[2] Although it is not clear from his name, Asiaticus was a member of the Cornelii Lentuli, one of the patrician branches of the gens Cornelia.
Asiaticus owed the final element of his name to the fact he was born when his father was governor of Asia.
"That recalls the favour extended to nobiles in close propinquity to the dynasty," writes Syme, "and it may have encouraged forecasts about an impending choice of heir.
The Year of the Four Emperors followed immediately upon his consulate, and Vitellius was notorious for having one of Asiaticus' cousins, Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, murdered partly because the emperor Galba had considered Dolabella as his successor;[5] Asiaticus' similar closeness would have made him a similar risk.
However, since our knowledge of the times is incomplete, anything from a premature death to a successful senatorial career and numerous children is equally possible.