Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 50 BC)
Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (flourished 1st century BC) was the brother of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and son to an elder Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. His mother may have been a daughter of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus.
Paullus supported Cicero during the Catiline Conspiracy and never supported Pompey. Paullus was quaestor in 59 BC, aedile in 55, praetor in 53 and consul in 50.
During Paullus' consulship, Julius Caesar bribed him for his support. He reconstructed the Basilica Aemilia in Rome, with part of his bribery money.
According to Valerius Maximus: "When the senate decreed that the temples of Isis and Serapis be demolished and none of the workmen dared touch them, consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus took off his official gown, seized an axe, and dashed it against the doors of that temple", (I, 3.3; quoting Julius Paris (translation from Loeb edition).
Paullus opposed the second triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony and Paullus' own brother, Marcus Lepidus. He supported Cicero in condemning its members. The triumvirs included him in their proscriptions. However, according to Cassius Dio, his brother allowed him to escape.[1] Lepidus' soldiers left him unhindered. Paullus joined the political rebel Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. When Brutus died in 42, Paullus was pardoned and lived his remaining years at Miletus.
Paullus' son, Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus, was consul in 34 BC, and in 22 he shared the office of censor with Augustus.
References
- ^ Weigel, Richard D., Lepidus: the Tarnished Triumvir, Routledge, 2002, preface.