GAIUS LAELIUS THE YOUNGER (147 BC)

Roman soldier and politician known chiefly as an orator and a friend of the famous general Scipio Aemilianus.

Laelius appears as one of the speakers in Cicero´s De senectute (Concerning Old Age), De amicitia (Concerning Friendship, also called Laelius) and De re publica (Concerning the Republic).

In 147 Laelius accompanied Scipio Aemilianus during the siege of Carthage and distinguished himself in the capture of the city´s military harbour.

Two years later he was a praetor in Spain and in 140 he became a consul.

Laelius helped prosecute the supporters of the agrarian reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune in 133) and in 131 he opposed Gaius Papirius Carbo´s bill to legalize the re-election of tribunes.

A member of the highly cultured Scipionic circle he was a poet and a student of philosophy who sought to blend the better elements of Greek and Roman life.