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

LEPIDUS. LEPIDUS. 769
The wife of Paullus Aemilius Lepidus was Cor- of any of the enemies of Octavian, describes Lenelia, the daughter of Cornelius Scipio and of pidus as " juvenis forma quam mente melior."
Scribonia, who was subsequently the wife of Au- Lepidus was married twice,: his first wife was
gustus. She was thus the step-daughter of Au- Antonia, the.daughter of the triumvir [ANTONIA,
gustus, and her family became still more closely No. 4], and his second Servilia, who put an end to
connected with the imperial house by the marriage her life by swallowing burning coals when the
of one of her sons, L. Aemilius Paullus [No. 22], conspiracy of her husband was discovered. (Vell.
to a daughter of Julia, who was her half-sister, Pat. ii. 88; Appian, B. C. iv. 50; Dion Cass. liv.
being the daughter of Augustus and Scribonia. 15; Suet. Octav. 19; Liv. Epit. 133; Senec. de
There is an elegy of Propertius (iv. 1I), in which Clemn. 9, De Brev. Vitae, i. 9.)
Cornelia is represented as consoling her husband 21. Q. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, consul B. C. 21 with
Paullus on account of her death. She there speaks M. Lollius.. (Dion Cass. liv. 6; Hor. Ep. i. 20.
of having died in the consulship of her brother (iv. 28.) It appears from an inscription quoted under
11. 65), who is supposed to have been the P. Cor- FABRICIUS [Vol. II. p. 132, b], that he and Lollius
nelius Scipio who was consul in B. C. 16. Thus a repaired the Fabrician bridge. The descent of this
contradiction arises between Velleius Paterculus Lepidus is quite uncertain: the conjecture of Dru(ii.:95) and Dion Cassius (liv. 2) on the one hand, mann (Cesch. Roms, vol. i. p. 24) that he was a
and Propertius on the other, as the two former son of the triumvir is in itself improbable; and we
writers say that Paullus died during his censorship. find besides that he is called in inscriptions M. F.,
Perhaps, however, the brother of Cornelia may not and not M. F.
have been the consul of B. C. 16, but one of the 22. L. AEMILIUS PAULLUS, the son of Paullus
consuls suffecti, not mentioned in the Fasti. Aemilius Lepidus [No. 19] and Cornelia, married
Paullus had by Cornelia three children, two sons Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus, being a
and a daughter [Nos. 22, 23, 24], to all of whom daughter of M. Agrippa and Julia, who was the
Propertius alludes. The daughter was born in the daughter of Augustus. Paullus is therefore called
censorship of her father (Propert. iv. 1 1. 67), and the progener of Augustus. As Julia,. the.daughter
if Paullus really died in his censorship there could of Augustus, was the half-sister of Cornelia [see
have been only a very short interval between his above, No. 19], Paullus married his first cousin.
wife's death and his own. The annexed coin pro- He was consul in A. D. 1 with C. Caesar, his wife's,
bably has reference to this Paullus Aemilius Le- brother, and the grandson of Augustus; but, notpidus: it has on the obverse the head of Concordia withstanding his close connection with the imperial
with PAVLLVS LEPIDVS CONCORDIA, and on the re- family, he nevertheless entered. into a conspiracy
verse a trophy with several figures, and the words against Augustus, of the particulars of which we
TER PAVLLVS. The reverse refers to the victory are not informed. (Propert. iv. 11. 63; Suet. Oct.
of the celebrated L. Aemilius Paullus over Perseus: 19, 64; Dion Cass. Iv. Ind.) Respecting Julia,
on the right hand of the trophy stands Aemilius the wife of Paullus, see JULIA, No. 7.
Paullus himself, and on the left Perseus and his 23. M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, the brother of No.
two sons. Ter may refer to his triumph lasting 22, was consul A. D. 6 with L. Arruntius. (Propert.
three days, or to his having enjoyed three different iv. 11. 63; Dion Cass. Iv. 25.) Instead of con-.
triumphs. (Comp. Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 130, 131.) spiring against Augustus, like his brother, he seems
always to have lived on the most intimate terms
with him. He was employed by Augustus in the
war against the Dalmatians in A. D. 9. (Vell. Pat.
ii. 114, 115; Dion Cass. lvi. 12.) When Augustus
shortly before his death was speakingof the Roman
nobles, whose abilities would qualify them for the
supreme power, or whose ambition would prompt
them to aspire to it, he described Lepidus as " capax
sed aspernans." (Tac. Ann. i. 13.) The high estimaCOIN OF PAULLUS AEMILIUS LEPIDUS. tion in which he was held byAugustus he continued
There is another coin of Paullus Aemilius Le- to enjoy even with the jealous and suspicious Tibepidus, with the same obverse as the one given rius; and although he took no part in the fulsome
above, but with the reverse representing the Scri- flatteries which the senate were continually prebonian puteal, which we find on -the coins of the senting to the emperor, and used his. influence in
Scribonian gens [see LIBo], and with the legend the cause of justice, yet such was his prudence,
PVTEAL SCRIBON. LIRO. This emblem of the that he did not forfeit the favour of Tiberius. The
Scribonia gens was used on account of the wife of praises bestowed upon him by Velleius Paterculus
Paullus being the daughter of Scribonia, who had (I. c.), which would not of themselves be of much
then become the wife of Augustus, as is stated value, as this writer always speaks favourably of
above. the friends of Augustus, are confirmed by the
20. M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, the son of the weightier authority of Tacitus, who bears the
triumvir [No. 17] and Junia, formed a conspiracy strongest testimony to.the virtues and wisdom of
in B. C. 30, for the purpose of assassinating Octa- Lepidus. (Tac. Atn. iv. 20.)
vian on his return to Rome after the battle of The name of M. Lepidus occurs several times in
Actium; but Maecenas, who had charge of the Tacitus, and must be carefully distinguished from
city, became acquainted with the plot, seized that of M'. Lepidus [see No. 25], with-which it is freLepidus, without creating any disturbance, and quently confounded, both in the MSS. and editions
sent him to Octavian in the East, who put him to of the. historian. M. Lepidus is first mentioned in
death. His father was ignorant of the conspiracy, Tacitus at the accession of Tiberius, A. D. 14, next in
but his mother was privy to it. [JUNIA, No. 2.] A. D. 21, when he declined- the proconsulate of
Velleius Paterculus, who never speaks favourably Africa, and also in the debate in the senate in the
VOL. Ix. 3D