Publius Aelius Paetus
{{short description|2nd-century BC Roman consul}}
Publius Aelius Paetus (fl. c. 240 BC – 174 BC) was a Roman consul of the late 3rd century BC. He was a prominent supporter of Scipio Africanus, and was elected censor with Africanus in 199.T. Robert S. Broughton: The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Vol. 1: 509 B.C. - 100 B.C.. Cleveland / Ohio: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1951. Reprint 1968. (Philological Monographs. Edited by the American Philological Association. Vol. 15, 1), p. 327
Family
Publius Aelius Paetus was apparently the elder surviving son of Quintus Aelius Paetus, a praetor who was killed at Cannae in August 216 BC. The father may have been descended from Publius Aelius Paetus, who was consul in 337 BC and a Master of the Horse, and as such, one of the earliest plebeian consuls; another ancestor may have been Gaius Aelius Paetus, consul in 286 BC.
His younger brother was Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus who became consul in 198 and censor in 194, and is best known to us via Cicero as a jurist and commentator on the Twelve Tables.
Political life
Aelius Paetus makes relatively few appearances in Livy's History of Rome. He was aedile in 204 BC,Livy, Ab urbe condita, XXIX, 38 was elected praetor in 203 BCLivy, Ab urbe condita, XXX, 1 and then selected as Master of the Horse,Livy, Ab urbe condita, XXX, 39 and became consul in 201 with Gnaeus Cornelius L.f. Lentulus.Livy Ab urbe condita XXX 40,5; see also Fasti Capitolini: P.Ail[ius Q. f. P. n. Paitus]
In his year as consul, he made a treaty with the Ingauni Ligures and was appointed one of the ten decemvirs for the distribution of lands of the ager publicus among the veteran soldiers of Scipio Africanus in Samnium and Apulia.Livy, Ab urbe condita, XXXI, 4T. Robert S. Broughton: The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Vol. 1: 509 B.C. - 100 B.C.. Cleveland / Ohio: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1951. Reprint 1968. (Philological Monographs. Edited by the American Philological Association. Vol. 15, 1), p. 319-319-323
In 199 he was elected censor with Africanus himself. The two censors were relatively liberal in their lustrum and degraded none.Livy, Ab urbe condita, XXXII, 7
Paetus died in 174 during a pestilence at Rome, as recorded by Livy in a fragmentary chapter.Livy, Ab urbe condita, XLI 21,8
His son was Quintus Aelius Paetus, who became consul in 167.
References
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{{s-bef|before=Marcus Servilius Pulex Geminus|before2=Tiberius Claudius Nero}}
{{s-ttl|title=Roman consul|years=201 BC
with Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus}}
{{s-aft|after=Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus|after2=Gaius Aurelius Cotta}}
{{s-bef|before=Marcus Livius Salinator|before2=Gaius Claudius Nero}}
{{s-ttl|title=Roman censor|years=199–198 BC
with Scipio Africanus}}
{{s-aft|after=Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus|after2=Gaius Cornelius Cethegus}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelius Paetus, Publius}}
Category:3rd-century BC births
Category:3rd-century BC Roman augurs
Category:3rd-century BC Roman consuls
Category:3rd-century BC Roman praetors
Category:2nd-century BC Roman augurs
Category:2nd-century BC diplomats
Category:Magistri equitum (Roman Republic)