plebeian. The Asinii came from Teate, the chief town of the Marrucini (Sil. Ital. 17.453; Liv. Epit. 73; Catull. 12); and their name is derived from asina, which was a cognomen of the Scipios, as asellus was of the Annii and Claudii. The Herius, spoken of by Silius Italicus (l.c.) in the time of the second Punic war, about B. C. 218, was an ancestor of the Asinii; but the first person of the name of Asinius, who occurs in history, is Herius Asinius, in the Marsic war, B. C. 90. [ASINIUS.] The cognomens of the Asinii are AGRIPPA, CELER, DENTO, GALLUS. POLLIO, SALONINUS. The only cognomens which occur on coins, are GALLUS and POLLIO. (Eckhel, v. p. 144.)
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890