Laenas

• a surname in the gens Popilia, v. Popilius.

The name of a family of the gens Popilia, its members being distinguished for their sternness and haughty pride. The most famous of them was Gaius Popilius Laenas, consul in B.C. 172. He was afterwards sent as ambassador to Antiochus, king of Syria, whom the Senate wished to abstain from hostilities against Egypt. Antiochus was just marching upon Alexandria, when Popilius gave him the letter of the Senate, which the king read and promised to take into consideration with his friends. Popilius straightway described with his cane a circle in the sand around the king, and ordered him not to stir out of it before he had given a decisive answer. This boldness so impressed Antiochus that he at once yielded to the demand of Rome. (Livy , xlv. 12.)