A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

l96. LABIENUS. LABIEINUS.
a specimen of his style, he would rank above Te- people the right of electing them. It was in con-:rence, and second only to Plautus, in dramatic sequence of this new law that Caesar obtained the
vigour, and Horace's depreciation of him (Sat. i. dignity of pontifex maximus this year. (Dion
10, 6) might stand beside Pope's sneer at Chaucer, Cass. xxxvii. 26, 27, 37; Suet. Caes. 12, 13; Cic.
and " such writing as is never read." But there pro Rabir. passim.) It was likewise no doubt at
is reason to infer that the diction of Laberius Caesar's suggestion, who was anxious to gratify
abounded in unauthorised words (Gell. xvi. 7) and Pompey, that Labienus and his colleague T. Amin antitheses and verbal jokes (Sen. Contr. 18), pius Balbus proposed those honours to Pompey,
allowable in a farce-writer, but beneath the dig- which have been detailed elsewhere. [Vol. I. p.
nity of comedy. He was, however, evidently an 455, a.] (Comp. Vell. Pat. ii. 40.)
original thinker, and made great impression on his All. these services did not go unrewarded.
contemporaries. (Niebuhr, Lectures on Rom. -list. When Caesar, after his consulship, went into his
vol. ii.'p. 169.) The fragments of Laberius are province of Transalpine Gaul in B. C. 58, he took.collected by Bothe, Poet. Scen. Latin. vol. v. pp. Labienus with him as his legatus, and treated him
202-218. A revised text of the prologue has with distinguished favour. We find that Labienus
been published, with a new fragment by Schneide- had the title of pro praetore (Caes. B. G. i. 21),
win, in the Rlheinisclies Museum for 1843, p. which title had doubtless been conferred upon him.632, &c. A writer of verses, named Laberius, is by Caesar's influence, that he might in the absence
mentioned by Martial (Ep. vi. 14.) [W. B. D.] of the proconsul take his place, and discharge his
Q. LABE'RIUS DURUS, a tribune of the duties. Labienus continued with Caesar during
soldiers in Caesar's army, fell. in battle in the a great part of his campaigns in Gaul, and showed
second invasion: of Britain, B. C. 54. He is by* himself an able and active officer. He was with
mistake called Labienus by Orosius. (Caes. B. G. Caesar throughout the whole of his first campaign
v. 15.; Oros. vi. 9.) (B. C. 58). According to Appian (Celt. 3, 15) and
LABE'RIUS MA'XIMUS was procurator of Plutarch (Caes. 18), it was Labienus who cut to
Judaea in A. D. 73, 74, the third and fourth years pieces the Tigurini; but Caesar ascribes the merit
of Vespasian's reign. After the destruction of of this to himself (B. G. i. 12); and as lie never
Jerusalem the emperor sent Laberius orders to manifests a disposition to appropriate to himself
offer for sale all the lands in Judaea. (Joseph. Bell. the exploits of his officers, his authority ought to
Jud. vii. 6, ~ 6.) A Laberius Maximus, whether be preferred to that of the former writers. He
the same is uncertain, was banished by Trajan on speaks, moreover, of the services of Labienus in
suspicion of aspiring to the purple (Spartian. Ha- this campaign; and after the conquest of the
drian. 5); and a person of the same name is men- Helvetii and the Germans we find him leaving
tioned by Martial (Ep. vi. 14) and by Pliny (Ep. Labienus in command of the troops in their
x. 16). [W. B. D.] winter-quarters, while he himself went into Cis-.
LABIE'NUS, the name of a Roman family,, alpine Gaul to discharge his civil duties in this
which does not occur in history till the last cen- province. (Caes. B. G. i. 10, 22, 54.)
tury -of the republic. Most modern writers say As we have no further mention of Labienus in
that labienus was a cognomen of the Atia gens, Gaul for the next three years, it is probable that
but there is no authority for this in any ancient he quitted the army when Caesar returned to it,
author. The name was first assigned to this gens after the winter of B. c. 58. His absence was supby P. Manutius, but apparently on conjecture; plied by P. Crassus, the son of the triumvir; but
and although Spanheim (DePraest. et Usu Numnism. when the latter left Gaul, in B. C. 54, in order to
vol. ii. pp. 11, 12) pointed out that there was no join his father in the fatal expedition against the
authority for this, the error has been continued Parthians, Caesar may perhaps have sent for Ladown to the present day, as, for instance, in bienus, or the prospect of honour and rewards may
Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum. have again attracted him to the camp of his patron.
1. Q. LABIENuS, the uncle of T. Labienus However this may be, we find Labienus again in
[No. 2], joined Saturninus when he seized the. Gaul in B. c. 54, in the winter of which year he
capitol in B. c. 100, and perished along with the was stationed with a legion among the Remi, on
other conspirators on that occasion. It was under the confines of the Treviri. Here he defeated the
the pretence of avenging his death that his nephew latter people, who had. come under the command of
accused Rabirius of the crime of perduellio. (Cic. Induciomarus, to attack his camp, and their leader
pro Rabir. 5, 7.) fell in the battle. Still later in the winter La2. T. LABIENUS was tribune of the plebs in B. c. bienus gained another great battle over the Treviri,
63, the year of Cicero's consulship; and, under and reduced the people to submission. (Caes.
pretence of avenging his uncle's death, as is men- B. G. v. 24, 53-58, vi. 7, 8; Dion Cass. xl. 11,
tioned above, he accused Rabirius of perduellio.. The 31.)
real reason, however, of his undertaking this ac- In the great campaign against Vercingetorix in
cusation was to please Julius Caesar, whose motives B. c. 52, which was the most arduous'but at the
for bringing the aged Rabirius to trial have been same time the most brilliant of all Caesar's cammentioned elsewhere. [CAESAR, p. 541.] Ra- paigns in Gaul, Labienus played a distinguished
birius was defended by Cicero, who was then ex- part. He was sent by Caesar with four legions
erting himself to please the senatorial party, and against the Senones and Parisii, and took up his
who consequently speaks of the tribune with great head-quarters at Agendicum. From this place he
contempt, and heaps upon him no measured terms marched against Lutetia, which was burnt at his
of abuse. Being entirely devoted to Caesar's in- approach; and in his subsequent retreat to Agenterests, Labienus introduced and carried a ple- dicum, which was rendered necessary by the revolt
biscitum, repealing the enactment of Sulla, which of the Aedui and the rising of the Bellovaci, his
gave the college of pontiffs the power of electing conduct is greatly praised by Caesar. He subits members by co-optation, and restoring to the sequently reached Agendicum in, safety, after