person
Decimus Laberius
Laberius
also: Laberi, Laberius
Decimus Laberius (c. 106–43 BC), a Roman knight and writer of mimes whom Caesar compelled to perform his own work on stage at the games of 46 BC, a public humiliation. Cicero names him with Publilius as the entertainments he watched with forced equanimity.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 7.11 §2 Laberius
Decimus Laberius, the leading writer of mimes (low comic sketches) of the day. Cicero jokes that if Trebatius stays away too long he will become a stock comic type, 'the British jurisconsult,' fit for Laberius's stage.
- Ad Familiares 12.18 §2 listened to the verses of Laberius and Publilius
Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus were the leading mime-writers of the day; at these games Caesar forced the elderly knight Laberius to act in his own mimes against Publilius, a calculated humiliation that Cicero watched "with the most equable mind".