Orestes, Aurelus

2. L. Aurelius Orestes, L. F. L. N., son of the preceding, was consul B. C. 126, with M. Aemilius Lepidus. He was sent into Sardinia to subdue the inhabitants of the island, who had again risen against the Roman authority, as they had done on many previous occasions. Orestes remained in his province upwards of three years, and obtained a triumph on his return to Rome in B. C. 122. C. Gracchus was quaestor to Orestes in Sardinia, and distinguished himself greatly by the way in which he there discharged the duties of his office. M. Aemilius Scaurus also served under Orestes in Sardinia (Liv. Epit. 60; Plut. C. Gracch. 1, 2; Cic. Brut. 28; Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 72; Fasti Capit.) This Aurelius Orestes obtains a place, along with his brother C. Aurelius Orestes, in the list of orators in the Brutus of Cicero (100.25), who, however, only says of them, "quos aliquo video in numero oratorum fiisse."