The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 526 ("Caecilia Gens").Livy, iv. 7. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
Origin Like other Roman families in the later times of the Republic, the Caecilii traced their origin to a mythical personage, Caeculus, the founder of Praeneste. He was said to be the son of Vulcan, and engendered by a spark; a similar story was told of Servius Tullius. He was exposed as an infant, but preserved by his divine father, and raised by maidens. He grew up amongst the shepherds, and became a highwayman. Coming of age, he called upon the people of the countryside to build a new town, convincing them with the aid of a miracle. An alternative tradition claimed that the Caecilii were descended from Caecas, one of the companions of Aeneas, who came with him to Italy after the sack of Troy.Festus, s. v. Caeculus.Servius, vii. 678.Solinus, ii. 9.Hartung, Die Religion der Römer, vol. i, pp. 88 ff.Klausen, Aeneas und die Penaten, pp. 761 ff.
Praenomina The praenomina used by the Caecilii during the Republic are Lucius, Quintus, Gaius, and Marcus. Titus appears only towards the very end of the Republic, and is not known to have been used by the great house of the Caecilii Metelli.
Branches and cognomina The cognomina of this gens under the Republic are Bassus, Denter, Cornutus, Metellus, Niger, and Rufus, of which the Metelli are the best known. From the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, the family of the Metelli became one of the most distinguished at Rome. In the latter half of the second century BC, it obtained an extraordinary number of the highest offices of the state. Quintus Metellus, who was consul in 143 BC, had four sons, who were raised to the consulship in succession; and his brother, Lucius Metellus, who was consul in 142, had two sons, who were likewise elevated to the same dignity.
The Metelli were distinguished as a family for their unwavering support of the party of the Optimates. The etymology of their name is quite uncertain. Festus connects it, probably from mere similarity of sound, with . The history of the family is very difficult to trace, and in many parts conjectural. It is treated at length by Drumann.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 1055, 1056 ("Metellus").Festus, p. 146 (ed. Müller).Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. ii, pp. 17–58.
The victory of the consul L. Caecilius Metellus against Hasdrubal's elephants at Panormus in 251 seems to have left a durable impression on the Caecili Metelli, as many of them featured an elephant on the coins they minted. In fact, elephants are so often used on their coins that it might have become their emblem.Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 287, 288, 292, 293, 387, 388, 390, 471.
Members
Caecilii Metelli
Gaius Caecilius (Metellus), grandfather of Lucius Caecilius Metellus, the consul of 251 BC, and perhaps the father of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, consul in 284. Lucius Caecilius (C. f.) Metellus Denter, consul in 284 and praetor in 283 BC, slain in battle against the Senones. Lucius Caecilius L. f. C. n. Metellus, consul in 251 and 247 BC, during the First Punic War, and afterward Pontifex Maximus.Polybius, i. 39, 40. Lucius Caecilius L. f. L. n. Metellus, quaestor in 214 BC, was degraded to an aerarius by the censors for proposing to abandon Italy and establish a new colony after the Battle of Cannae. Nevertheless, he was elected tribune of the plebs for 213, and prosecuted the censors.Livy, xxiv. 18, 43.Valerius Maximus, ii. 9. § 7.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 260, 261 (note 2), 264. Quintus Caecilius L. f. L. n. Metellus, consul in 206 BC, during the Second Punic War. Marcus Caecilius L. f. L. n. Metellus, praetor in 206 BC. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. L. n. Metellus, surnamed Macedonicus, triumphed over Andriscus, and became consul in 143 BC, and censor in 131. Lucius Caecilius Q. f. L. n. Metellus, surnamed Calvus, consul in 142 BC. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus, consul in 123 and censor in 120 BC, conquered the Balearic Islands, receiving the surname Balearicus, and founded several cities there. Lucius Caecilius L. f. Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Delmaticus, consul in 119, triumphed over the Dalmati, and later became Pontifex Maximus. Lucius Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Diadematus, consul in 117 BC and censor in 115 BC.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 531–533 (note 1). Marcus Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus, consul in 115 BC, triumphed over the Sardinians. Gaius Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Caprarius, consul in 113 and censor on 102 BC, triumphed over the Thracians. Caecilia Q. f. Q. n. Metella, married Gaius Servilius Vatia. Caecilia Q. f. Q. n. Metella, married Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio. Quintus Caecilius L. f. Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Numidicus, consul in 109 and censor in 102 BC, triumphed over Jugurtha; expelled from the senate and exiled by Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, and not recalled for two years. Caecilia L. f. Q. n. Metella, wife of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and mother of the younger Lucullus, the conqueror of Mithridates; she had a reputation for dissoluteness.RE III.1 (1897), col. 1234 ('Caecilius 132') Quintus Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Nepos, consul in 98 BC. Quintus Caecilius (L.? f.) Q. n. Metellus, surnamed Celer, a mediocre orator, probably tribune of the plebs in 90 BC and perhaps aedile in 88. Caecilia Q. f. Q. n. Metella, married Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 79 BC. Caecilia L. f. L. n. Metella, married first Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, consul in 115 BC, and second Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the dictator. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. L. n. Metellus, surnamed Pius, one of Sulla's most successful generals, consul in 80 BC, and later Pontifex Maximus. Gaius Caecilius Metellus, a junior senator circa 80 BC.Waterfield, Plutarch: Roman Lives, p. 481. Quintus Caecilius Metellus, surnamed Creticus, consul in 69 BC, triumphed over the Cretans. Lucius Caecilius Metellus, consul in 68 BC, died at the beginning of his year of office. Marcus Caecilius Metellus, praetor in 69 BC. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, perhaps quaestor circa 60 BC, with Gaius Trebonius.Drumann, Geschichte Roms, ii. 57.Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, xv. 21. § 2. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. (L.? n.) Metellus Celer, consul in 60 BC. Marcus Caecilius (M. f.) Metellus, mentioned by Cicero in 60 BC.Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, ii. 1. § 1. Caecilia Q. f. Q. n. Metella, daughter of Metellus Celer. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus Nepos, consul in 57 BC. Quintus Caecilius Q. f. Q. n. Metellus Pius Scipio, the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, adopted by Metellus Pius; appointed consul suffectus from the kalends of Sextilis in 52 BC, and a partisan of Pompeius. Lucius Caecilius (L. f.) Metellus, tribune of the plebs in 49 BC, opposed Caesar's attempt to take possession of the sacred treasury.Plutarch, "The Life of Caesar", 35, "The Life of Pompeius", 62.Cassius Dio, xli. 17.Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 41.Caesar, De Bello Civili, i. 33.Lucan, iii. 114 ff.Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, x. 4, 8. Quintus Caecilius (Q. f. Q. n.) Metellus Creticus Silanus, consul in AD 7.Cassius Dio, lv. 30.Fasti Capitolini, ; 1940, 59, 60.
Caecilii Dentri
Lucius Caecilius Denter, praetor in 182 BC, obtained Sicilia for his province.Livy, xxxix. 56, xl. 1. Marcus Caecilius Denter, one of the ambassadors sent to Perseus in 173 BC to inspect the affairs of Macedonia, and to Alexandria to renew the friendship with Ptolemaeus.Livy, xlii. 6.
Caecilii Cornuti Marcus Caecilius Cornutus, praetor before 90 BC, then legate in 89 and 88 during the Marsic War. He escaped the purges of Marius in 87 through a ruse of his slaves, who passed him off for dead, before spiriting him off to Gaul.Broughton, vol. II, pp. 26, 30 (note 2), 31 (note 13), 36, 43, 45 (note 11). Gaius Caecilius Cornutus, tribune of the plebs in 61 BC, praetor in 57, and promagistrate the following year in Bithynia and Pontus. He helped Cicero to return from exile during his praetorship, who affectionately called him a "quasi-Cato" for his Optimate ideas. He was probably the historian Cornutus, known from only three fragments, which deal with the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey.Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, i. 14.Broughton, vol. II, pp. 179, 200, 210.B. M. Levick in Cornell, Fragments, vol. I, pp. 426–428; vol. II, pp. 848–851; vol. III, p. 519. Levick writes that Marcus Caecilius Cornutus, the Arval of 21 BC is another, but less likely possibility. Marcus Caecilius Cornutus, in 43 BC, committed suicide when Octavian seized Rome after the Battle of Mutina.Broughton, vol. II, p. 338. Marcus Caecilius M. f. Cornutus, a member of the College of Arvales in 21–20 BC, but perhaps as early as 29, when Augustus re-established the college.Rüpke, Fasti Sacerdotum, pp. 578, 579. Marcus Caecilius M. f. M. n. Cornutus, succeeded his father as Arval. He was of praetorian rank in the reign of Tiberius but, unjustly accused in connection with a plot against the Emperor, put an end to his own life in AD 24.Tacitus, Annales, iv. 28.Rüpke, Fasti Sacerdotum, p. 579.
Others Gaia Caecilia, the legendary personification of Roman domesticity, frequently equated with Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome.Pliny the Elder, vii. 74. Quintus Caecilius, tribune of the plebs in 439 BC.Livy, iv. 16. Statius Caecilius, a comic poet of the early 2nd century BC. Quintus Caecilius Niger, a Sicilian, and quaestor of Verres during his administration of Sicily. He contended with Cicero for the prosecution of Verres, pretending to be the enemy of his former master, but in reality desiring to deprive the Sicilians of Cicero's advocacy. Cicero's oration Divinatio in Caecilium was delivered against this Caecilius when the had to decide which should be given the prosecution.Cicero, Divinatio in Caecilium. Lucius Caecilius Rufus, half-brother of Publius Cornelius Sulla, was tribune of the plebs in 63 BC, and proposed that both Sulla and Publius Autronius Paetus, who had been elected consuls for 66, but been convicted of bribery and condemned, should again be allowed to stand for office; however, Sulla convinced him to withdraw the proposal. Rufus was a supporter of Cicero and the aristocratic party, and opposed agrarian reform. He was praetor in 57, and proposed the recall of Cicero from banishment, incurring the wrath of Publius Clodius Pulcher.Cicero, Pro Sulla, 22, 23; Post Reditum in Senatu, 9; Pro Milone 14; Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, iii. 3. § 2.Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis Pro Milone, p. 48 (ed. Orelli). Quintus Caecilius, an eques, slain by his brother-in-law, Catiline, in the time of Sulla.Quintus Tullius Cicero, De Petitione Consulatus, 2.Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis In Toga Candida, 84 (ed. Orelli). Quintus Caecilius, an eques, who became wealthy as a moneylender, died in 57 BC, leaving his fortune to his nephew, Titus Pomponius Atticus.Cornelius Nepos, The Life of Atticus, 5.Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, i. 1, 12, ii. 19, 20, iii. 20. Quintus Caecilius Bassus, an eques, and partisan of Pompeius, was praetor in 46 BC. Titus Caecilius, primus pilus in the army of Lucius Afranius, killed at the Battle of Ilerda in 49 BC.Caesar, De Bello Civili, i. 46. Caecilia, wife of the younger Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, who divorced her in 45 BC.Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xi. 23, xii. 52, xiii. 7.