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GAIUS LAELIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 63 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAIUS See also:LAELIUS , See also:general and statesman, was a friend of the See also:elder Scipio, whom he accompanied on his See also:Spanish See also:campaign (210-206 B.c.). In Scipio's consulship (205), Laelius went with him to See also:Sicily, whence he conducted an expedition to See also:Africa. In 203 he defeated the Massaesylian See also:prince Syphax, who, breaking his See also:alliance with Scipio, had joined the Carthaginians, and at Zama (202) rendered considerable service in command of the See also:cavalry. In 197 he was plebeian See also:aedile and in 196 See also:praetor of Sicily. As See also:consul in 190 he was employed in organizing the recently conquered territory in Cisalpine See also:Gaul. Placentia and See also:Cremona were repeopled, and a new See also:colony founded at See also:Bononia. He is last heard of in 170 as See also:ambassador to Transalpine Gaul. Though little is known of his See also:personal qualities, his intimacy with Scipio is See also:proof that he must have been a See also:man of some importance. Silius Italicus (Punica, xv. 450) describes him as a man of See also:great endowments, an eloquent orator and a brave soldier. See See also:Index to See also:Livy; See also:Polybius x. 3.

9, 39, xi. 32, xiv. 4. 8, xv. 9. 12, 14; See also:

Appian, Hisp. 25-29; See also: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 senectule, De amicitia (or Laelius) and De Republica. He was surnamed Sapiens (" the See also:wise "), either from his scholarly tastes or because, when See also:tribune, he " prudently " withdrew his proposal (151 B.c.) for the See also:relief of the farmers by distributions of See also:land, when he saw that it was likely to bring about disturbances. In the third Punic See also:War (147) he accompanied Scipio to Africa, and distinguished himself at the See also:capture of the Cothon, the military See also:harbour of See also:Carthage. In 145 he carried on operations with moderate success against Viriathus in See also:Spain; in 140 he was elected consul.

During the Gracchan See also:

period, as a staunch supporter of Scipio and the See also:aristocracy, Laelius became See also:obnoxious to the democrats. He was associated with P. Popillius See also:Laenas in the See also:prosecution of those who had supported Tiberius See also:Gracchus, and in 131 opposed the See also:bill brought forward by C. Papirius See also:Carbo to render legal the See also:election of a tribune to a second See also:year of See also: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 See also:philosophy under the See also:Stoics See also:Diogenes Babylonius and See also:Panaetius of See also:Rhodes; he was a poet, and the plays of See also:Terence, by See also:reason of their elegance of diction, were sometimes attributed to him. With Scipio he was mainly instrumental in introducing the study of the See also:Greek See also:language and literature into See also:Rome. He was a gifted orator, though his refined eloquence was perhaps less suited to the See also:forum than to the See also:senate. He delivered speeches De Collegiis (145) against the proposal of the tribune C. See also:Licinius See also:Crassus to deprive the priestly colleges of their right of co-optation and to See also:transfer the See also:power of election to the See also:people; See also:Pro Publicanis (139), on behalf of the farmers of the See also:revenue; against the proposal of Carbo noticed above; Pro Se, a speech in'his own See also:defence, delivered in See also:answer to Carbo and Gracchus; funeral orations, amongst them two on his friend Scipio. Much See also:information is given concerning him in Cicero, who compares him to See also:Socrates. See Index to Cicero; See also:Plutarch, Tib.

Gracchus, 8; Appian, Punica, 126; See also:

Horace, Sat. ii. 1. 72; See also:Quintilian, Instil. xii. 1o. 1o; Suetonius, Vita Terentii; Terence, Adelphi, Prol. 15, with the commentators.

End of Article: GAIUS LAELIUS

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