The gens Laenia was a minor family at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
during the first century BC. It is remembered chiefly from two individuals, one a friend of
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
, the other of
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
. Both had houses at
Brundisium
Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Histor ...
, suggesting either that the family came from that region, or that the individuals mentioned were closely related.
Members
* Marcus Laenius Strabo, an
eques
Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to:
* Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order
* the Latin word for a knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or ...
at Brundisium, and a friend of Varro. He introduced the
aviary to Roman culture.
[Pliny the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', x. 50. s. 72.]
* Marcus Laenius Flaccus, a friend of
Titus Pomponius Atticus
Titus Pomponius Atticus (November 110 BC – 31 March 32 BC; later named Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus) was a Roman editor, banker, and patron of letters, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with prominent Roman s ...
, who allowed the exiled Cicero to remain at his house near Brundisium in 58 BC, in defiance of the measure of
Publius Clodius Pulcher forbidding it, until the orator could make his way to
Epirus. In 51, Laenius asked Cicero for a sub-prefecture in
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
, where he had lent money at interest. Cicero refused to grant public office to a money-lender, but he recommended Laenius to Publius Silius Nerva,
propraetor of
Bithynia and Pontus, who might be willing to do so.
[Cicero, ''Pro Sestio'', 63; ''Pro Plancio'', 41; ''Epistulae ad Familiares'', xiii. 63, xiv. 4; ''Epistulae ad Atticum'', v. 20, 21, vi. 1, 3.]
Footnotes
See also
List of Roman gentes
References
Bibliography
*
Marcus Terentius Varro, ''Rerum Rusticarum'' (Rural Matters).
*
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, ''De Domo Sua, Pro Plancio,
Epistulae ad Familiares,
Epistulae ad Atticum
''Epistulae ad Atticum'' (Latin for "Letters to Atticus") is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's othe ...
''.
* Gaius Plinius Secundus (
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
), ''
Naturalis Historia'' (Natural History).
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laenia (gens)
Roman gentes