A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

the name of a Roman family, which does not occur in history till the last century of the republic. Most modern writers say that Labienus was a cognomen of the Atia gens, but there is no authority for this in any ancient author. The name was first assigned to this gens by P. Manutius, but apparently on conjecture ; and although Spanheim (De Praest. et Usu Numism. vol. ii. pp. 11, 12) pointed out that there was no authority for this, the error has been continued down to the present day, as, for instance, in Orelli's Onomasticon Tullianum.