A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

patrician, distinguished at the beginning of the republic through two of its members, T. Lartius, the first dictator, and Sp. Lartius, the companion of Horatins on the wooden bridge. The name soon after disappears entirely from the annals. The Lartii were of Etruscan origin, as their name clearly shows. The Etruscan word Lars means Lord, with which it is perhaps etymologically connected. It is spelt on Etruscan sepulchral inscriptions either Larth, Lart, Laris, or else Laree (Müller, Etrusc. vol. i. pp. 408, 409). Hence the various ways of spelling the name. Livy has it always Lartius, Dionysius has Λάρκιος and Λάργιος; all three spellings occur on Latin inscriptions (comp. Index Rom. of Gruter's Thesaurus Inscr.). The Lartii, according to Dionysius, bore the surname FLAVUS.

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