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

700- tACHARES. LACIN tUS.
by Demetrius Poliorcetes. He was afterwards Se- name of Cornutus being known. 4'E4 Ao'yal
cretly gained over by Cassander, who incited him 7T'oplcal Kar'd o'rolXef7o, i. e. select passages from
to aim at the acquisition of the tyranny, hoping to the Greek orators in alphabetical order. [L. S.]
be able through his means to rule Athens. (Paus. LACHES (AdX7s), an Athenian, son of Melai. 25. ~ 7.) He does not seem, however, to have nopus, was joined with Charoeades in the command
been able to effect this purpose until Athens was of the first expedition sent by the Athenians to
besieged by Demetrius (B. c. 296), when he took Sicily, in B. c. 427. His colleague was soon after
advantage of the excitement of the popular mind to slain in battle, and Laches, being left sole general,
expel Demochares, the leader of the opposite party, took Messina, and gained some slight advantages
and establish himself as undisputed master of the over the Epizephyrian Locrians. In B. c. 426 he
city. We know but little either of the intrigues was superseded by Pythodorus, with whom Soby which he raised himself to power or of his pro- phocles and Eurymedon were shortly joined, and
ceedings afterwards; but he is described in general was recalled, apparently to stand his trial on a
terms by Pausanias, as "of all tyrants the most charge of peculation in his command, brought
inhuman towards men, and the most sacrilegious against himbyCleon. (Thuc. iii. 86,88,90,99, 103,
towards the gods." He plundered the temples, 115, vi. 1, 6, 75; Just. iv. 3; Arist. Ves. 240,
and especially the Parthenon, of all their most 836, 895, 903, 937; Dem. c. Tim. ~ 145; Schol.
valuable treasures, stripping even the statue of ad Arist. Vesp. 240, 836.) The Scholiast thinks
Athena of her sacred ornaments. At the beginning that Aristophanes, in the Wasps, meant no reference
of his rule he had procured a decree to be passed, to Laches in the arraignment of the dog Labes, for
forbidding, under pain of death, even the mention cheese-stealing. But the name of Laches' demus
of treating with Demetrius; and he succeeded in Aexone (comp. Plat. Lach. p. 197), and the special
inducing, or compelling, the Athenians to hold out mention of Sicilian cheese, seem to fix the allusion
until they were reduced to the last extremities of beyond dispute, while by the accusing dog, the
famine. At length, however, he despaired of doing IKIcuV KuaOrmvatrcs, himself as great a filcher, Cleon
so any longer, and, stealing out of the city in dis- is as evidently intended. Laches, we find from
guise, made his escape to Thebes. (Paus. i. 25. ~ Plato (Lach. p. 181), was present at the battle of
7, 29. ~ 10; Plut. Demetr. 33, 34, De Is. et Osir. Delium, in B. C. 424. In B. C. 421 he was one of
71, p. 379, Adv. Epicur. p. 1090, e.; Polvyaen. iv. the commissioners for concluding the fifty years'
7. ~ 5; Athen. ix. p. 405, f.) -A story is told of truce between Athens and Sparta, as well as the
him by Polyaenuis (iii. 7. ~ 1), that being pursued separate treaty between these states in the same
by some horsemen of Demetrius, he escaped from year. He was also one of the commanders of the
them by dropping gold pieces along the road as he force sent to Argos, in B. c. 418, when Alcibiades
fled. According to the same author, he remained induced the Argives to break the truce made in
at Thebes until it was taken by Demetrius, when their name with the Lacedaemonians, by Thrasyllus
be fled from thence to Delphi, and afterwards to and Alciphron; and in the same year he fell at the
Thrace. Here he was again in danger of falling battle of Mantineia, together with his colleague
into the hands of his enemy, Demetrius having Nicostratus. (Thuc. v. 19, 24, 61, 74.) In the
ipvaded Thrace during the captivity of Lysimachus, dialogue of Plato which bears his name, he is re-nd besieged the town of Sestos, in which Lachares presented as not over-acute in argument, and with
then happened to be; but he once more succeeded temper on a par with his acuteness. His son Me~n making his escape to Lysimachia. (Polyaen. lanopus was one of those whom, being in possession
iii. 7. ~~ 2, 3.) We again hear of him at Cassan- of some prize-money, which was public property,
drea as late as B. C. 279, when he was expelled the law of Timocrates would have shielded. (See
from that city by Apollodorus, on a charge of Dem. c. Tim. p. 740.) [E. E.]
having conspired to betray it into the hands of LACHES, artist. [CHARES, p. 684, a]
Antiochus. (Id. vi. 7. ~ 2.) Hence it appears LA'CHESIS. [MOERAE.]
clear that Pausanias is mistaken when he states LACI'NIA (Aavctla), a surname of Juno, under
that Lachares was murdered soon after his escape which she was worshipped in the neighbourhood of
from Athens, for the sake of the wealth he was Croton, where she had a rich and famous sanctuary.
supposed to have accumulated. (Paus. i. 25. (Strab. vi. p. 261, &c., 281; Liv. xxiv. 3.) The
~ 7.) [E. H. B.] name is derived by some from the Italian hero LaLA'CHARES (aXdpt7s), a rhetorician of cinius, or from the Lacinian promontory on the
Athens, who flourished in the fifth century of our eastern coast of Bruttium, which Thetis was said
era, under the emperors Marcianus and Leo. He to have given to Juno as a present. (Serv. ad
was a disciple of Heracleon, and in his turn he was Aen. iii. 552.) It deserves to be noticed that
the instructor of many eminent men of the time, Hannibal dedicated in the temple of Juno Lacinia
such as Eustephius, Nicolaus, Asterius, Proclus, a bilingual inscription (in Punic and Greek), which
and Superianus. (Suid. s. vv. Aaxcdpls, eovripst- recorded the history of his campaigns, and of which
ayoo; Marinus, Vit. Procl. 11.) He is spoken of Polybius made use in writing the history of the
in terms of very high praise: both by Suidas and Hannibalian war. (Polyb. iii. 33; comp. Liv.
Marinus, as a man of a noble character and an orator xxviii. 46.) [L. S.]
of great popularity in his time. Suiaas mentions LACI'NIUS (Aaclvmos). 1. An Italian hero
several works of his, but all are lost, and scarcely and fabulous robber, by whom Heracles, on his
a single trace of them has come down to us. Their expedition in Italy, is said to have been robbed of
titles are: 1. Hiep1 fcdAov, Kal Ko'j/pa'os, Kial repL- some of the oxen of Geryones, and who was killed,
o'0ou. (Comp. Schol. ad Hermog. in the Rltet. by the hero in consequence. After the place of the
Graec. vol. iii. pp. 719, 721, vol. vii. p. 930.) 2. murder was purified, Heracles built a temple to
ASlahaers, or Disputations. 3.'ITropla Kacavd Hera (Juno), surnamed Lacinia. (Diod. iv. 24;
Kopvogtrov: whether this was an historical or a Serv. ad Aen. iii. 552.)
rhetorical work is uncertain, no historian of the 2. A son of Cyrene and king among the Brut