ignore them. His prose style was attacked by Pollio as Asiatic, also
by his son, Asinius Gallus, who was answered by the emperor Claudius
(Suet. 41). The writers of the silver age found fault with his
prolixity, want of sparkle and epigram, and monotony of his
clausulae.[15] A certain Largius Licinius gained notoriety by
attacking his Latinity in a work styled _Ciceromastix_. His most
devoted admirers were the younger Pliny, who reproduced his oratorical
style with considerable success, and Quintilian (x. 1. 112), who
regarded him as the perfect orator, and draws most of his
illustrations from his works. At a later period his style fascinated
Christian writers, notably Lactantius, the "Christian Cicero," Jerome
and S. Augustine, who drew freely from his rhetorical writings.

The first commentator upon Cicero was Asconius, a Roman senator living
in the reign of Claudius; who wrote a commentary upon the speeches, in
which he explains obscure historical points for the instruction of his
sons (see ASCONIUS). Passing over a number of grammatical and
rhetorical writers who drew illustrations from Cicero, we may mention
the _Commentary_ of Victorinus, written in the 4th century, upon the
treatise _de Inventione_, and that of Boethius (A.D. 480-524) upon the
_Topica_. Among scholiasts may be mentioned the _Scholiasta Bobiensis_
who is assigned to the 5th century, and a pseudo-Asconius, who wrote
notes upon the _Verrines_ dealing with points of grammar and rhetoric.

(ii.) _Medieval Scholars._--In the middle ages Cicero was chiefly
known as a writer on rhetoric and morals. The works which were most
read were the _de Inventione_ and _Topica_--though neither of these
was quite so popular as the treatise _ad Herennium_, then supposed to
be by Cicero--and among the moral works, the _de Officiis_, and the
_Cato Maior_. John of Salisbury (1110-1180) continually quotes from
rhetorical and philosophical writings, but only once from the
speeches. The value set upon the work _de Inventione_ is shown by a
passage in which Notker (d. 1022) writing to his bishop says that he
has lent a MS. containing, the _Philippics_ and a commentary upon the
_Topics_, but has received as a pledge something far more valuable,
viz. the _de Inventione_, and the "famous commentary of
Victorinus."[16] We have an interesting series of excerpts made by a
priest named Hadoard, in the 9th cent