He is last heard of in 170 as ambassador to Transalpine Gaul. Though little is known of his personal qualities, his intimacy with Scipio is proof that he must have been a man of some importance. Silius Italicus (Punica, xv. 450) describes him as a man of great endowments, an eloquent orator and a brave soldier.
See Index to Livy; Polybius x. 3. 9, 39, xi. 32, xiv. 4. 8, xv. 9. 12, 14; Appian, Hisp. 25-29; Cicero, Philippica, xi. 7.
His son, Gaius Laelius, is known chiefly as the friend of the younger Scipio, and as one of the speakers in Cicero’s De senectute, De amicitia (or Laelius) and De Republica. He was surnamed Sapiens (“the wise”), either from his scholarly tastes or because, when tribune, he “prudently” withdrew his proposal (151 B.C.) for the relief of the farmers by distributions of land, when he saw that it was likely to bring about disturbances. In the third Punic War (147) he accompanied Scipio to Africa, and distinguished himself at the capture of the Cothon, the military harbour of Carthage. In 145 he carried on operations with moderate success against Viriathus in Spain; in 140 he was elected consul. During the Gracchan period, as a staunch supporter of Scipio and the aristocracy, Laelius became obnoxious to the democrats. He was associated with P. Popillius Laenas in the prosecution of those who had supported Tiberius Gracchus, and in 131 opposed the bill brought forward by C. Papirius Carbo to render legal the election of a tribune to a second year of office. The attempts of his enemies, however, failed to shake his reputation. He was a highly accomplished man and belonged to the so-called “Scipionic circle.” He studied philosophy under the Stoics Diogenes Babylonius and Panaetius of Rhodes; he was a poet, and the plays of Terence, by reason of their elegance of diction, were sometimes attributed to him. With Scipio he was mainly instrumental in introducing the study of the Greek language and literature into Rome. He was a gifted orator, though his refined eloquence was perhaps less suited to the forum than to the senate. He delivered speeches De Collegiis (145) against the proposal of the tribune C. Licinius Crassus to deprive the priestly colleges of their right of co-optation and to transfer the power of election to the people; Pro Publicanis (139), on behalf of the farmers of the revenue; against the proposal of Carbo noticed above; Pro Se, a speech in his own defence, delivered in answer to Carbo and Gracchus; funeral orations, amongst them two on his friend Scipio. Much information is given concerning him in Cicero, who compares him to Socrates.
See Index to Cicero; Plutarch, Tib. Gracchus, 8; Appian, Punica, 126; Horace, Sat. ii. 1. 72; Quintilian, Instit. xii. 10. 10; Suetonius, Vita Terentii; Terence, Adelphi, Prol. 15, with the commentators.
LAENAS, the name of a plebeian family in ancient Rome,
notorious for cruelty and arrogance. The two most famous of
the name[1] are:—
Gaius Popillius Laenas, consul in 172 B.C. He was sent to Greece in 174 to allay the general disaffection, but met with little success. He took part in the war against Perseus, king of Macedonia (Livy xliii. 17, 22). When Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, invaded Egypt, Laenas was sent to arrest his progress. Meeting him near Alexandria, he handed him the decree of the senate, demanding the evacuation of Egypt. Antiochus having asked time for consideration, Laenas drew a circle round him with his staff, and told him he must give an answer before he stepped out of it. Antiochus thereupon submitted (Livy xlv. 12; Polybius xxix. 11; Cicero, Philippica, viii. 8; Vell. Pat. i. 10).
Publius Popillius Laenas, son of the preceding. When consul in 132 B.C. he incurred the hatred of the democrats by his harsh measures as head of a special commission appointed to take measures against the accomplices of Tiberius Gracchus. In 123 Gaius Gracchus brought in a bill prohibiting all such commissions, and declared that, in accordance with the old laws of appeal, a magistrate who pronounced sentence of death against a citizen, without the people’s assent, should be guilty of high treason. It is not known whether the bill contained a retrospective clause against Laenas, but he left Rome and sentence of banishment from Italy was pronounced against him. After the restoration of the aristocracy the enactments against him were cancelled, and he was recalled (121).
See Cicero, Brutus, 25. 34, and De domo sua, 31; Vell. Pat. ii. 7; Plutarch, C. Gracchus, 4.
LAER (or Laar), PIETER VAN (1613–c. 1675), Dutch painter,
was born at Laaren in Holland. The influence of a long stay
in Rome begun at an early age is seen in his landscape and backgrounds,
but in his subjects he remained true to the Dutch
tradition, choosing generally lively scenes from peasant life, as
markets, feasts, bowling scenes, farriers’ shops, robbers, hunting
scenes and peasants with cattle. From this taste, or from his
personal deformity, he was nicknamed Bamboccio by the
Italians. On his return to Holland about 1639, he lived chiefly
at Amsterdam and Haarlem, in which latter city he died in 1674
or 1675. His pictures are marked by skilful composition and
good drawing; he was especially careful in perspective. His
colouring, according to Crowe, is “generally of a warm, brownish
tone, sometimes very clear, but oftener heavy, and his execution
broad and spirited.” Certain etched plates are also attributed
to him.
LAESTRYGONES, a mythical race of giants and cannibals.
According to the Odyssey (x. 80) they dwelt in the farthest north,
where the nights were so short that the shepherd who was
driving out his flock met another driving it in. This feature of
the tale contains some hint of the long nightless summer in the
Arctic regions, which perhaps reached the Greeks through the
merchants who fetched amber from the Baltic coasts. Odysseus
in his wanderings arrived at the coast inhabited by the Laestrygones,
and escaped with only one ship, the rest being sunk by
the giants with masses of rock. Their chief city was Telepylus,
founded by a former king Lamus, their ruler at that time being
Antiphates. This is a purely fanciful name, but Lamus takes
us into a religious world where we can trace the origin of the
legend, and observe the god of an older religion becoming the
subject of fairy tales (see Lamia) in a later period.
The later Greeks placed the country of the Laestrygones in Sicily, to the south of Aetna, near Leontini; but Horace (Odes, iii. 16. 34) and other Latin authors speak of them as living in southern Latium, near Formiae, which was supposed to have been founded by Lamus.
LAETUS, JULIUS POMPONIUS [Giulio Pomponio Leto],
(1425–1498), Italian humanist, was born at Salerno. He studied
at Rome under Laurentius Valla, whom he succeeded (1457)
as professor of eloquence in the Gymnasium Romanum. About
this time he founded an academy, the members of which adopted
Greek and Latin names, met on the Quirinal to discuss classical
questions and celebrated the birthday of Romulus. Its constitution
resembled that of an ancient priestly college, and Laetus
was styled pontifex maximus. The pope (Paul II.) viewed these
proceedings with suspicion, as savouring of paganism, heresy
and republicanism. In 1468 twenty of the academicians were
arrested during the carnival; Laetus, who had taken refuge
in Venice, was sent back to Rome, imprisoned and put to the
torture, but refused to plead guilty to the charges of infidelity
and immorality. For want of evidence, he was acquitted
and allowed to resume his professorial duties; but it was forbidden
to utter the name of the academy even in jest. Sixtus
IV. permitted the resumption of its meetings, which continued
to be held till the sack of Rome (1527) by Constable Bourbon
during the papacy of Clement VII. Laetus continued to teach
in Rome until his death on the 9th of June 1498. As a teacher,
Laetus, who has been called the first head of a philological
school, was extraordinarily successful; in his own words, like
Socrates and Christ, he expected to live on in the person of his
pupils, amongst whom were many of the most famous scholars
of the period. His works, written in pure and simple Latin,
were published in a collected form (Opera Pomponii Laeti
varia, 1521). They contain treatises on the Roman magistrates,
priests and lawyers, and a compendium of Roman history from
- ↑ The name is said by Cicero to be derived from laena, the sacerdotal cloak carried by Marcus Popillius (consul 359) when he went to the forum to quell a popular rising.
