Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 50 BC)
Roman consul in 50 BC
Lucius Aemilius Paullus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician. He was the brother of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and son to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the consul of 78 BC. His mother may have been a daughter of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus.
Paullus supported Cicero during the Catiline Conspiracy. He never supported Pompey, probably because he held a grudge against him for betraying his father in 77 BC. 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.
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