Hostilia Gens
came originally from Medullia, and was probably transported thence to Rome by Romulus. (Dionys. A. R. 3.1.) It is uncertain whether the Hostilia gens under the republic traced their descent from this source; but two coins of L. Hostilius Saserna, bearing the heads of Pallor and Pavor, indicate such an origin, since Tullus Hostilius, in his war with Veii and Fidenae, vowed temples to Paleness and Panic. (Liv. 1.27; Lactant. 1.20; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, 4.15, 23, 6.10.) The Hostilia gens had the surnames CATO, FIRMINUS (see below), MANCINUS, RUTILUS, SASERNA, and TUBULUS.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.