Law, the 25th of March, being the annunciation of the Holy Virgin.

Laerne, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of East Flanders, and arrondissement of Oudenaarde, containing 530 houses, and 3800 inhabitants.

Laelius Sapiens, C., was the son of C. Laelius Nepos, and distinguished by his love of philosophy in an age when war still continued to be regarded as the only employment worthy of a Roman. He was the pupil of Diogenes the stoic, and afterwards of Panatus. (Cic. Fin. ii. 8.) He was the intimate friend and companion of Scipio Africanus the younger, and attended him in his expedition into Africa when he took Carthage, n. c. 146. (Appian. Pun. 126.) He was then employed as prator in Lusitania, where he obtained considerable advantages over Viriathus. (Cic. Off. ii. 11.) He was elected consul along with Servilius Cepio (n. c. 140); but notwithstanding the able manner in which he discharged the du- ties of the office, he did not succeed in being re-elected, a circumstance which Cicero laments in most feeling language. (Tusc. v. 19.) Laelius spent much of his time in the country, devoting himself partly to rural occupations, and partly to study. The mildness of his disposition, and the equanimity of his temper, are noticed by Horace, when he speaks of mitis sapientia Laelii. (Sat. ii. 1.) He was the intimate friend of Pacuvius and Terence; and it is said that he and Scipio assisted the latter in the composition of some of his plays. It was no doubt his friendship with Scipio that induced Cicero to place the name of Laelius at the head of his beautiful essay on Friendship. The interlocutors are Laelius himself; and his two sons-in-law, C. Fannius and Q. Mucius Scaevola.

LÆNA, in Antiquity, was a gown worn by the Roman augurs, and peculiar to their office. In this gown they covered their heads when they made their observation on the flight of birds, and other omens.

LESTRYGONES, the most ancient inhabitants of Sicily. Some suppose them to be the same as the people of Leuctria, and to have been neighbours to the Cyclops. They fed on human flesh; and when Ulysses landed on their coasts, they sunk his ships and devoured his companions. According to Homer's description, they were of a gigantic stature. A colony of them is supposed to have passed over into Italy with Lamus at their head, where they built the town of Formiae; and hence the epithet of Lestrygonia is often used for that of Formiana.

LÆVIUS, a Latin poet, whose age is unknown, but who probably lived before the age of Cicero. A poem of his, entitled Erotopomia, or Love-Games, is quoted by Aulus Gellius. Apuleius also quotes six lines from the same poet, but he does not state from what work he borrowed them. Laevius had also composed a poem entitled the Centaurs, which Festus quotes under the title of Pertrum.