LABICI

labici, an ancient city of latium, the modern monte compatri, about 17 m. s.e. from rome, on the northern slopes of the alban hills, 1739 ft. above sea-level. it occurs among the thirty cities of the latin league, and it is said to have joined the aequi in 419 b.c. and to have been captured by the romans in 418. after this it does not appear in history, and in the time of cicero and strabo was almost entirely deserted if not destroyed. traces of its ancient walls have been noticed. its place was taken by the _respublica lavicanorum quintanensium_, the post-station established in the lower ground on the via labicana (see labicana, via), a little s.w. of the modern village of colonna, the site of which is attested by various inscriptions and by the course of the road itself. see t. ashby in _papers of the british school at rome_, i. 256 sqq. (t. as.) labid (abu 'aqil labid ibn rabi'a) (_c._ 560-_c._ 661), arabian poet, belonged to the bani 'amir, a division of the tribe of the hawazin. in his younger years he was an active warrior and his verse is largely concerned with inter-tribal disputes. later, he was sent by a sick uncle to get a remedy from mahomet at medina and on this occasion was much influenced by a part of the koran. he accepted islam soon after, but seems then to have ceased writing. in omar's caliphate he is said to have settled in kufa. tradition ascribes to him a long life, but dates given are uncertain and contradictory. one of his poems is contained in the _mo'allakat_ (q.v.). twenty of his poems were edited by chalidi (vienna, 1880); another thirty-five, with fragments and a german translation of the whole, were edited (partly from the remains of a. huber) by c. brockelmann (leiden, 1892); cf. a. von kremer, _uber die gedichte des lebyd_ (vienna, 1881). stories of labid are contained in the _kitabul-aghani_, xiv. 93 ff. and xv. 137 ff. (g. w. t.)