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

LEPIDUS. LEPIDUS. 763
consulship is uncertain. Some have supposed that his province, and consul 187, after two unsuccessful
he was consul suffectus in B. C. 220. (Pighius, ad attempts to obtain the latter dignity. In his conAnn.) sulship he was engaged, with his colleague C. Fla3. M. AEMILIUS M. F. M. N. LEPIDUS, eldest minius, in the conquest of the Ligurians; and after
son of the preceding, was praetor in B. C. 218, when the reduction of this people, he continued the Via
he commanded in Sicily; and in the following year Flaminia from Ariminum by way of Bononia to
he is spoken of by Livy as praetor in Rome; but we Placentia, and from thence to Aquileia. (Comp.
must suppose that in the latter year he was only Strab. v. p. 217.) He was elected pontifex maxpropraetor.' He was an unsuccessful candidate for imus B. C. 180, censor 179, with M. Fulvius Nobithe consulship for B. C. 216. (Liv. xxi. 49, 51, lior, and consul a second time 175. He was six
xxii. 9, 33, 35, xxiii. 30.) times chosen'by the censors princeps senatus, and
4. L. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, brother of No. 3. he died in B. C. 152, full of years and honours.
(Liv. xxiii. 30.) Judging from the strict orders which he gave to his
5. Q. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, brother of Nos. 3 sons to bury him in a plain and'simple manner
~and 4. (Liv. xxiii. 30.) (Liv. Epit. 48), we may conclude that he belonged
6. M. or M'. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, praetor B. C. to that party of the Roman nobles who set their
213. (Liv. xxiv. 43,44.) In Livy the praenomen faces against the refined but extravagant habits
is Marcus; but instead of this we ought probably which the Scipios and their friends were introto read Manius; for we find that the M. Aemilius ducing into the state. Lepidus the triumvir is
Lepidus who was consul in B.c. 158 is described in called by Cicero (Phil. xiii. 7) the pronepos of this
the Fasti as M'. f M'. n.; and as there was another Lepidus; but he would seem more probably to
L. Lepidus:praetor in B. C. 218 [see No. 3], it is have been his abnepos, or great-great-grandson.
probable that the praetor in 213 was M'. Lepidus, This Lepidus left several sons; but we can hardly
the father of the consul of 158. Marcus was such a suppose that either the M. Lepidus Porcina, who
well-known praenomen of the Lepidi, that we can was consul B. c. 137, or the M. Lepidus who was
easily understand why it should be substituted for consul B. C. 126, were his sons, more especially as
the less common one of Manius. Livy mentions one of his sons, M. Lepidus (xxxvii.
7. M. AEMILIUS M. F. M. N. LEPIDUS, the son 43), as tribune of the soldiers in B. C. 190: the
of No. 3, was perhaps the Lepidus who is said to other two we may therefore look upon as his
have served in the army while still a boy (puer), grandsons. (Polyb. xvi. 34; Liv. xxxi. 2, 18,
and to have killed an-enemy, and saved the life of xxxii. 7, xxxv. 10, 24, xxxvi. 2, xxxviii. 42,
a citizen. (Val. Max. iii. 1. ~ 1.) This event is xxxix. 2, 56; Polyb. xxiii. 1; V-al. Max. vi. 3.
referred to in the accompanying coin of the Aemilia ~ 3; Liv. xl. 42, 45, 46; Val.: Max. iv. 2. ~ 1;
gens: it bears on the obverse a woman's head, and Cic. de Prov. Cons. 9; Liv. Epit. 48, comp. xl. 51,
on the reverse a horseman, with the legend M. LE- xli. 27, xliii. 15, Epit. 46, 47; Polyb. xxxii. 22.)
PIDUS AN. XV. PR. H. O. C. S., that is, M. Lepidus The following coin of Lepidus refers to his embassy
annorum xv. praeteatatus hosten occidit, civem ser- to Egypt mentioned above, and to his acting as guardian of Ptolemy V. The obverse contains a female
head, intended to represent the city of Alexandria,
with the legend ALEXANDREA, and the reverse
Lepidus placing the diadem on the head of the
king, with the legend M. LEPIDVS PONT. MAX.
TVTOR REP. S. C. From the fact that Lepidus is
here described as pontifex maximus, and that Valerius Maximus (vi. 6. ~ 1), in relating his guardianCOIN OF M. AEMILIUS LEPLDUS. ship, speaks of him as pontifex maximus and twice
consul, Pighius has supposed (Annal. vol. ii. p.
navit. He was one of three ambassadors sent by 403) that Lepidus must have been guardian of the
the Romans in B. C. 201 to the Egyptian court, Ptolemies VI. and VII.; but Eckhel (vol. v. pp.
which was then a firm ally of the republic, and had 123-126) has very ably refuted this opinion, and
solicited them to send some one to administer the has shown that this coin was struck by one of the
affairs of the kingdom for their infant sovereign descendants of Lepidus, who would naturally
Ptolemy V. Although Lepidus was the youngest introduce in the legend of the coin one of the disof the three ambassadors, he seems to have enjoyed tinguished offices of his ancestor, though held at a
the most power and influence, and accordingly we period subsequent to the event commemorated on
find writers speaking of him alone as the tutor of the coin.
the Egyptian king (Tac. Ann. ii. 67; Justin. xxx.
2, 3; Val. Max. vi. 6. ~ 1); and it is not improbable that he remained in Egypt in that capacity
when his colleagues returned to Rome. His superior importance is also shown by his colleagues
sending him alone to Philip III. of Macedonia,
who had exhibited signs of hostility towards the
Romans by the siege of Abydos, and who was not
a little astonished at the haughty bearing of the COIN OF M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS.
young Roman noble on this occasion. How long
Lepidus remained in Egypt is uncertain, but as he 8. M. AEMILIUS M'. F. M'. N. LEPIDUS, son
was chosen one of-the pontiffs in B. C. 199, we must probably of No. 6, consul B. C. 158, is mentioned
conclude that he was in Rome at that time, though only by Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. 6), and in the Fasti.
he may have returned again to Egypt. He was We learn from the Fasti Capitolini that he was
elected aedile B. C. 192, praetor 191, with Sicily as M. F. M'. N; from which we perceive that he