The gens Ofilia, also spelled Ofillia and Ofellia,[i] was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Its most illustrious member was the jurist Aulus Ofilius, a friend of both Caesar and Cicero.[1]

Origin

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The nomen Ofilius first appears in history during the period of the Samnite Wars, both as a praenomen and a nomen among the Samnites, but by the first century BC individuals of this gens are found at Rome. As a nomen, Ofilius may be regarded as a patronymic surname based on the existing praenomen, but Chase suggests a derivation from Ofella, a cognomen formed as a diminutive of offa, "a morsel".[2]

Members

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See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Each of these spellings is found in inscriptions, but the ancient historians usually preferred Ofilius.
  2. ^ Pomponius appears to call him Gaius Aulus Ofilius, but this seems to be a copyist's error.

References

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  1. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 19 ("Ofilius or Ofellius").
  2. ^ Chase, p. 124.
  3. ^ Livy, ix. 7.
  4. ^ Digesta, 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 44; 32. s. 55; 33 tit. 9. s. 3. §§ 5, 8; 50. tit. 16. s. 234. § 2.
  5. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, vii. 21, Epistulae ad Atticum, xiii. 37.
  6. ^ Zimmern, Geschichte des Römischen Privatrechts bis Justinian.
  7. ^ Puchta, Cursus der Institutionen, vol. i. p. 427.
  8. ^ Grotius, De Vitae Jurisconsultorum.
  9. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 128.
  10. ^ Broughton, vol. II, p. 404.
  11. ^ Pliny the Elder, vii. 53. s. 54.
  12. ^ Arrian, Epictiti Diatribae, iii. 22. § 27.
  13. ^ a b c PIR, vol. II, p. 432.
  14. ^ CIL IX, 2591.

Bibliography

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