Lælaps, one of Actæon’s dogs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.——The dog of Cephalus, given him by Procis. See: [Lelaps], &c. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7.
Lælia, a vestal virgin.
Læliānus, a general, proclaimed emperor in Gaul by his soldiers, A.D. 268, after the death of Gallienus. His triumph was short; he was conquered and put to death after a few months’ reign by another general called Posthumus, who aspired to the imperial purple as well as himself.
Caius Lælius, a Roman consul, A.U.C. 614, surnamed Sapiens, so intimate with Africanus the younger, that Cicero represents him in his treatise De Amicitiâ, as explaining the real nature of friendship, with its attendant pleasures. He made war with success against Viriathus. It is said that he assisted Terence in the composition of his comedies. His modesty, humanity, and the manner in which he patronized letters, are as celebrated as his greatness of mind and integrity in the character of a statesman. Cicero, On Oratory.——Another consul, who accompanied Scipio Africanus the elder in his campaigns in Spain and Africa.——Archelaus, a famous grammarian. Suetonius.
Læna and Leæna, the mistress of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Being tortured because she refused to discover the conspirators, she bit off her tongue, totally to frustrate the violent efforts of her executioners.——A man who was acquainted with the conspiracy formed against Cæsar.
Lænas, a surname of the Popilii at Rome.
Læneus, a river of Crete, where Jupiter brought the ravished Europa. Strabo.
Læpa Magna, a town of Spain. Mela, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Laertes, a king of Ithaca, son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa, who married Anticlea the daughter of Autolycus. Anticlea was pregnant by Sisyphus when she married Laertes, and eight months after her union with the king of Ithaca, she brought forth a son called Ulysses. See: [Anticlea]. Ulysses was treated with paternal care by Laertes, though not really his son, and Laertes ceded to him his crown and retired into the country where he spent his time in gardening. He was found in this mean employment by his son at his return from the Trojan war, after 20 years’ absence, and Ulysses, at the sight of his father, whose dress and old age declared his sorrow, long hesitated whether he should suddenly introduce himself as his son, or whether he should, as a stranger, gradually awaken the paternal feelings of Laertes, who had believed that his son was no more. This last measure was preferred, and when Laertes had burst into tears at the mention which was made of his son, Ulysses threw himself on his neck, exclaiming, “O father, I am he for whom you weep.” This welcome declaration was followed by a recital of all the hardships which Ulysses had suffered, and immediately after the father and son repaired to the palace of Penelope the wife of Ulysses, whence all the suitors who daily importuned the princess were forcibly removed. Laertes was one of the Argonauts, according to Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9. Homer, Odyssey, bks. 11 & 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 32; Heroides, poem 1, li. 98.——A city of Cilicia, which gave birth to Diogenes, surnamed Laërtius from the place of his birth.
Laërtius Diogenes, a writer born at Laertes. See: [Diogenes].