Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/737

Rh LASTHENES. LARS TOLU'MNIUS, [Tolumnius.] LA'RTIA GENS, patrician, distinguished at the beginning of the republic through two of its members, T. Lartius, the first dictator, and Sp. Lartius, the companion of Horatius on the wooden bridge. The name soon after disappears entirely from the annals. The Lartii were of Etruscan origin, as their name clearly shows. The Etruscan word Lars means Lord, with which it is perhaps etymo- logically connected. It is spelt on Etruscan sepul- chral inscriptions either Larth, Lart, Laris, or else Laree (Miiller, Etrusc. vol. i. pp. 408, 409). Hence the various ways of spelling the name. Livy has it always Lartius, Dionysius has AdpKios and Aapyws ; all three spellings occur on Latin inscriptions (comp. Index Rom. of Gruter's The- saurus Inscr.). The Lartii, according to Dionysius, bore the surname Flavus. [W. I.] LA'RTI US LICI'NIUS, a contemporary of the elder Pliny, was praetor in Spain, and subsequently the governor (lei/aius) of one of the imperial pro- vinces. He died before Pliny. (Plin. //. iV. xix. 2. s. 11, xxxi. 2. s. 18.) This must be the same person as the Largius Licinius, spoken of by the younger Pliny {Ep. ii. 14, iii. 5),' who says that his uncle, when he was in Spain, could have sold his common place-book (Eleciorum Commentatii) to Licinius, for 400,000 sesterces. If an inscrip- tion in Gruter (p. 180) be genuine, Lartius must be the correct form of the name. LARVAE. [Lemures.] LARUNDA, or LARA, a daughter of Almon, was a nymph who denounced to Juno that there was some connexion between Jupiter and Juturna ; hence her name is connected with ae7u. Jupiter punished her by depriving her of her tongue, and condemning her to be conducted into the lower world by Mercury ; but on the way thither Mer- cury fell in love with her, and afterwards she gave birth to two Lares. (Ov, Fast ii. 599, &c. ; Auson. Monosijll. de Diis, 9.) Hartung {Die Relig. der Rom. ii. p. 204) infers frt^n Lactantius (i. 20) that Larunda is identical with Muta and Tacita. [L. S.] LARYMNA (Aopu/xi/a), a daughter of Cynus, from whom the Boeotian town of Lary is said to have derived its name. (Pans. vi. 21. § 7.) [L, S.] LA'SCARIS, THEODO'RUS. [Theodorus.] LASSUS. [Lasus.] LASTHENEIA (Aao-fleVeta), a native of Man- tineia, in Arcadia, mentioned by lamblichus ( Vit. Pyth. 36) as a folk)wer of Pythagoras. Diogenes Laertius (iii. 46, iv. 2), on the other hand, speaks of her as a disciple of the Platonic philosophy, which is confirmed by other authorities. (Clemens Alex. Strom, iv. p. 619 ; Athen. xii. p. 546, vii. p. 279.) [C. P. M.] LA'STHENES {AaaOef-ns). 1. An Olynthian, who, together with Euthycrates, is accused by Demosthenes of having betrayed his country to Philip of Macedon, by whom he had been bribed. It appears that he was appointed to command the cavalry belonging to Olynthus in B.C. 348, when Philip directed his arms against the city ; but availed himself of the opportunity to betray into the hands of the king a body of 500 horse, which were made prisoners without resistance. After the full of Olynthus, Philip naturally treated with neg- lect the traitors, of whom he had no longer any need ; but it seems to have been erroneously in- ferred from an expression of Demosthenes, that they were positively ill treated, or even put tp LASUS. 723 death, by that monarch. An anecdote related by Plutarch shows that Lasthenes was resident at the court of Philip at a subsequent period. (Dem. de Chers. p. 99, Philipp. iii. p. 128, De Cor. p. 241, De Fals. Legg. pp. 425, 426, 451 ; Diod. xvi. 53 ; Plut. A'popldh. ■^.Vl'6. See also Thirl vvalPs (Greece vol. V. p. 315.) 2. A Cretan, who furnished Demetrius Nicator with the body of mercenaries with which he landed in Syria to wrest that kingdom from the hands of the usurper Alexander Balas. It appears that Lasthenes himself accompanied the young prince ; and when Demetrius was established on the throne was appointed by him his chief minister, and the supreme direction of all affairs placed in his hands. Hence the blame of the arbitrarj'- and tyrannical conduct by which Demetrius speedily alienated the affections of his subjects is imputed in great mea- sure to the minister. It was Lasthenes also who, by persuading the king to disband the greater part of his troops, and retain only a body of Cretan mercenaries, lost him the attachment of the army, and thus unintentionally paved the way for his overthrow by Tryphon. (Joseph, xiii. 4. §§ 3, 9 ; 1 Mace. xi. ; Diod. Exc. Vales, xxxiii. p. 593, and Vales, ad loc ) 3. A Cretan who took a prominent part in urging his countrymen to resist the attack of M. Antonius in b. c. 70. On this account, when the Cretans, after the defeat of Antonius, sent an em- bassy to Rome to excuse their past conduct, and sue for peace, one of the conditions imposed by the senate was the surrender of Lasthenes and Panares, as the authors of their offence. (Diod. Ere. Legat. xl. pp. 631, 632 ; Appian, Sic. 6 ; Dion Cass. Fragm. 177.) These terms were rejected by the Cretans ; and in the war that followed against Q. Metellus (b. c. 68) Lasthenes wa^ one of the prin- cipal leaders. Together with Panares, he assembled an ai-my of 24,000 men, with which they main- tained the contest against the Roman army for near three years : the excellence of the Cretans as archers, and their great personal activity, giving them many advantages in desultory warfare. At length, however, Lasthenes was defeated by Me- tellus near Cydonia, and fled for refuge to Cnossus, where, finding himself closely pressed by the Roman general, he is said to have set fire to his own house, and consumed it with all his valuables. After this he made his escape from the city, and took refuge in Lyttus, but was ultimately compelled to surrender, stipulating only that his life should be spared. Metellus intended to retain both Las- thenes and Panares as prisoners, to adorn his tri- umph, but was compelled to give them up by Pompey, under whose protection the Cretans had placed themselves. (Diod. /. c. ; Appian, Sic. 6. §§1,2; Phlegon, ap. PJiot. p. 84, a ; Dion Cass, xxxvi. 2 ; Veil. Pat ii. 34.) [E. H. B.] LASUS (Actcroy), one of the principal Greek lyric poets, was a native of Hermione, in Argolis, and tlie son of Chabrinus or (according to Schnei- dewin's emendation) Charminus. He is celebrated as the founder of the Athenian school of dithj'- rambic poetry, and as the teacher of Pindar. He was contemporary with Simonides (Aristoph. Vesp. 1410, and Schol.), like whom, and other great poets of the time, he lived at Athens, under the patronage of Hipparchus. Herodotus mentions his detection of Onomacritus in a forgery of oracles under the name of Musaeus, in consequence of which Hip- 3 A 2