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

LAEVINUS. LAEVIUS. 711
point Laevinus and the senate were at variance; the' Ambraciots and the Aetolian league generally.
and this is probably the cause why, notwithstand- Fulviusallowed of his mediation, granted the Aming his long services, his name does not appear on braciots and Aetolians unusually favourable terms,
the triumphal Fasti. Laevinus, indeed, did not and sent him with their envoys to Rome, to dispose
refuse to nominate a dictator, but, that he might the senate and the people to ratify the peace. In
protract his own term of office, insisted upon B.C. 179 Laevinus was one of the four praetors
making the nomination after his return to Sicily. appointed under the Lex Baebia (Liv. xl. 44; Fest.
This, however, was contrary to usage, which re- s. v. Rogat.; comp. Meyer. Or. Rom. Fragm. p.
quired the nomination to be made within the limits 62), and obtained Sardinia for his province. In
of Italy. A tribune of the plebs, therefore, brought B. C. 176 Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispallus died sudin a bill, with the concurrence of the senate, to denly, in his year of office, and Laevinus was apcompel Laevinus's obedience to its orders. But he pointed consul in his room. Eager for military
left Rome abruptly, and the nomination was at distinction, Laevinus left Rome only three days
length made by his colleague Marcellus. Laevinus after his election, to take the command of the Licontinued in Sicily as pro-consul throughout B. c. gurian war. He triumphed over the Ligurians in
209. His army consisted of the remains of Varro's B. C. 175. In B. c. 174 he was sent, with four
and Cn. Fulvius Flaccus's legions, which, for their other commissioners, to Delphi, to adjust some new
respective defeats by Hannibal at Cannae in. B. c. dissensions among the Aetolians. In B. c. 173 the
216, and at Herdonea in 212, were sentenced to. senate despatched him to the Macedonian court, to
remain abroad while the war lasted. To these lihe watch the movements of Perseus; and he was
added a numerous force of Sicilians and Numidi- instructed to go round by Alexandreia,.to renew
ans, and a fleet of seventy gallies. His government the alliance of Rome with Ptolemy VI. Philometor.
*was vigilant and prosperous; the island was ex- He returned from Greece in B.c. 172. In B. C.
empt from invasion, and, by the revival of its 169 Laevinus was one of several unsuccessful canagriculture, he was enabled to form magazines at didates for the censorship. (Polyb. xxii. 12. ~ 10,
Catana, and to supply Rome with corn. In B. C. 14. ~ 2; Liv. xxxviii. 9, 10, xl. 44, xli. 25, xlii.
208 Laevinus, still pro-consul, crossed over with a 6, 17, xliii. 14.)
hundred gallies to Africa, ravaged the neighbour- 4. P. VALESRIuS LAEVINUS, son of the prehood of Clupea, and, after repulsing a Punic fleet, ceding, was one of the praetors in B.c. 177, and
returned with his booty to Lilybaeum. In the obtained for his province a part of Cisalpine Gaul.
following year he repeated the expedition with (Liv. xxxi. 50, xli. 8.) [W. B. D.]
equal success. His foragers swept round the walls LAE'VIUS. That a poet bearing this appellaof Utica, and he again defeated a squadron sent to tion ought to be included in a list of the more obh
cut off his retreat. In 206 he conducted the ar- scure Roman writers is generally admitted, but
mament back to Italy, and on the arrival of Mago wherever the name appears in. the received text of
in Liguria in the following year was stationed with an ancient author it will invariably be found that
the two city legions at Arretium in Etruria. Soon some of the MSS. exhibit either Livius, or Laelius,
afterwards he was sent, with four other commis- or Naevius, or Novius, or Pacuvius, or several of
sioners, to Delphi, and to the court of Attalus I. at these, or similar variations. On the other hand, a
Pergamus, to fetch the Idaean mother to Italy. considerable number of fragments quoted by gram[FALTO, VALERIUs, No. 3.1 In 204 he moved in marians from Ennius, Livius (Andronicus), Naethe senate the repayment of the voluntary loan to vius, and the earlier bards, must, as internal
the treasury made in his consulate six years before. evidence clearly proves, belong to a later epoch
In 203, in the debate on the terms to be granted and many of them, it has been supposed, are in
to Carthage, Laevinus moved that the envoys be ieality the property of Laevius; but every circumdismissed unheard, and the war be prosecuted. stance relating to his works and the age when he
His counsel was followed; and it marks Laevinus flourished is involved in such thick darkness that
as belonging to the section of the aristocracy of Vossius (De Poet. Lat. c. viii.) declared himself
which the Scipios were the leaders. At the com- unable to establish any fact connected with his
mencement of the first Macedonian war in 201- history except that he lived. before the reign of
200, Laevilus was once more sent as propraet6r, Charlemagne; while one or two scholars have called
with a fleet and army, to Northern Greece, and his his very existence in question. There are in all
report of Philip's preparations gave a new impulse perhaps only four passages in the classics from
to the exertions of the republic. He died in B. c. Which we can be justified in drawing any con200, and his sons Publius and Marcus honoured clusion. Two are in Aulus Gellius (ii. 24j xix. 9,
his memory with funeral games and gladiatorial comp. 7), one in Apuleius (Apolog. p. 294, ed.
combats, exhibited during four successive days in Elmenhorst), and one in Ausonius (Parecbas. Cent.
the forum. (Polyb. viii. 3. ~ 6, ix. 27.. 2, xxii. Nupt. praef.) From these we may -infer, with
1]2. ~ 11; Liv. xxiii. 24, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, tolerable security, that Laevius flourished during
48, xxiv. 10, ll1, 20, 40, 44, xxv. 3, xxvi. 1, 22, the first half of the century before the Christian
24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 36, 40, xxvii. 5, 7, 9, era, being the contemporary of Hortensius, Mem22, 29, xxviii. 4, 10, 46, xxix. 11, 16, xxx. 23, mius, Cinna, Catullus, Lucretius, and Cicero6- and
xxxi. 3, 5, 50; Flor. ii. 7; Just. xxix. 4; Eutrop. that he was the author of a collection of lyrical
iii. 12; Claud. de Bel. Get. 395.) pieces of a light amatory stamp, styled Eroto3. C. VALERIUS LAEVINUS, son of the pre- paegnia, which were pronounced by critics to be
ceding, was by the mother's side brother of M. deficient in simplicity (implicata), and in no way
Fulvius Nobilior, consul in B. c. 189. Laevinus comparable to the easy flowing graces. (fluentes
accompanied his brother to the siege of Ambracia carminuma deliciae) of the Teian. Muse.
in that year, and the Aetolians, with whom he in- A fragment extending to six lines has been pre.
herited from his father ties of friendship, chose served by Apuleius (I. c.), another of two lines by
him for their patron with the consul in behalf of Gellius (l. c.), and many whlich may- possibly be