Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/713

Rh LABRANDEUS. enemy of Asinius PoUio, whom he branded in one of his orations as the casnar or parasite of Augus- tus. He is represented by the elder Seneca as very poor, of an infamous character, and universally hated ; but his oratorical talents must have been very great, as Seneca justly remarks, to have ob- tained under these circumstances the remarkable reputation which he enjoyed as an orator. In his speeches he adopted a style of oratory which par- took of the leading characteristics both of the an- cient and modern schools, so that each party could claim him. The history which Labienus wrote was apparently one of his own times ; since the elder Seneca relates, that when he heard him on one occasion reading his history, he passed over a great part, remarking that it could only be read after his death ; but if the work had related merely to past times, he probably would not have feared to have read it. Labienus seems never to have been en- gaged in any plots against Augustus ; but his enemies at length revenged themselves upon him, by obtaining a decree of the senate that all his writings should be burnt. This indignity affected Labienus so much, that, resolving not to survive the productions of his genius, he shut himself up in the tombs of his ancestors, and thus perished. His death probably took place in A. D. 12, as Dion Cassius relates (Ivi. 27) that several libellous works were burnt in that year. Caligula allowed the writings of Labienus, as well as those of Cremutius Cordus and Cassius Severus, which had shared the same fate, to be again collected and read, (Senec. Controv. V. pp. 328 — 330, ed. Bipont. ; Suet. Cal. 16.) We find mention of only three orations of La- bienus: — 1. An oration for Figulus against the heirs of Urbinia: the cause of the latter was pleaded by C. Asinius PoUio. (Quintil. iv. L § 1 1 ; Tac. de Orat. 38.) 2. An oration against Pollio, which may, however, be the same as the preceding, and which was ascribed by some to Cornelius Gallus. (Quintil. i. 5. $ 8.) 3. An oration against Bathyllus, the freedman of Maece- nas, who was defended by Gallio. (Senec. Controv. v. p. 330.) (De Chambort, Dissert, sur T. Labienus, in the Man. de I'' Acad, des Inscript. vol. x. pp. 98 — 110 ; Meyer, Orator. Rom. Fraginenta, pp. 528 — 531, 2nd ed. ; Westermann, Gesch. der Jiomisclien Be- rcdtsamkeit, § 73, n. 3 ; Weichert, de Cassio Par- mensi, pp. 319 — 324 ; comp. Bentley, ad Hot. iSerm. i. 3. 82, who proposes to read Labieno in- stead of Labeone in that passage.) LABO'TAS (Aagwras, Pans.), fourth king of Sparta in the line of Agis, has nothing recorded of his reign except that he saw the commencement of the Spartan quarrel with Argos. (Pans. iii. 2. § 3.) Herodotus says that Lycurgus was his uncle and guardian. The other account, which names the Proclid Charilaus as the name of the young king, is so generally stated by ancient writers [Chari- laus J, that, although Pausanias read the passage in Herodotus as it now stands, Wesseling and Clinton approve the correction, ewirpomvovTa dSe(pi- Seov /xh eoovToO, jBaaiKevovTos 5c STrapTjTjTcwj/ AeuSwreoD. (Herod, i. 65.) A similar difficulty at- taches to the name, which Pausanias says Herodotus spelt AewSoTTjs ; whereas our MSS., it seems, have only A6co§<»T€w and AeuSaTiu. [A. H. C] LABRANDEUS (Aagpaj/Seu'j), a surname of Zeus Stratius, which he derived from a temple he LACHARES. 699 had at Labranda. (Herod, v. 119; Strab. xiv. p. 659 ; Plut. Quaest. Gr. 46.) [L. S.] LABYNE'TUS (Aoguj/rjTos), a name common to several of the Babylonian monarchs. It seems to have been a title rather than a proper name. A Labynetus is mentioned by Herodotus (i. 74) as mediating, in conjunction with a prince of Cilicia, a peace between Cyaxares and Alyattes. From the chronology, it is clear that this Labynetus must have been identical with Nebuchadnezzar. Another Labynetus is mentioned by Herodotus (i. 77) as a contemporary of Cyrus and Croesus, with the latter of whom he was in alliance. This Labynetus is the same with the Belshazzar of the prophet Daniel. By other writers he is called Na- bonadius or Nabonidus. He was the last king of Babylon. [CvRUS.] The mode in which the city was captured by Cyrus is described by Hero- dotus, i. 188. [C.P. M.] LACEDAEMON (Aa»fe5oi>«»'), a son of Zeus by Taygete, was married to Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas, Eurydice, and Asine. He was king of the country which he called after his own name, Lacedaemon, while he gave to his capital the name of his wife, Sparta. (ApoUod. iii. 10. § 3; Paus. iii. 1. § 2, &;c. ; Steph. Byz. s. v. 'AaivT].) He was believed to have built the sanctuary of the Charites, which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have given to those divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. (Paus. iii. 18. $ 4.) An heroum was erected to him in the neighbourhood of Therapne. (Paus. iii. 20. § 2.) [L. S.] LACEDAEMO'NIUS (AaKiSai/uSvios), son of Cimon, so named by his father in honour of the Lacedaemonians, had for his mother, according to Stesimbrotus, an Arcadian ; according to Diodorus Periegetes, Isodice, daughter of Euryptolemus, son of Megacles. Pie was joint commander of the ten ships which the Athenians, after making alliance with the Corcyreans, despatched to assist them, b. c. 432. Plutarch has what seems a foolish story, that this appointment to a quite inadequate squadron was a piece of political spite on the part of Pericles; and that the reinforcement which quickly followed was only sent in consequence of general complaints. (Plut. dm. 16, Per. 29 ; Thuc. i. 45.) [A. H. C] LACE'DAS (AoKTfSos), or, as Herodotus (vi. 1 27) calls him, Leocedes, a king of Argos, and father of Melas, is reckoned to have been a de- scendant of Medon in the fifth generation. (Paus. ii. 19. § 2.) Another person of the same name is Lacedas, the son of Pheidon. Some writers not only identify the two, but try to prove that the Lacydas mentioned by Plutarch (De Cap. ea inim. util. 89.) is likewise the same person. (Comp. Wyttenbach, ad Flut. I. c. ; Schubart and Walz ad Paus. I. c.) [L. S.] LACER, C. JU'LIUS, an architect in the time of Trajan. His name is preserved in an inscription on a bridge which he built over the Tagus at Al- cantara. (Gruter, p. 162.) [P. S.] C. LACE'RIUS, tribune of the plebs, B.C. 401, was elected by the other tribunes (by cooptatio) through the influence of the patricians, who were anxious to set aside the Lex Trebonia. (Liv. v. 10.) LACHARES (Aaxciprjs), an Athenian, was one of the most influential demagogues in his native city, after the democracy had been re-established