A member of the patrician gens Quinctia, Lucius Quinctius Flamininus was the brother of Titus Quinctius Flamininus. He was elected Curule aedile in 201 BC, and in 199 BC, he served as Praetor urbanus. In the following year (198 BC), his praetorial imperium was prorogued by the Senate, initially to take on the task of allocating land in Italy for veterans who had served in Hispania. However, his brother Titus ensured that he was given a propraetoral command in charge of a fleet around Greece, and made responsible for securing the Italian coastal regions during the Second Macedonian War.