The ancient Asculum was the capital of Picenum, and it occupied a strong position in the centre of difficult country. It was taken in 268 B.C. by the Romans, and the Via Salaria was no doubt prolonged thus far at this period; the distance from Rome is 120 m. It took a prominent part in the Social War against Rome, the proconsul Q. Servilius and all the Roman citizens within its walls being massacred by the inhabitants in 90 B.C. It was captured after a long siege by Pompeius Strabo in 89 B.C. The leader, Judacilius, committed suicide, the principal citizens were put to death, and the rest exiled. The Roman general celebrated his triumph on the 25th of December of that year. Caesar occupied it, however, as a strong position after crossing the Rubicon; and it received a Roman colony, perhaps under the triumvirs, and became a place of some importance. In A.D. 301 it became the capital of Picenum Suburbicarium. In 545 it was taken by Totila, but is spoken of by Paulus Diaconus as the chief city of Picenum shortly afterwards. From the time of Charlemagne it was under the rule of its bishops, who had the title of prince and the right to coin money, until 1185, when it became a free republic. It had many struggles with Fermo, and in the 15th century came more directly under the papal sway.
See N. Persichetti in Romische Mitteilungen (1903), 295 seq.
(T. As.)
[1] The epithet distinguishes it from Ascoli Satriano (anc. Ausculum), which lies 19 m. S. of Foggia by rail.
[2] It contains a fine polyptych by Carlo Crivelli (1473).
ASCONIUS PEDIANUS, QUINTUS (9 B.C.-A.D. 76; or A.D. 3-88), Roman grammarian and historian, was probably a native of Patavium (Padua). In his later years he resided at Rome, where he died, after having been blind for twelve years, at the age of eighty-five. During the reigns of Claudius and Nero he compiled for his sons, from various sources—e.g. the Gazette (Acta Publica), shorthand reports or “skeletons” (commentarii) of Cicero’s unpublished speeches, Tiro’s life of Cicero, speeches and letters of Cicero’s contemporaries, various historical writers, e.g. Varro, Atticus, Antias, Tuditanus and Fenestella (a contemporary of Livy whom he often criticizes)—historical commentaries on Cicero’s speeches, of which only five, viz. in Pisonem, pro Scauro, pro Milone, pro Cornelio and in toga Candida, in a very mutilated condition, are preserved. In a note upon the speech pro Scauro, he speaks of Longus Caecina (d. A.D. 57) as still living, while his words imply that Claudius (d. 54) was not alive. This statement, therefore, must have been written between A.D. 54 and 57. These valuable notes, written in good Latin, relate chiefly to legal, historical and antiquarian matters. A commentary, of inferior Latinity and mainly of a grammatical character, on Cicero’s Verrine orations, is universally regarded as spurious. Both works were found by Poggio in a MS. at St Gallen in 1416. This MS. is lost, but three transcripts were made by Poggio, Zomini (Sozomenus) of Pistoia and Bartolommeo da Montpulciano. That of Poggio is now at Madrid (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. liv. 5). The later MSS. are derived from Poggio’s copy. Other works attributed to Asconius were: a life of Sallust, a defence of Virgil against his detractors, and a treatise (perhaps a symposium in imitation of Plato) on health and long life.
Editions by Kiessling-Schöll (1875), and A.C. Clark (Oxford, 1906), which contains a previously unpublished collation of Poggio’s transcript. See also Madvig, De Asconio Pediano (1828).