|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
Roman
general and politician who contributed to Roman victory during the
Second Punic War (218-201) between Rome and Carthage, known chiefly as
an orator and a friend of Scipio Aemilianus.
Owing
his political advancement to his friend, the renowned commander Scipio
Africanus, Laelius accompanied Scipio on his Spanish campaign
(210-206). While in Africa with Scipio from 204 to 202, Laelius
defeated the Numidian prince Syphax, an ally of the Carthaginians, and
commanded the cavalry in Scipio's decisive victory over Hannibal at
Zama (now in Tunisia; 202). After the war Laelius advanced from aedile
(197) to praetor (196) to consul (190). In 160 he met Polybius and
supplied the historian with a great deal of information about the life
of Scipio Africanus.
Gaius Laelius Sapiens, The Younger
Roman soldier and politician known chiefly as an orator and a friend of Scipio Aemilianus.
In 147 Laelius accompanied Scipio Aemilianus during the siege of
Carthage and distinguished himself in the capture of the city's
military harbour. Two years later he was praetor in Spain, and in 140
he became consul. Laelius helped prosecute the supporters of the
agrarian reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune in 133), and in
131 he opposed Gaius Papirius Carbo's bill to legalize the reelection
of tribunes.
Laelius appears as one of the speakers in Cicero's De senectute ("On
Old Age"), De amicitia ("On Friendship"; also called Laelius), and De
republica ("On the Republic"). In Cicero's works he appears as a member
of the highly cultured Scipionic circle, a poet and a student of
philosophy who sought to blend the better elements of Greek and Roman
life. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
