Lucius Vipsanius (father of Agrippa)
Seneca the Younger compares Lucius to Gryllus and Aristo the fathers of Xenophon and Plato as men who are only remembered forever due to the accomplishments of their sons.
[9] In the past some historians such as Peter Schreiner Frandsen attempted to identify Lucius with a rhetorician named Vipsanius Atticus mentioned by Seneca the Elder as a student of Apollodorus of Pergamon.
[14] Reinhold does not believe that he was a member of the Equestrian order, but does agree with Roddaz that the lack of mention of Marcus grandfather on inscriptions proves that Lucius father was not a citizen.
[11] Francis Cairns notes that while ancient writers often snidely remarked about Agrippa's lack of prestigious ancestry it is implausible that he as a young man would have been able to be so close to and share an education with Gaius Octavius (later emperor Augustus), a nephew of Julius Caesar, if he had not come from a family of some wealth.
He further speculates that Agrippa's marriage to Caecilia Attica could indicate that Lucius was of a similar background, a tax collector of equestrian status.
[16] Roddaz notes that Pliny referred to Marcus as "a man closer to rusticity than to luxury", but that this may not indicate any similarity to when Cicero was described by this phrase.
[19] Elaine Fantham has noted that Lucius seems to have been an obscure enough figure that despite it being well known that Marcus's family was of ignoble descent no specific allegations of his father holding a vulgar occupation were leveled against him.
