Cornelii Lentuli - Branches and Cognomina of The Gens

Branches and Cognomina of The Gens

The gens included both patricians and plebeians, but all its great families belonged to the patrician order. The names of the patrician families are Arvina, Blasio, Cethegus, Cinna, Cossus, Dolabella, Lentulus, Maluginensis, Mammula, Merenda, Merula, Rufinus, Scapula, Scipio, Sisenna, and Sulla. The names of the plebeian families are Balbus and Gallus, and we also find various cognomina, as Chrysogonus, Culleolus, Phagita, etc., given to freedmen of this gens. There are also several plebeians mentioned without any surname. Under the Empire the number of cognomina increased considerably.

The most ancient stirpes of the Cornelii bore the cognomina Cossus and Maluginensis. The Cossi and Maluginenses were probably one family originally, for at first both these surnames are united, as for instance, in the case of Servius Cornelius Cossus Maluginensis, consul in 485 BC. Afterwards, however, the Cossi and Maluginenses became two separate families. The Cossi produced many illustrious men in the 4th and 5th centuries BC, but afterwards sunk into oblivion. The last consuls from this stirps bore the surname Arvina. The name Cossus was afterwards revived as a praenomen in the family of the Lentuli, who belonged to the same gens. The Maluginenses last held consular authority in 367 BC.

The Cornelii Scipiones first appear at the beginning of the 4th century BC, with Publius Cornelius Scipio, said to have been magister equitum to the dictator Marcus Furius Camillus in 396 BC. The Capitoline Fasti identify the magister equitum of that year as Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, suggesting that the Scipiones may have originated as a branch of the Maluginenses.

The surname Scipio, which signifies a stick or staff, is said to have been originally given to a Cornelius, because he served as a staff in directing his blind father (patrem pro baculo regebat), and to have been handed down by him as a family name to his descendants. This family produced some of the greatest men in Rome, and to them she was more indebted than to any others for the empire of the world. They bore the agnomina Africanus, Asiaticus, Asina, Barbatus, Calvus, Hispallus, Nasica, and Serapio. With the additional cognomen Orfitus, the family remained prominent until the 2nd century AD

Lentulus was the name of one of the haughtiest families of the Cornelian gens; so that Cicero coins the words Appietas and Lentulitas to express the qualities of the high patrician party. When we find plebeians bearing the name (as tribunes of the plebs), they were no doubt descendants of freedmen. Lentulus was said to be derived from lens, a lentil, much as Cicero is said to be derived from cicer, a chickpea. However, the Latin adjective lentulus means "slow". The Lentuli first appear in history at the time of the Gallic sack of Rome, early in the 4th century BC, and from that time remained prominent until the 1st century AD. They bore the agnomina Caudinus, Clodianus, Crus, Gaetulicus, Lupus, Maluginensis, Marcellinus, Niger, Rufinus, Scipio, Spinther, and Sura.

The Cornelii Rufini appear in the latter half of the 4th century BC, beginning with Publius Cornelius Rufinus, dictator in 334 BC. From the surname Rufinus, meaning "reddish", one may infer that the first of this family had red hair. A descendant of this family was the first to assume the cognomen Sulla, about the time of the Second Punic War. The name is probably a diminutive of Sura, a cognomen found in several gentes, including among the Cornelii Lentuli. Plutarch, who erroneously believed that the dictator Sulla was the first to bear the name, thought it must have referred to a blotchy, reddish complexion, while Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius derives it from Sibylla, an etymology that is rejected by Quintilian. The Sullae continued in the highest offices of the state well into imperial times. Some of them bore the agnomen Felix.

The Dolabellae first came to prominence at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, and so remained until the second half of the 1st century AD. The Cornelii Blasiones flourished for about a century, beginning in the early 3rd century BC. The Cethegi, who first appear in the latter half of the 3rd century BC, were described by Quintus Horatius Flaccus as cinctuti Cethegi, for their old-fashioned practice of wearing their arms bare. They remained prominent for the next two centuries.

Merula signifies an ouzle, or blackbird. The family that bore this surname rose from obscurity at the beginning of the 2nd century BC., and continued for the next century. The Cornelii Cinnae flourished from the late 2nd century BC to the early decades of the Empire.

The Cornelii Balbi were, properly speaking, no part of the Cornelia gens. The first of this name was not a Roman; he was a native of Gades; and his original name probably bore some resemblance to the Latin Balbus. Gaius Cornelius Gallus, the poet, and later prefect of Egypt, was evidently of Gallic descent, coming as a young man from the town of Forum Julii, and presumably manumitted by one of the Cornelii Cinnae or Sullae. None of his descendants achieved any prominence.

Over 30% of all the consuls of the republican period of ancient Rome were Cornelians. The notable men and women of the Cornelii family are listed separately, below.