[1] Publius Aelius Paetus was apparently the elder surviving son of Quintus Aelius Paetus, a praetor who was killed at Cannae in August 216 BC.
His younger brother was Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus who became consul in 198 and censor in 194, and is best known to us via Cicero as a jurist and commentator on the Twelve Tables.
Aelius Paetus makes relatively few appearances in Livy's History of Rome.
[5] In his year as consul, he made a treaty with the Ingauni Ligures and was appointed one of the ten decemvirs for the distribution of lands of the ager publicus among the veteran soldiers of Scipio Africanus in Samnium and Apulia.
[8] Paetus died in 174 during a pestilence at Rome, as recorded by Livy in a fragmentary chapter.