M.AemiliusLe'pidus or M'.AemiliusLe'pidus

6. M. or M'. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS, praetor B. C. 213. (Liv. 24.43, 44.) In Livy the praenomen is Marcus; but instead of this we ought probably to read Manius; for we find that the M. Aemilius Lepidus who was consul in B. C. 158 is described in the Fasti as M'. f. M'. n.; and as there was another M. Lepidus praetor in B. C. 218 [see No. 3], it is probable that the praetor in 213 was M'. Lepidus, the father of the consul of 158. Marcus was such a well-known praenomen of the Lepidi, that we can easily understand why it should be substituted for the less common one of Manius.