Pacilia (gens)


The gens Pacilia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned by the ancient historians, of whom the most famous may be a certain Marcus Pacilius spoken of by Cicero in his second oration against Verres. However, many Pacilii are known from inscriptions.

Origin

The nomen Pacilius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed from other names, using the suffix -ilius. In this case, the nomen is derived from the cognomen Pacilus, a name of Oscan origin, itself perhaps derived from the Oscan Paccius, which was used both as praenomen and gentilicium. It would therefore be a cognate of Paccius, and perhaps also of Pacidius.

Praenomina

The main praenomina of the Pacilii were Publius, Lucius, Marcus, Gnaeus, Quintus, and Gaius. There are individual examples of other names, including Aulus, Sextus, and Spurius. All but the last were common throughout Roman history; Spurius was used chiefly during the Republic. One of the Pacilii also bore the feminine praenomen Posilla, meaning "little".

Members