Laelia (fl. 2nd c. BCE)

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Laelia (fl. 2nd c. bce)

Roman orator. Name variations: (nickname) "Sapiens" (the Wise). Flourished in the 2nd century bce; eldest of two daughters of Gaius Laelius (a Roman orator who was a Roman consul in 140 bce).

Roman writer Quintilian (1st century ce) writes that Laelia was the elder of two daughters of Gaius Laelius, a Roman orator, and that she was nicknamed "Sapiens" (the Wise), since she had inherited the powers of her father. The purity of her Latin was admired by Cicero.