ABSTRACT
During the period from the late third to the late second century BC the Aemilii Lepidi had achieved repeated victories in contests for public office in Rome. The great pontifex maximus had firmly established his name both in the annals and on the map and would remain an impressive model for any young Aemilius Lepidus to emulate. However, in the late second century political success for the family abated somewhat and the new lights failed to attain the brilliance of those they replaced from previous generations. It is true that our sources for much of this period are not extensive and that could account in part for the decline in our knowledge of the family’s political fortune. Still, the consuls of 158 and 126 BC are little more than names in the fasti and the consul of 137, M.Aemilius Lepidus Porcina[83], although a famous orator, ended up the object of derision for the failure of his siege of Pallantia in Spain.1 Between 126 and 78 BC not a single family member reached the consulship.
