Asina belonged to the Scipionic-Aemilian faction which dominated Roman politics at the beginning of the Second Punic War, and advocated for an aggressive policy against Hannibal.
[1] His father served during the First Punic War, but his capture by the Carthaginians in 260 earned him the unsavoury agnomen Asina ("she-ass"), which was retained by his son.
Ancient authors tell that they were pirates that threatened navigation in the Adriatic Sea, but the consuls' campaign was part of a planned strategy of securing the northern border of the Republic.
This strategy may have been triggered by the fear of an incoming war with Carthage, which prompted the Senate to remove the threat of being attacked from the back while dealing with the Punic forces.
[9][10] Asina played a role in the contentious consular elections of 217, which returned the consuls for 216: Aemilius Paullus and Terentius Varro, who were soon defeated at the catastrophic Battle of Cannae by Hannibal.
Throughout his history he favours conservative politicians over populist agitators, and this led him to invent an opposition between Varro the reckless novus homo, and Paullus, the consul supported by the senate.
Hannibal tried unsuccessfully several times to lift the siege, and finally decided to march on Rome in order to force the army besieging Capua to rescue its capital.
Finally, Publius Valerius Flaccus (consul in 227) proposed a compromise of asking the generals in Capua whether they could send a part of their army to defend Rome.