§38. The Triple Name.--Nothing is more familiar to the student of Latin than the fact that the Romans whose works he reads first have each a threefold name, Caius Julius Caesar, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Publius Vergilius Maro. This was the system that prevailed in the best days of the Republic, but it was itself a development, starting with a more simple form in earlier times and ending in utter confusion under the Empire. The earliest legends of Rome show us single names, Romulus, Remus, Faustulus; but side by side with these we find also double names, Numa Pompilius, Ancus Marcius, Tullus Hostilius. It is possible that single names were the earliest fashion, but when we pass from legends to real history the oldest names that we find are double, the second being always in the genitive case, representing the father or the Head of the House: Marcus Marci, Caecilia Metelli. A little later these genitives were followed by the letter _f_ (for _fīlius_ or _fīlia_) or _uxor_, to denote the relationship. Later still, but very anciently nevertheless, we find the freeborn man in possession of the three names with which we are familiar, the _nōmen_ to mark the clan (_gēns_), the _cognōmen_ to mark the family, and the _praenōmen_ to mark the individual. The regular order of the three names is _praenōmen_, _nōmen_, _cognōmen_, although in poetry the order is often changed to adapt the name to the meter. §39. Great formality required even more than the three names. In official documents and in the state records it was usual to insert between a man's _nōmen_ and _cognōmen_ the _praenōmina_ of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and sometimes even the name of the tribe to which he belonged. So Cicero might write his name: M. Tullius M. f. M. n. M. pr. Cor. Cicero; that is, Marcus Tullius Cicero, son (_fīlius_) of Marcus, grandson (_nepōs_) of Marcus, great-grandson (_pronepōs_) of Marcus, of the tribe Cornelia. See another example in §427. [Illustration: FIGURE 5. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO]