 gaius asinius pollio (sometimes wrongly called pollius or philo; 75 bc &ndash; ad 4)jerome (chronicon 2020) says he died in ad 4 in the seventieth year of his life, which would place the year of his birth at 65 bc. was a roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material for the historians appian and plutarch. pollio was most famously a patron of virgil and a friend of horace and had poems dedicated to him by both men.virgil, eclogues 4, 8; horace, carmina 2.1 ==biography== ===early life=== asinius pollio was born in teate marrucinorum, the modern current chieti in abruzzi, central italy. according to an inscription, his father was called gnaeus asinius pollio.william smith, dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology, 1870, vol. 3 pp. 437-439 he had a brother called asinius marrucinus, known for his tasteless practical jokes,catullus, carmina 12 whose name suggests a family origin among the marrucini. he may therefore have been the grandson of herius asinius, a plebeian, general of the marrucini who fought on the italian side in the social war.livy, periochae 73.9 pollio moved in the literary circle of catullus, and entered public life in 56 by supporting the policy of lentulus spinther. in 54 bc he unsuccessfully impeached gaius 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,. ===political career=== despite his initial support of lentulus spinther, in the civil war between caesar and pompey, pollio sided with caesar. he was present while caesar deliberated whether to cross the rubicon and start the war.plutarch, caesar 32 after pompey and the senate had fled to greece, caesar sent pollio to sicily to relieve cato of his command.appian, civil wars [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/thayer/e/roman/te
1st-century_BC_Romans 1st-century_BC_historians 1st-century_BC_poets 1st-century_Romans 4_deaths 75_BC_births Ancient_Roman_generals Asinii Correspondents_of_Cicero Italian_librarians Latin_historians People_from_Chieti Roman_Republican_consuls