No More Learning

(s. vv. Proculiunt, Spurcum, Prox, Sistere fana), Grot. de Vit. Ict. ii. 4. & 8; Ménage, Amoen. Jur.
that Antistius Labeo, the jurist, wrote a treatise, c. 20; Alphen, de Jaroleno, c. 4. § 2. )
containing at least 15 books, de Jure Pontificio, It has been supposed by some that the ignorance
and it is not unlikely that the 68th book, cited by of law manifested by Domitius Labeo in his cele
Macrobius (Saturn. iii
. 10), is one of the books of brated letter, is rather an argument that he was
this treatise. Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 47) not a jurist, and Celsus has been thought unpolite,
tells us that Antistius Labeo left behind him 400 but not hasty, in charging him with folly. But
volumes. The work De Officio Augurum, men- F. Kämmerer ( Beiträge zur Geschichte und Theorie
tioned by Festus (s. v. Remisso), probably formed a des Römischen Rechts, pp. 208–226) has shown
part of the treatise De Jure Pontificio. It cannot that this question may have a deeper meaning than
be doubted that the Labeo cited by Festus (s. o. is commonly supposed. We find from Ulpian
Popuiaria Sacra, Puilia Saxu), by Pliny (H. N. I (Dig. 28. tit. 1. s. 21. & 2), that in wills whero
6.


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LABEO.
695
LABERIUS.
there ought to be testes rogati, one who was acci- LABERIUS DE'CIMUS, a Roman eques, and
dentally present alterius rei causa could not be a a distinguished writer of mimes. He was born
witness. Ulpian qualifies the rule, by saying that about B. c. 107, and died in January 43 (Hieron.
a person, though asked to come for another purpose, in Euseb. Chron. Olymp. 184. 2), at Puteoli, in
might be a witness, if specially informed before the Campania. At Caesar's triumphal games in Oc-
attestation that he was wanted as such. The tober, B. c. 45, P. Syrus, a professional mimus,
question of Domitius Labeo may mean to ask seems to have challenged all his craft to a trial of
whether a person, invited to write the will, and not wit in extemporaneous farce; and Caesar, to whom
specially to witness it, was a good witness, if he Laberius may have been known through his friend
signed without further intimation that his testimony Cn. Matius, himself a mimiannbic poet, offered him
was required.
(J. T. G. ) 500,000 sesterces to appear on the stage. Laberius
LABEO, Q. FA'BIUS, was quaestor urbanus was sixty years old, and the profession of a mimus
in B. c. 196. The augurs and priests had for some was infamous, but the wish of the dictator was
years resisted the payment of the tributum ; but, cquivalent to a command, and he reluctantly com-
after a stout contest, Labeo and his colleague L. plied. Whether, by this somewhat wanton exer-
Aurelius compelled them to yield the point, and cise of power, the usually indulgent Caesar meant
pay up all arrears. (Liv. xxxiii
. 42. ) In B. c. 189 to disgrace Laberius personally, or the equestrian
he was elected praetor, and was appointed by lot order generally, or merely to procure for the spec-
to the command of the fleet. Eager for some op- tators of the games an unusual spectacle, is uncer-
portunity of distinguishing himself, he sailed from tain. Laberius, however, had revenge in his
Ephesus to Crete, where it was reported that a power, and took it. His prologue awakened com-
large number of Roman citizens were in a state of passion, and perhaps indignation : and during the
slavery. None but the Gortynii heeded his demand performance he adroitly availed himself of his
that they should be surrendered ; but from them various characters to point his wit at his oppressor.
he obtained a considerable number (4000 according In the person of a beaten Syrian slave he cried
to Valerius Antias), which afforded him a pretext out, -
for demanding a triumph. He then sent three
Marry! Quirites, but we lose our freedom,
ships to Macedonia, to demand the withdrawment
of the garrisons of Antiochus from Aenus and and all eyes were turned upon the dictator ; and
Maronia. The treaty with Antiochus had just | in another mime he uttered the pregnant maxim
been concluded by Cn. Manlius, and in accordance
with the terms of it Labeo was despatched to
Needs must he fear, who makes all else adread.
Patara, to destroy the ships of the king which Caesar, impartially or vindictively, awarded the
were there. He afterwards got possession of Tel- prize to Syrus, saying to Laberius
missus, and then conducted the fleet back to Italy.
Though I favoured you. , Laberius, Syrus bears
The triumph which he demanded was accorded to
the palm away.
him, notwithstanding the opposition of the tribunes.
(Liv. xxxvii. 47, 50, 60, xxxviii
. 39, 47). In B. c. He returned to him, however, his equestrian ring,
185 he became a candidate for the consulship ; but and permitted him to resume his seat among the
App. Claudius succeeded in getting his brother equites. As Laberius was passing by the senato-
Publius elected in his stead. This was the second rian benches to the equestrian, Cicero called to him,
repulse of the kind which he had received. (Liv. Were we not so crowded here, Laberius, I would
xxxix. 32). In the following year he was appointed make room for you,”-a double allusion to the
one of the triumvirs for planting colonies at Potentia degradation of the histrionic eques and to the num-
and Pisaurum. (Id. 44). In B. C. 183 he was ber of low-born and foreign senators created by
elected consul with M. Claudius Marcellus. Li Caesar. But Laberius parried the hit by replying,
guria was assigned to the consuls as their province. “I marvel, Cicero, you should be crowded, who
(Id. 45. ) He was created pontifex in B. c. 180. (xl. usually sit on two stools," — Cicero being at the
42. ) Cicero (De Off. i. 10) has a story of a trick time unjustly suspected of wavering in his politics.
by which either Labeo, or somebody else, having As Laberius was leaving the stage at the conclu-
been appointed arbitrator between the towns of Nola sion of a mime Syrus said to him,
and Neapolis, respecting some disputed land, obtained
a tract of territory for the Romans. [C. P. M. ]
Whom upon the stage you strove with, from the
benches now applaud.
LA'BEO, POMPOʻNIUS, governor of the pro-
vince of Moesia for eight years, in the reign of In the next mime, Laberius, alluding at once to
Tiberius. The emperor, in a letter to the senate, Syrus' victory, and to Caesar's station, responded
denounced him as guilty of maladministration and in graver tone, —
other offences. Labeo by a voluntary death anti-
cipated the threatened execution. (A. D. 31. ) His
None the first place for ever can retain
wife Paxaea imitated his example. (Tac. Ann. iv.
But, ever as the topmost round you gain,
47, vi. 29 ; Dion Cass. lviii. 24). (C. P. M. ]
Painful your station there and swift your fall.
I fell — the next who wins with equal pain
LA'BEO, TITI'DIUS, a Roman painter, cele-
brated for small panel pictures. He was of prae-
The slippery height, falls too — pride lifts, and
lowers all.
torian rank, and was at one time proconsul of
Gallia Narbonensis, in which office he made him-(Macrob. Sat. ii. 3, 7, vii. 3 ; Cic. ad Fam. vii. 11,
self contemptible. He died at a great age, shortly xi. 18 ; Hor. Sat. i. 10, 6 ; Suet. Caes. 39 ; Sen.
before the time when Pliny the Elder wrote. (Plin. de Ira, ii. 11, Controv. ii. 18 ; comp. Ziegler, de
H. N. XXXV. 4. s. 7. ) The common reading is Mim. Roman. Götting. 1788 ; Fabric. Bibl. Lat.
Ateius Labeo. Jan (Schulzeit. 1833, p. 723) sug- i. 16, 9 3. )
gested Titidius, which is adopted by Sillig, in his If the prologue of Laberius, the longest fragment
edition of Pliny. The MSS. are corrupt. [P. S. ) l of his works (Macrob. Sut. ii. 7), may be taken as
a
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## p. 696 (#712) ############################################

696
LABIENUS.
LABIENUS.
A specimen of his style, he would rank above Te people the right of electing them. It was in con-
rence, and second only to Plautus, in dramatic sequence of this new law that Caesar obtained the
vigour, and Horace's depreciation of him (Sat. i.
dignity of pontifex maximus this year. (Dion
10,6) might stand beside Pope's sneer at Chaucer, Cass. XXxvii. 26, 27, 37; Suet. Caes. 12, 13; Cic.
and “such writing as is never read. ” But there pro Rabir. passim. ) It was likewise no doubt at
is reason to infer that the diction of Laberius Caesar's suggestion, who was anxious to gratify
abounded in unauthorised words (Gell. xvi. 7) and Pompey, that Labienus and his colleague T. Am-
in antitheses and verbal jokes (Sen. Contr. 18), pius Bulbus proposed those honours to Pompey,
allowable in a farce-writer, but beneath the dig- which have been detailed elsewhere. [Vol. I. P.
nity of comedy. He was, however, evidently an 455, a] (Comp. Vell. Pat. ii. 40. )
original thinker, and made great impression on his All these services did not go unrewarded.
contemporaries. (Niebuhr, Lectures on Rom. Hist. When Caesar, after his consulship, went into his
vol. ii. p. 169. ) The fragments of Laberius are province of Transalpine Gaul in B. c. 58, he took
collected by Bothe, Poet. Soen. Lalin. vol. r. pp. Labienus with him as his legatus, and treated him
202—218. A revised text of the prologue has with distinguished favour. We find that Labienus
been published, with a new fragment by Schneide had the title of pro praetore (Caes. B. G. i. 21),
win, in the Rheinisches Museum for 1843, p. which title had doubtless been conferred upon him
632, &c. A writer of verses, named Laberius, is by Caesar's influence, that he might in the absence
mentioned by Martial ( Ep. vi. 14. ) (W. B. D. ) of the proconsul take his place, and discharge his
Q. LABERIUS DURUS, a tribune of the duties. Labienus continued with Caesar during
soldiers in Caesar's army, fell in battle in the a great part of his campaigns in Gaul, and showed
second invasion of Britain, B. C. 54. He is by himself an able and active officer. He was with
mistake called Labienus by Orosius. (Caes. B. G. Caesar throughout the whole of his first campaign
v. 15 ; Oros. vi. 9. )
(B. C. 58). According to Appian (Celt. 3, 15) and
LABE'RIUS MAXIMUS was procurator of Plutarch (Caes. 18), it was Labienus who cut to
Judaea in A. n. 73, 74, the third and fourth years pieces the Tigurini ; but Caesar ascribes the merit
of Vespasian's reign. After the destruction of this to himself (B. G. i. 12); and as he never
Jerusalem the emperor sent Laberius orders to manifests a disposition to appropriate to himself
offer for sale all the lands in Judaea. (Joseph. Bell. the exploits of his officers, his authority ought to
Jud. vii. 6, § 6. ) A Laberius Maximus, whether be preferred to that of the former writers. He
the same is uncertain, was banished by Trajan on speaks, moreover, of the services of Labienus in
suspicion of aspiring to the purple (Spartian. Ha- this campaign ; and after the conquest of the
driun. 5); and a person of the same name is men- Helvetii and the Germans we find him leaving
tioned by Martial (Ep. vi. 14) and by Pliny (Ep. Labienus in command of the troops in their
x. 16).
(W. B. D. ] winter-quarters, while he himself went into Cis-
LABIE'NUS, the name of a Roman family, alpine Gaul to discharge his civil duties in this
which does not occur in history till the last cen- province. (Caes. B. G. i. 10, 22, 54. )
tury of the republic. Most modern writers say As we have no further mention of Labienus in
that Labienus was a cognomen of the Atia gens, Gaul for the next three years, it is probable that
but there is no authority for this in any ancient he quitted the army when Caesar returned to in
author. The name was first assigned to this gens after the winter of B. c. 58. His absence was sup-
by P. Manutius, but apparently on conjecture ; plied by P. Crassus, the son of the triumvir; but
and although Spanheim (De Praest. et Usu Numism. when the latter left Gaul, in B. c. 54, in order to
vol. ii. pp. 11, 12) pointed out that there was no join his father in the fatal expedition against the
authority for this, the error has been continued Parthians, Caesar may perhaps have sent for La-
down to the present day, as, for instance, in bienus, or the prospect of honour and rewards may
Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum.
have again attracted him to the camp of his patron.
1. Q. LABIENUS, the uncle of T. Labienus However this may be, we find Labienus again in
(No. 2], joined Saturninus when he seized the Gaul in B. c. 54, in the winter of which year be
capitoi in B. c. 100, and perished along with the was stationed with a legion among the Remi, on
other conspirators on that occasion. It was under the confines of the Treviri. Here he defeated the
the pretence of avenging his death that his nephew latter people, who had come under the command of
accused Rabirius of the crime of perduellio. (Cic. Induciomarus, to attack his camp, and their leader
pro Rubir. 5, 7. )
fell in the battle. Still later in the winter La-
2. T. Labienus was tribune of the plebs in B. c. bienus gained another great battle over the Treviri,
63, the year of Cicero's consulship; and, under and reduced the people to submission. (Caes.
pretence of avenging his uncle's death, as is men- B. G. v. 24, 53—58, vi 7, 8; Dion Cass. xl. 11,
tioned above, he accused Rabirius of perduellio. The 31. )
real reason, however, of his undertaking this ac- In the great campaign against Vercingetorix in
cusation was to please Julius Caesar, whose motives B. c. 52, which was the most arduous but at the
for bringing the aged Rabirius to trial have been same time the most brilliant of all Caesar's cam-
mentioned elsewhere. (Caesar, p. 541. ) Ra-paigns in Gaul, Labienus played a distinguished
birius was defended by Cicero, who was then ex- part. He was sent by Caesar with four legions
erting himself to please the senatorial party, and against the Senones and Parisii, and took up his
who consequently speaks of the tribune with great head-quarters at Agendicum. From this place he
contempt, and heaps upon him no measured terms marched against Lutetia, which was burnt at his
of abuse. Being entirely devoted to Caesar's in- approach ; and in his subsequent retreat to Agen-
terests, Labienus introduced and carried a ple- dicum, which was rendered necessary by the revolt
biscitum, repealing the enactment of Sulla, which of the Aedui and the rising of the Bellovaci, his
gave the college of pontiffs the power of electing conduct is greatly praised by Caesar. He sub
its members by co-optation, and restoring to the sequently reached Agendicum in safety, after


## p. 697 (#713) ############################################

LABIENUS.
697
LABIENUS.
gnining a complete victory over Camulogenus, who 11, 12, 13, en b. 15, 16, ad Fan. . xiv. 14, xvi.
commanded the enemy. During the winter of this 12. )
year he was left in command of the troops, while In the following year (B. C. 48) Labienas tok
Caesar repaired, according to his usual cristom, to an active part as one of Pompey's legates in the
Cisalpine Gaul; and finding that Commius, the campaign in Greece. Here he distinguished himself,
Atrebatian, was endeavouring to excite a new re- like many others of Pompey's officers, by his cruelty
volt in Gaul, he made an ineffectual attempt to and overweening confidence ; though we ought
remove him by assassination. During the two perhaps to make some deduction from the un-
following years, which preceded the breaking out favourable terms in which he is spoken of by
of the civil war, Labienus continued to hold the Caesar. Appian, however, relates (B. C. ii. 62),
chief command in the army, next to Caesar him that it was through the advice of Labienus that
self. In B. c. 51 Caesar sent him into Gallia Pompey did not follow up the success which he
Tognth, or Cisalpine Gaul, to defend the Roman had gained at Dyrrhachium, by forcing Caesar's
colonies, lest the barbarians should make any camp, which he might easily have done, and thus
sudden attack upon them; and on his return into have brought the war to a close. And the act of
Transalpine Gaul, he was again despatched against cruelty committed by Labienus after this batilo
the Treviri, whom he had conquered three years was of so public a nature, that Caesar would not
before, and whom he agnin subdued without any have ventured to record it unless it had been ac-
difficulty. So much contidence did Caesar place in tually committed. He is related to have obtained
Labienus, that when he returned into Transalpine from Pompey all Caesar's soldiers who had been
Gaul in B. c. 50, he left Labienus in command of taken prisoners in the battle, to have paraded them
Cisalpine Gaul, that the latter might in his absence before the Pompeian army, and, after taunting
still further win over the Roman citizens in his them as his “ fellow-soldiers," and upbraiding them
province to support Caesar in his attempts to gain by asking " whether veteran soldiers were accus-
the consulship for the year following. (Caes. B. G. tomed to fly," to have put them to death in the
vii. 57–62, viii. 23, 24, 25, 45, 52 ; Dion Cass. presence of the assembled troops. In the council
xl. 38, 43. )
of war held before the fatal battle of Pharsalia, he
But Caesar's confidence was misplaced. The expressed the utmost contempt for Caesar's army,
great success which Labienus had gained under and thus contributed his share to increase that
Caesar, and which was rather due to Caesar's false confidence, which was one of the main causes
genius than to his own abilities, had greatly elated of the disastrous issue of the battle. (Caes. B. C.
his little mind, and made him fancy himself the iii. 13, 19, 71, 87. )
equal of his great general, whom he was no longer After the defeat at Pharsalia Labienus fled to
disposed to obey as heretofore. (Comp. Dion Cass.