GAIUS LAELIUS, general and statesman, was a friend of the elder Scipio, whom he accompanied on his Spanish campaign (210-2o6 B.c.). In Scipio's consulship (205), Laelius went with him to Sicily, whence he conducted an expedition to Africa. In 203 he defeated the Massaesylian prince Syphax, who, breaking his alliance with Scipio, had joined the Carthaginians, and at Zama (202) was in command of the cavalry. In 197 he was plebeian aedile and in 196 praetor of Sicily. As consul in 190 he was employed in organizing the recently conquered territory in Cisalpine Gaul. Placentia and Cremona were repeopled, and a new colony founded at Bononia. He is last heard of in i7o as ambassa dor to Transalpine Gaul. Silius Italicus (Punka, xv. 450) de scribes him as a man of great endowments and an eloquent orator.
His son, GAIUS LAELIUS, is known chiefly as the friend of the younger Scipio, and as one of the speakers in Cicero's De senec tute, De amicitia (or Laelius) and De Republica. He was sur named Sapiens ("the wise"), either from his scholarly tastes or because, when tribune, he withdrew his proposal (I 51 B.c.) for the
relief of the farmers by distributions of land, when he saw that it was likely to bring about disturbances. In the third Punic War (147) he accompanied Scipio to Africa, and distinguished himself at the capture of the Cothon, the military harbour of Carthage. In 145 he carried on operations with moderate success against Viriathus in Spain; in 140 he was elected consul. During the Gracchan period he supported Scipio and the aristocrats. He assisted to prosecute the supporters of Tiberius Gracchus, and in 131 opposed the bill brought forward by C. Papirius Carbo to render legal the election of a tribune to a second year of office. A member of the "Scipionic circle," he was a student of philosophy and a poet, and was one of those mainly instrumental in introducing Greek culture to Rome. As an orator, he was more at home in the Senate than in the forum.