Gaius Laelius
Gaius Laelius was a Roman general and statesman, and a friend of Scipio Africanus, whom he accompanied on his Iberian campaign (210–206 BC; the Roman Hispania, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) and his African campaign (204–202 BC). His command of the Roman fleet in the attack on New Carthage and command of the Roman cavalry at Zama contributed to Scipio's victories.
Background
According to some Roman historians, including
Polybius suggests that Laelius was a companion of Scipio from their earliest days in the army together, since Laelius was apparently a witness to Scipio's rescue of his father in a skirmish that was probably the Battle of Ticinus in late 218 BC.[1]
Laelius accompanied Scipio on various expeditions from 210 BC to 201 BC but did not begin his political career until after he returned to Rome. This lack of recognition may have been due to his relatively low social status and/or family's lack of wealth and political influence.[2][3] However, given that the name 'Laelius' only begins to appear with the retelling of the Second Punic War, it may be the case that he (and his family, none of whom are mentioned before this time) is even more lowborn than is assumed.[citation needed]
Military career: Laelius in Hispania (210–206 BC)
In the Iberian campaign, lasting from 210 BC to about 206 BC, Laelius was a loyal second-in-command, the only man to whom Scipio confided the entirety of his plans to take Iberia. He commanded the fleet of thirty ships in the
According to Polybius, Laelius then commanded the left wing of the army, attacking
Laelius' role in the decisive
Laelius in Africa (204–202 BC)
In Scipio's consulship year (205 BC), Laelius went with him to his designated province, Sicily, where he conducted an expedition or raid to northern Africa while Scipio was readying his troops and supplies for a full-scale invasion. The purpose of this expedition was to assess the situation in Africa. Both princes having previously been won over, Syphax broke his alliance with Scipio and joined the Carthaginians when he was offered a marriage alliance with Sophonisba, a famous Carthaginian beauty, the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco. Subsequently, Syphax drove his bride's former fiance, Masinissa—who remained loyal to Scipio, having confirmed an alliance with him shortly after the battle of Ilipa—out of his own territories. Masinissa, now effectively a fugitive, came to Laelius during his raid, thought to be in the area of Hippo Regius, to apprise him of his circumstances. Laelius was then able to convey the urgency of the invasion to Scipio.
In about 204 BC, Scipio was ready to invade Africa. After several skirmishes, and a period of contrived truce, the Romans assaulted the allied camp at the battle of Utica in which Scipio and Laelius set fire to the Carthaginian camp.[4] The Romans nevertheless failed to detach Syphax from his marital and political alliance with the Carthaginians; nor was a complete victory possible over the Carthaginian army, with Scipio fearing for his fleet.
Finally, in 203 BC, Laelius defeated Syphax, captured the city of Cirta, and took Syphax alive. He then conducted the captured prince and his son Vermina and some other leading men to Rome.[5]
At Zama (202 BC), Laelius rendered considerable service in command of the cavalry,[6] which was again placed originally on the left wing with Masinissa on the right wing;[7] without the cavalry intervening at a crucial time and falling upon the Carthaginians from the rear, Scipio may well have been defeated.[8]
Political career
Laelius was elected
He was given Gaul as his province, and was employed in organizing the recently conquered territory in Cisalpine Gaul. Placentia and Cremona were repopulated.[6]
Later life
Like other superannuated Roman generals, Laelius later served on embassies to King Perseus of Macedon (174-173 BC) and to Transalpine Gaul (170 BC).[10]
Laelius's wife is not known, but c. 188 BC, he fathered a legitimate son who would become consul in 140 BC - Gaius Laelius Sapiens. His son's relationship with Scipio Aemilianus would, in many ways, mirror Laelius the Elder's own friendship with Scipio Africanus, Laelius the Younger fighting in the Third Punic War as Aemilianus' subordinate, and being his political ally and client as well, as part of the Scipionic Circle.
It was also in 160 BC, when the aged Laelius (probably then in his mid-seventies) met the author Polybius in Rome[11] during his last years, and gave him much first-hand information about Scipio Africanus.[12] Polybius was a client of Scipio's brother-in-law Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (who died suddenly in the same year, 160 BC), and became a friend to both his sons, notably Scipio Aemilianus (Africanus's adoptive grandson).
Laelius appears to have died some years after 160 BC, but his year of death is mentioned by neither Livy nor Polybius.
In popular culture
As a relatively minor figure in Roman history, media does not portray much of Gaius Laelius.
Recently, however, he has had a fairly prominent, albeit largely negative, role in Ross Leckie's Scipio and a minor role (though comparatively large next to the remainder of the Roman cast) in David Anthony Durham's Pride of Carthage. A self-published book Imperator: Italia by Erich 'B' Hartmann, presumably part of a trilogy or series, has Laelius as a second narrator charting events of the Second Punic War while he converses (or recollects) with the first narrator, Polybius, who is collecting materials for his eponymous Histories.
References
- ^ "One of these was Gaius Laelius, who from his youth up to the end had participated in his every word and deed, and who has produced the above impression upon myself, as his account seems both probable on the face of it and in accordance with the actual performances of Scipio.". Polybius. The Histories of Polybius, Book 10, reproduced from The Histories of Polybius published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1922 to 1927. Retrieved 23 April 2007 from Bill Thayer's website [1]
- ^ Livy, Book 23, Periochae.[www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae023.html]
- ^ The Senate in the Second Punic War clearly granted official positions such as tribune, quaestor or higher ranks based on the person's rank and status; a relatively obscure but talented man from a non-senatorial family or from a minor branch of a great family stood virtually no chance of being named to command in a province, or being named or elected a magistrate or tribune. A relatively obscure Roman knight or equestrian named Lucius Marcius Septimus was elected by the survivors in Hispania after the Scipio brothers were killed in 210. The Senate refused to give him formal command, but no Roman general was willing to go to Hispania. Until first Claudius Nero and then Scipio arrived, Lucius Marcius Septimus was responsible for holding the surviving Roman armies together in Hispania. When the young Scipio arrived in Spain, he retained Marcius in his command. However, Marcius may have damaged his own chances of command by signing his initial despatch to the Senate as a 'propraetor' which many saw as presumptuous.
- ^ Polybius. The Histories of Polybius, Book 14 fragment, reproduced from The Histories of Polybius published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1922 to 1927. Retrieved 20 May 2007 from Bill Thayer's website [2]
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 17, published in Vol. II of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1914. Available online at <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/17*.html>. Retrieved 20 May 2007.[3] Cassius Dio states that the Romans gave Syphax an estate at Alba, and "at his death honoured him with a public funeral; and they confirmed Vermina in the possession of his father's kingdom besides bestowing upon him the Numidian captives."
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 62.
- ^ Polybius. The Histories of Polybius, Book 15, reproduced from The Histories of Polybius published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1922 to 1927. Retrieved 23 April 2007 from Bill Thayer's website [4]. See this chapter for a detailed account of the battle.
- ^ Steven James, Zama: The Infantry Battle Revisited, June 2005. Available Online: http://www.akinde.dk/history/index.php?title=Zama:_The_Infantry_Battle_Revisited. Retrieved 20 May 2007
- ^ Michael Akinde. "Scipio_Africanus_:_Princeps_(200_-_190_BCE)". Retrieved 23 April 2007. [5]
- ^ Livy 41. 22. 3, 43. 5. 10
- ^ Laelius, Gaius. (). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 April 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046806 [6]
- ^ Polybius. The Histories of Polybius, Book 10, reproduced from The Histories of Polybius published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1922 to 1927. Retrieved 23 April 2007 from Bill Thayer's website [7]
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Laelius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–63.
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