Laelius

Laelĭus, a,

• name of a Roman gens.— So esp.,
• • • 1 C. Laelius, a friend of Scipio Africanus: in quo Laeliu' clamores, σοφὸς ille, solebat Edere, Lucil. ap. Cic. de Fin. 2, 8, 24; cf.: nec dubitare illum (C. Laelium) in omni sermone appellare sapientem, Cic. Lael. 1, 1; id. Brut. 21, 82; cf. Hor. S. 2, 1, 65; 72. Cicero's treatise on Friendship is named after him.—
    • 2 D. Laelius, a writer of moderate abilities, Lucil. ap. Cic. de Or. 2, 6, 25.—
    • 3 Another D. Laelius, perh. a son of the preceding, an adherent of Pompey, Caes. B. C. 3, 40.—In fem.: Laelĭa, ae, daughter of C. Laelius, and mother-in-law of L. Crassus, celebrated for her intellectual culiure, Cic. Brut. 58, 211.—Another Laelia, a Vestal, Tac. A. 15, 22.
• —Hence, Laelĭā-nus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to a Laelius, Laelian: naves, i. e. of Pompey's commander, D. Laelius, Caes. B. C. 3, 100, 2.

Laelius, a, um, Name einer röm. gens, aus der am bekanntesten: C. Laelius, Freund Scipios (weshalb Cicero sein Buch von der Freundschaft Laelius nannte), Cic. Brut. 82; de amic. 1 sqq. – D. Laelius, ein Pompejaner, Befehlshaber der asiatischen Schiffe, Caes. b. c. 3, 5, 3. – Laelia, die Schwiegermutter des L. Krassus, Cic. Brut. 211. – Dav. Laeliānus, a, um, lälianisch, des Lälius, naves, Caes. b. c. 3, 100, 2.

Lælĭus, (10) ĭī, m. , nom dʼune famille rom. ; not^t  : C. Lælius, ami du premier Scipion lʼAfricain || le second Lælius, surnommé le Sage (Sapiens), ami du Second Africain : Cic. Læl. 1 || D. Lælius, pompéien, commandant de la flotte dʼAsie : Cæs. C. 3, 40, 2.

Lae'lius

Λαίλιος.

1. C. Laelius, was from early manhood the friend and companion of P. Corn. Scipio Africanus, and their actions are so interwoven, that it is difficult to relate them separately. (Plb. 10.3; Vell. 2.127.) Laelius first appears in history as the commander of the Roman fleet in the attack on New Carthage, B. C. 210. To him alone wasconfided the destination of the armament, which, in correspondence with the movements of the land forces, he conducted from the mouth of the Ebro to the haven of the Carthaginian capital of Spain. Laelius, during the assault, blockaded the port, after its capture occupied the city with his marines, and, for his services, received from Scipio a golden wreath and thirty oxen. (Plb. 10.3, 9; Liv. xxvi, 42, 48; Appian, Hispan. 20.) Having assisted in distributing the booty, the hostages, and the prizes of valour to the soldiers, he was dispatched to Rome with the captives and the tidings of victory. He arrived thither early in B. C. 209, and, after reporting to the senate and the people the fall of New Carthage, and delivering up his prisoners-among whom were Mago, the governor of the city, fifteen members of the great council of Carthage, and two members of the council of elders,-he rejoined Scipio at Tarraco. (Plb. 10.18, 19, 37; Liv. 26.48, 51, 27.7.) Throughout the war in Spain, Sicily, and Africa, Laelius acted as confidential legatus to his friend, nor until B. C. 202, when the senate appointed him Scipio's quaestor extraordinary, had he any official rank or station. (Liv. 30.33.) At the battle of Baecula, in the upper valley of the Guadalquivir, he commanded Scipio's left wing, B. C. 208 (Plb. 10.39; Liv. 27.18; Appian, Hispan. 25, 26); and in B. C. 206, a stormingparty, when Illiturgi, on the right bank of the Baetis, was taken (Liv. 28.19, 20); a detachment of the fleet, when Gades was expected to revolt, with which he defeated the Punic admiral Adherbal in the straits (Liv. 28.23, 30); and the cavalry, when Indibilis was routed (Plb. 11.32, 33; Liv. 28.33). Twice he visited the court of Syphax, king of the Masaesylians, and the most powerful of the African princes, whose alliance was of equal importance to Carthage and to Rome. The first time he went as Scipio's envoy, the next as his companion; and, many years afterwards, he related to their common friend, the historian Polybius (Plb. 10.3), the particulars of that memorable banquet at which Syphax entertained at one table and on one couch two successive conquerors of Spain, the Punic Hasdrubal and the Roman Scipio. (Plb. 11.24; Liv. 28.17, 18; Appian, Hispan. 29.) After the Carthaginians had evacuated Spain, Laelius returned with Scipio to Rome, and was present at his consular comitia, in the autumn of B. C. 206. (Plb. 11.33; Liv. 28.38.)

The completion of the second Punic war was naturally assigned to the conqueror of Spain; but while Scipio was assembling his forces in Sicily, Laelius, with a portion of the fleet, was despatched to the African coast. He disembarked at Hippo Regius; the farms and vineyards of a populous and unguarded district afforded abundant spoil; the high road to Carthage was thronged with fugitives, and it was believed that Scipio himself, whose preparations were known and dreaded, had landed with the main army. At Hippo the Massylian chief Masinissa renewed his overtures to Rome. He urged Laelius to hasten Scipio's invasion, and warned him to return without delay, since the Carthaginians had discovered their error, and were preparing to cut off his retreat. Laelius accordingly returned to Messana. His booty betrayed the wealth and weakness of Carthage, and whetted the appetite of the legions for the plunder of Africa. (Liv. 29.1, 4, 6.)

In the spring of B. C. 204, Laelius, with twenty war-gallies, convoyed the left division of transports from the harbour of Lilybaeum to the Fair Promontory. (Liv. 29.24_27.) On the mainland he again ably seconded his friend. To hint and Masinissa was entrusted the burning of the Punic and Numidian camps (Plb. 14.4; Liv. 30.3-6); the pursuit of Hasdrubal and Syphax far into the arid wastes of Numidia (Plb. 14.9; Liv. 30.9, comp ib. 17; Appian. Pun. 26-28); and the capture of the Masaesylian king and his capital Cirta, for which services Laelius received for the second time a golden crown (Liv. 30.11_16). At Cirta he asserted the severe discipline of Rome towards its most faithful allies, by tearing Masinissa from the arms of Sophonisba, the beautiful and unfortunate daughter of Hasdrubal Barca (Liv. 30.12). A second time also he was the usher of victory and of a train of illustrious captives -Syphax and his Masaesylian nobles-to the senate and people of Rome (30.16, 17). He was detained in Italy until the last Carthaginian envoys had received their final answer, and rejoined Scipio in Africa in the latter months of B. C. 203 (30.22, 25). At the battle of Zama in the following year, he commanded the Italian horse that formed the extreme left of the Roman line. His repulse and pursuit of the Numidian cavalry exposed the enemy's flank, and his cllarge at the close of the day, on Hannibal's reserve, determined Scipio's victory (Plb. 15.9, 12, 14; Liv. 30.33_35; Appian, App. Pun. 41, 44). A third time Laelius was despatched to Rome: but he then announced not the fall of a city or of a single host, but the consummation of a war, which for sixteen years had swept over Italy, land risen to the barriers of Rome itself. (Liv. 30.35, 40.)

The civil career of Laelius began after his military life had comparatively closed. It was less brilliant, but his influence with the senate was at all times great. (Liv. 37.1.) If, as seems probable, he was nearly of the same age with his illustrious friend, Laelius was born about B. C. 235 and may have been in his fortieth year when chosen praetor in 196. His province was Sicily (Liv. 33.24, 26). He failed in his first trial for the consulship. Scipio's popularity was on the wane, and the old patrician party in the ascendant (35.10). He was, however, elected consul in B. C. 190, two years after his rejection (Liv. 36.45). Whether time and the accidents of party had wrought any change in their ancient friendship, we are not told; but it was through Scipio Africanus that Laelius lost his appointment to the province of Greece, and the command of the war against Antiochus the Great [Antiochus III.] (Liv. 37.1; Cic. Philipp. 11.7), which he probably desired as much for wealth as for glory, since the Laelii were not rich (Cic. Cornel. ii. Fragm. 8, p. 453, Orelli). He obtained instead the province of Cisalpine Gaul, where he remained two years, engaged in colonising the ancient territory of the Boians (Liv. 37.47, 50). In B. C. 174, he was one of a commission of three, sent into Macedonia to counteract the negotiations of Carthage (Liv. 41.22), and in B. C. 170 he was despatched by the senate to inquire into certain charges brought against C. Cassius, consul in B. C. 171, by some of the Gaulish tribes of the Grisons. The date of Laelius' death is unknown. (Zonar. 9.13; Frontin. Strat. 1.1.3, 1.2.1, 2.3.16.)

Lae'lius

2. C. Laelius Sapiens, was son of the preceding. His intimacy with the younger Scipio Africanus was as remarkable as his father's friendship with the elder (Vell. 2.127; V. Max. 4.7.7), and it obtained an imperishable monument in Cicero's treatise "Laelius sive de Amicitia" He was born about B. C. 186-5; was tribune the plebs in 151; praetor in 145 (Cic. de Amic. 25); and consul, after being once rejected, in 140 (Cic. Brut. 43, Tusc. 5.19; Plut. Imp. Apophthegm. p. 200). His character was dissimilar to that of his father. The elder Laelius was an officer of the old Roman stamp, softened, perhaps, by his intercourse with Polybius, but essentially practical and enterprising. A mild philosophy refined, and, it may be, enfeebled the younger Laelius, who, though not devoid of military talents, as his campaign against the Lusitanian guerilla-chief Viriatus proved (Cic. de Off. 2.11), was more of a statesman than a soldier, and more a philosopher than a statesman. From Diogenes of Babylon [Diogenes, literary, 3], and afterwards from Panaetius, he imbibed the doctrines of the stoic school (Cic. de Fin. 2.8); his father's friend Polybius was friend also; the wit and idiom of Terence were pointed and polished by his and Scipio's conversation (Suet. vit. Terent. 2; Prolog. Terent Adelph. 15; Cic. Att. 7.3; comp. Quint. Inst. 10.1.99); the satirist Lucilius was his familiar companion (Cic. de Fin. 2.8; Hor. Sat. 2.1, 65; Schol. Vet. in Hor. loc.); and Caelius Antipater dedicated to him his history of the Punic war (Cic. Orat. 69). * It isdoubtful, however, whether in this passage, and in Auct. ad Herennium, 4.12, for Laelio, we should not read L. Aelio. (Comp. Cic. pro Scauro, p. 172, 285. Orelli.) Laelius was so distinguished also for his augural science, that, according to Cicero (Cic. Phil. 2.33), "Laelius" and "bonus augur" were convertible terms. (Id. De Nat. Deor. 3.2.)

The political opinions of Laelius were different at different periods of his life. At first he inclined to the party which aimed at renovating the plebs by making them again land-owners, and at raising the equites into an efficient middle-class. He endeavoured, probably during his tribunate, to procure a re-division of the state-demesnes, but, either alarmed at the hostility it excited, or convinced of its impracticability, lie desisted from the attempt, and for his forbearance received the appellation of the Wise or the Prudent (Plut. TG 8). Laelius indeed had neither the steady principles of Tiberius, nor the fervid genius of C. Gracchus. He could discern, but he could not apply the remedy for social evils. And after the tribunate of the elder Gracchus, B. C. 133, his sentiments underwent a change. He assisted the consuls of B. C. 132 in examining C. Blossius of Cumae and the other partizans of Tib. Gracchus (Cic. de Amic. 11 ; comp. Plut. TG 20), and in B. C. 130, he spoke against the Papirian Rogation, which would have enabled the tribunes of the plebs to be re-elected from year to year (Cic. de Amic. 25; Liv. Epit. 59). But although Laelius was the strenuous opponent of the popular leaders of his age--the tribunes C. Licinius Crassus, B. C. 145, C. Papirius Carbo, B. C. 131, and C. Gracchus B. C. 123-122 --nature had denied him the qualities of a great orator. His speeches read better than those of his contemporary and rival C. Servius Galba, yet Galba was doubtless the more eloquent. (Cic. Brut. 24.) Laelius in his own age was the model, and in history is the representative of the Greek culture which sprang up rapidly at Rome in the seventh century of the city. Serene and philosophical by temperament (Cic. de Off. 1.26; Sen. Ep. 11), erudite and refined by education, Laelius was among the earliest examples of that cosmopolite character (Cic. Tusc. 4.3), which, in Cicero's time, had nearly effaced the old Latin type, and of which the younger Brutus perhaps presents the fairest of aspect. Smoothness-lenitas (Cic. de Orat. 3.7.28), which he probably derived from his old master Diogenes (Gel. 7.14), was the characteristic of his eloquence. It was better adapted for a deliberative assembly than for the tumult of the forum. Cicero, indeed (Brut. 21),-and his censure is confirmed by the author of the dialogue De Causis Corruptae Eloquentiae (25)--complains of a certain harshness and crudity in the diction of Laelius. The grammarians resorted to his writings for archaisms (Festus, s. v. Satura; Nonius, s. v. Samium), and he may have shown habits of study rather than of business. But the defect was perhaps as much in the organ lie employed as in Laelius himself. The Latin tongue was yet in the bondage of the old Saturnian forms Compp. Varr. R. R. 1.2); and had not acquired the ductility and copiousness it possessed in Cicero's age. A fragment of the younger Scipio's orations, preserved by Macrobius (Saturn. 2.10), will afford a notion of the language of Laelius.

The titles of the following orations of Laelius have been preserved:-1. De Collegiis, delivered by Laelius when praetor, B. C. 145. It was directed against the rogation of C. Licinius Crassus, then tribune of the plebs, who proposed to transfer the election of the augurs from the college to the people in their tribes. The bill was rejected through Laelius' eloquence. (Cic. Brut. 21, de Amic. 25, de Repub. 6.2, de Nat. Deor. 3.2, 17, where it is described as aureola oratiuncula; Nonius, s. v. Samium.) 2. Pro Publicanis, B. C. 139. Laelius, after twice pleading in behalf of the revenuecontractors, resigned their cause to his rival C. Servius Galba, since it seemed to require a more acrimonious style than his own. (Cic. Brut. 22.) 3. Dissuasio Legis Papiriae, B. C. 131, against the law of C. Papirius Carbo, which enacted that a tribune, whose office had expired, might be re-elected as often as the people thought advisable. Scipio Africanus the younger supported, and C. Gracchus opposed Laelius in this debate. (Cic. de Amic. 25; Liv. Epit. lix.) 4. Pro se. The date and immediate occasion of this speech are uncertain; but it was probably in reply to Carbo or Gracchus. An extract from it seems to have once been read in Festus (s. v. Satura; comp. Sallust. Jug. 29.) 5. Laudationes P. Africani minors, written after B. C. 129. These were mortuary orations, which Laelius, after the manner of Isaeus and the Greek rhetoricians, composed for other speakers. Q. Tubero, the nephew of Africanus (Cic. de Orat. 2.84), delivered one, and Q. Fab. Maximus, brother of the deceased, the other of these orations, at Scipio's funeral. (Schol. Bob. pro Milon. p. 283, Orelli; comp. Cic. pro Muraen. 36.)

Laelius is the principal interlocutor in Cicero's dialogue De Amicitia; one of the speakers in the De Senectute, and in the De Republica, maintains the reality of justice against the sceptical academician Philus. His domestic life is pleasingly described by Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 2.6) and by Horace (Sat. 2.1. 65-74). He seems to have had a country house at Formiae (Cic. de Rep. 1.39). His two daughters were married, the one to Q. Mccius Scaevola, the augur, the other to C. Fannius Strabo (de Amic. 8). Of his wit and playfulness --hilaritas (de Off. 1.30), only two specimens have been transmitted (de Orat. 2.71; Sen. Nat. Quaest. 6.32). The opinion of his worth seems to have been universal, and it is one of Seneca's injunctions to his friend Lucilius " to live like Laelius." (Cic. Topic. 20.78; Sen. Ep. 104.) [W.B.D]

Lae'lius Balbus

[BALBUS, No. 7.]

Lae'lius De'cimus

1. Was one of Cn. Pompey's lieutenants in the Sertorian war. He was slain in an engagement near the town of Lauro, B. C. 76, by Hirtuleius, a legatus of Sertorius. (Sallust. Schol. Bob. pro Flacc. p. 23.5, Orelli; Frontin. Strat. 2.5.31; Obseq. de Prod. 119.) [Hirtuleius.] Lucilius, the satirist, as cited by Cicero (De Or. 2.6), and Cicero himself (lb.) speaks with some contempt of Laelius's pretensions to literature.

Lae'lius De'cimus

2. Son probably of the preceding, impeached L. Flaccus for extortion in his government of Asia Minor B. C. 59. (Cic. pro Flacc. 1, 6; Schol. Bob. pro Flacc. p. 228, Orelli.) [VALERIUS FLACCUS, No. 15.] In the civil wars B. C. 49, Laelius commanded a detachment of Cn. Pompey's fleet (Caes. Civ. 3.5); conveyed Pompey's letters to the consuls (Cic. Att. 8.11, D. 12, A.); watched M. Antony's passage over the Adriatic (Caes. Civ. 3.40); and, about the time of the battle of Pharsalia, blockaded the harbour of Brundisium. (Caes. Civ. 3.100.) M. Antony placed Laelius on the list of Pompeians forbidden to return to Italy without licence from Caesar; but the prohibition was subsequently removed. (Cic. Att. 11.7, 14.) [W.B.D]

Lae'lius, Felix

[Felix Laelius.]

Laelius

Gaius. (1) The friend of Scipio Africanus the elder. He fought under the latter in almost all his campaigns. He was consul B.C. 190.

(2) Surnamed Sapiens, son of the preceding. His intimacy with Scipio Africanus the younger was as remarkable as his father's friendship with the elder, and it obtained an imperishable monument in Cicero's treatise, Laelius sive de Amicitia. He was born about 186; was tribune of the plebs in 151, praetor in 145, and consul in 140. He was celebrated for his love of literature and philosophy, and cultivated the society and friendship of the philosopher Panaetius, of the historian Polybius, and of the poets Terence and Lucilius. Laelius is the principal interlocutor in Cicero's dialogue De Amicitia, and is one of the speakers in the De Senectute and in the De Republica. His two daughters were married—the one to Q. Mucius Scaevola, the augur, the other to C. Fannius Strabo.