account of his own acts, either by design, or through defect of memory; expressing at the same time an opinion that Caesar intended a new and more correct edition.
There he gained possession of soldiers and cities, particularly after Caesar's death, some voluntarily and some by violence; the commandant in charge of them, Gaius Asinius Pollio, held a force that was far from strong. He next set out against Spanish Carthage, but since in his absence Pollio made an attack and did some damage, he returned with a large force, met his opponent, and routed him.
Gallus Asinius and Statilius Corvinus, grandsons of the two orators, Pollio and Messala , formed a conspiracy against him, in which they engaged many of his freedmen and slaves.
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