Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus is a name used by several men of the ''

gens Claudia The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius ...

'', including: *Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus is mentioned by

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 ...

as a young man at the trial of

Verres Gaius Verres (c. 120–43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence adv ...

(70 BC), on which occasion he appeared as a witness, where, however, several editions give his name as C. Marcellus. *Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus was quaestor in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

in 48 BC, under

Quintus Cassius Longinus Quintus Cassius Longinus, the brother or cousin of Cassius (the murderer of Julius Caesar), was a governor in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) for Caesar. Cassius was one of the '' tresviri monetales'' of the ...

. Some scholars suppose him to be a son of the preceding, while others, such as

Johann Caspar von Orelli Johann Caspar von Orelli (Latin ''Iohannes Caspar Orellius''; 13 February 1787 – 6 January 1849), was a Swiss classical scholar. Life He was born at Zürich of a distinguished Italian family which had taken refuge in Switzerland at the tim ...

, regard him as identical. Cassius sent him with a body of troops to hold possession of Corduba, on occasion of the mutiny and revolt excited in Hispania by his own exactions. But Marcellus quickly joined the mutineers, though whether voluntarily or by compulsion is not certain, and put himself at the head of all the troops assembled at Corduba, whom he retained in their fidelity to

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

, at the same time that he prepared to resist Cassius by force of arms. But though the two leaders, with their armies, were for some time opposed to one another, Marcellus avoided coming to a general engagement, and on the arrival soon after of the proconsul, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, he hastened to submit to his authority and place the legions under his command at his disposal. Due to the questionable part he had acted on this occasion, Marcellus at first incurred the resentment of Caesar but was afterwards restored to favor. *Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 22 BC. Perhaps the same person as the preceding. He married Asinia, the daughter of

Gaius Asinius Pollio Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Pol ...

, who was consul in 40 BC. *Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, son of the preceding. When a boy he broke his leg while performing in the equestrian Troy Game before

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, causing his grandfather, Asinius Pollio, to complain so loudly that Augustus never held the game again. He was trained with much care by his grandfather in all kinds of oratorical exercises, and gave much promise as an orator. In 20 AD he was one of those whom Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso requested to undertake his defense on the charge of having poisoned Germanicus, but he declined the office. It is probable that the Asinius Marcellus mentioned by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

as a great-grandson of Pollio was a son of this Aeserninus.

, ''

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'', xiv. 40

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, Marcus Ancient Roman prosopographical lists Aeserninus, Marcus Claudius

See also

References