The gens Metilia was a minor family at ancient Rome. Although they occur throughout Roman history, and several were tribunes of the plebs, beginning in the fifth century BC, none of the Metilii attained the higher offices of the Roman state until imperial times, when several of them became consul. Origin The nomen Metilius appears to belong to a class of gentilicia arising from diminutive versions of other names, originally ending in -ulus. In this case the name might have been the praenomen Mettius, or perhaps another nomen, such as that of gens Mettia. The Metilii are mentioned as one of the Alban houses that came to Rome following the destruction of their city in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. They were admitted to the senate, implying that they were originally patricians, but all of the Metilii mentioned during the time of the Republic were plebeians. Branches and cognomina The Metilii of the Republic do not appear to have been divided into branches, the only surname being Croto, an apparent reference to Crotona, an ancient Greek city in Bruttium, which played an important part in the Second Punic War. Under the Empire, the leading family of the Metilii bore the surname of Nepos, literally "grandson". Several consuls of the late first and second centuries were descended from this family, through both the paternal and maternal lines, and are included here if they bore the nomen Metilius, even though, strictly speaking, some of them belonged to other gentes, such as the Atilii. Members Spurius Metilius, tribune of the plebs in 416 BC, together with his colleague, Spurius Maecilius, attempted to pass a law distributing some of the recently acquired public land to the plebeians. This measure was opposed by the patricians, led by Appius Claudius Crassus, who succeeded in convincing the other tribunes to veto the law. Marcus Metilius, tribune of the plebs in 401 BC, impeached Lucius Verginius and Manius Sergius for having allowed their private feud to result in a calamitous defeat during the siege of Veii the previous year. Metilius and his colleagues continued to press for a distribution of the public land, and forbade the collection of the war-tax, hoping to secure passage of the law. Marcus Metilius, tribune of the plebs in 217 BC, during the Second Punic War, promulgated the law giving Marcus Minucius Rufus, the magister equitum, authority equal