place
Asculans
also: the Asculans
Asculum (modern Ascoli Piceno), the chief town of Picenum, in 91 BC the spark of the Social War (massacre of the Roman praetor Servilius); recaptured by Pompeius Strabo after a long siege in 89 BC. The Italian-war context returns repeatedly (Pro Sulla 25; Pro Cluentio 21; Pro Fonteio 41).
Reading notes
- For Publius Sulla §25 a townsman of Asculum
Asculum, chief town of Picenum in central Italy. Cicero notes that Torquatus is himself, on his mother's side, of municipal stock, so he is in no position to sneer at Cicero for coming from a country town.