Career
Caesar describes how soon after landing in Kent, the Romans were attacked whilst building a camp by the native Britons. Before re-inforcements could arrive, Laberius was killed. His burial site is traditionally the earthworks of Julliberrie"s Grave near Chilham (which is in fact a Neolithic long barrow).
The error was perpetuated by Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth, both of whom refer to a tribune called Labienus being killed in Britain.
The latter says he was killed by Nennius. Despite his status as a footnote in history, a long modern poem by American poet Gabriel Gudding is dedicated to Laberius ("Foreign Quintus Laberius Durus, Who, Because of a Javelin in His Lungs, Died Near Kent, in Early August, 54 British Columbia") and appears in his book, A Defense of Poetry (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002).
An historical novel, Caesar (Harper, 1999), by Australian writer Colleen McCullough, also involves him.
