Lucius Postumius Albinus was a statesman of the
Roman Republic. He is not to be confused with his relative (father or uncle?),
Lucius Postumius Albinus, who was killed in
216 BC.
Albinus was
praetor 180 BC, and obtained the province of
Hispania Ulterior. His command was prolonged in the following year. After conquering the
Vaccaei and
Lusitani, he returned to Rome in
178 BC, and was awarded a
triumph on account of his victories.
He was
consul in
173 BC, with
Marcus Popillius Laenas. The war in
Liguria was assigned to both consuls. Albinus, however, was first sent into
Campania to separate the land of the state from that of private persons, because private land owners had slowly expanded their boundaries into public land. This business occupied him all the summer, so that he was unable to go into his province. He was the first Roman magistrate who put the
Latin allies to any expense when a magistrate travelled through their territories. The festival of the Floralia, which had been discontinued, was restored in his consulship.
In
171 BC, he was one of the ambassadors sent to
Masinissa and the
Carthaginians in order to raise troops for the
war against
Perseus of Macedon. In
169 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the
censorship. He served under
Lucius Aemilius Paullus in
Macedonia in
168 BC, and commanded the second legion in the battle with Perseus. During the war, he was sent to plunder the town of
Aeniae.
Albinus suffered some degree of mockery by
Cato the Elder, according to
Polybius and
Plutarch, for his attempt to compose a comprehensive history in
Greek and apologizing, in his own preface, for his poor grasp of the language, and for his adulation of all things
Greek.