Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/726

Rh 712 LAIPPUS. long to the same or different works have been brought together by Weichert, whose assumptions are, however, in some instances, in the highest de- gree arbitrary and fanciful. (Weichert, Poetarum Latinorum Reliquiae, 8vo. Lips. 1830; Wiilhier, De Laevio Poeta, 4to. Rocklingh. 1830.) [W. R.] LAEVUS, CrSPIUS, a friend and legatus of L. Munatius Plancus, and the bearer of confidential letters from him while praefect of Transalpine Gaul, in b. c. 44, to Cicero at Rome. (Cic. ad Fain. X. 18, 21.) From Livy (v. 35, xxxiii. 37) Laevus appears to have been original Iv a Lii^irian name. [W. B. D.] T. LAFRE'NIUS, the name of one of the leaders of the allies in the Marsic war, B, c. 90. He is called by other writers Afranius. [Afranius, No. 8.] ^ ' LA'GIUS (Adyios), belonged to the Roman party among the Achaeans, and was one of those whom Metellus sent to Diaeus to offer peace, in B.C. 146. For this, Diaeus threw him and his colleagues into prison ; but he afterwards released them for a sum of money, especially as the people of Corinth were sufficiently exasperated already by the cruel execution of Sosicrates, the lieutenant- general. (Pol. xl. 4, 5.) [E. E.] LAGUS (Adyos). 1. The father, or reputed father, of Ptolemy, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy. He married Arsinoe, a concubine of Philip of Macedon, who was said to have been pregnant at the time of their marriage, on which account the Macedonians generally looked upon Ptolemy as in reality the son of Philip. (Pans. i. 6. § 2 ; Curt. ix. 8 ; Suidas. s. v. Adyos.) From an anecdote recorded by Plutarch {De cohib. Ira., 9, p. 458), it is clear that Lagus was a man of ob- scure birth ; hence, when Theocritus {Idyll, xvii. 26) calls Ptolemy a descendant of Hercules, he probably means to represent him as the son of Philip. Lagus appears to have subsequently mar- ried Antigone, niece of Antipater, by whom he became the father of Berenice, afterwards the wife of her step-brother Ptolemy. (Schol. ad Theocr. /(/.xvii. 34, 61.) 2. A son of Ptolemy I. by the celebrated Athenian courtezan Thais. (Athen. xiii. p. 576, e.) [E. H. B.J LAGON, a beautiful youth beloved by Brutus. He was a frequent subject of artistic representa- tion. (Mart. ix. 51, xiv. 171 ; Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8.) [CP.M.] LA'GORAS (Ao7opos), a Cretan soldier of for- tune, who, when in the service of Ptolemy IV. (Philopator), was sent by Nicolaus, Ptolemy's general, to occupy the passes of Mount Libanus at Berytus, and to check there the advance of An- tiochus the Great, who was marching upon Ptole- mai's, B. c. 219. He was, however, defeated and dislodged from his position by the Syrian king. In B. c. 215, in the war of Antiochus against Achaeus, we find Lagoras in the service of the former ; and it was through his discovery of an unguarded part of the wall of Sardis, that Antiochus was enabled to take the city, Lagoras being him- self one of the select party who forced their way into the town over the portion of the wall in ques- tion. (Pol. V. 61, vii. 15—18.) [E. E.J LAIAS (Aataj), a son of Oxylus and Pieria, king of Elis. (Pans. v. 4. § 2, &c ; comp. Aeto- LU8, No. 2.) [L. S.J LAIPPUS. [Daippus.] LAIS. LAIS (Acts), a name borne by more than one Grecian Hetaera. Two were celebrated ; but, as the ancient writers in their accounts and anecdotes respecting them seldom indicate which they refer to, and where they do draw the distinction, fre- quently speak of the one, while what they say of her is manifestly applicable only to the other, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to decide how to apportion the numerous notices respecting them which have come down to us. Jacobs, who has bestowed some attention on this subject, distin- guishes the two following : — 1. The elder Lais, a native probably of Corinth. Athenaeus (xiii. p. 588) saj'^s that she was bom at Hyccara, in Sicily, but he has probably confounded her with her younger namesake, the daughter of Timandra (Athen. xii, p. 535, c. xiii. p. 574, e.) ; for Timandra, as we know from Plutarch {Alcih. 39), was a native of Hyccara. The elder Lais lived in the time of the Peloponnesian war, and was celebrated as the most beautiful woman of her age. Her figure was especially admired. (Athen. xiii. p. 587, d. 588, e.) She was notorious also for her avarice and caprice. (Athen. xiii. p. 570, c. 588, c. 585, d.) Amongst her numerous lovers she num- bered the philosopher Aristippus. (Athen. xii. 544, xiii. 588), two of whose works were entitled IIpos Aa'tSa, and Tlpbs AatSo irepi rod Karoinpov. ( Diog. Laert. ii. 84). She fell in love with and offered her hand to Eubotas, of Cyrene [Eubotas], who, after his victory at Olympia, fulfilled his promise of taking her with him to Cyrene, in word only — he took with him her portrait. ( Aelian, V. //. x. 2 ; Clemens Aqx. Strom, iii. p. 447, c.) In her old age she became addicted to drinking. Of her death various stories were told. (Athen. xiii. p. 570, b. d. 587, e. ; Phot. cod. cxc. p. 146, 23, ed. Bekker.) She died at Corinth, where a monument (a lioness tearing a ram) was erected to her, in the cypress grove called the Kpdv^iov. (Paus. ii. 2. § 4 ; Athen. xiii. p. 589, c.) Numerous anecdotes of her were current, but they are not worth relating here. (Athen, xiii. p. 582 ; Auson. Epig. 17.) Lais presenting her looking-glass to Aphrodite was a frequent subject of epigrams. (Brunck. Anal. i. p. 170, 7, ii. p. 494, 5 ; Anthol. Pal. vi. 1, 19.) Her fame was still fresh at Corinth in the time of Pausanias (ii. 2. § 5), and ov Kopivdos oUre Aais became a proverb. (Athen. iv. p. 1 37, d.) 2. The younger Lais was the daughter of Timandra (see above), who is sportively called Damasandra in Athenaeus (xiii. p. 574, e.). Lais was probably bom at Hyccara in Sicily. Accord- ing to some accounts she was brought to Corinth when seven years old, having been taken prisoner in the Athenian expedition to Sicily, and bought by a Corinthian. (Plut. /. c. ; Paus. ii. 2. § 5 ; Schol. ad Aristoph. Plut. 179 ; Athen. xiii. p. 589.) This story however, which involves numerous difficulties, is rejected by Jacobs, who attributes it to a confusion between this Lais and the elder one of the same name. The story of Apelles having induced her to enter upon the life of a courtexan must have reference to the younger Lais. (Athen. xiii. p. 588.) She was a contemporary and rival of Phryne. (Athen. p. 588, e.) She became enamoured of a Thessalian named Hippolochus, or Ilippostratus, and accompanied him to Thessaly. Here, it is said, some Thessalian women, jealous of her beauty, enticed her into a temple of Aphro- dite, and there stoned her to death. (Pans. ii. 2.