A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

7. P.PopilliusLaenas, C. F. P. N., was consul B. C. 132, the year after the murder of Tib. Gracchus. He was charged by the victorious aristocratical party with the prosecution of the accomplices of Gracchus; and in this odious task he showed all the hard-heartedness of his family. (Cic. Lael. 20; V. Max. 4.7; Plut. T. Gracc. 20.) C. Gracchus afterwards aimed at him in particular, when he passed the bill that those magistrates who had condemned a citizen without trial should be called to account. Popillius withdrew himself, by voluntary exile, from the vengeance of Gracchus, and did not return to Rome till after his death. (Vell. 2.7; Cic. Brut. 25; Plut. T. Gracch. 20.)