C. Laelius Sapiens, consul 140 BC, the lifelong friend of Scipio Aemilianus, augur, distinguished orator, and patron of philosophy. He is the central interlocutor of De Amicitia and of De Republica, and serves Cicero throughout his works as the type of cultivated Roman aristocratic virtue (Verr. 2.3.160; Phil. 2.83; Pro Mur. 66).