plebeian, seems to have come originally from Rhegium. (Cic. Fam. 12.25.) No persons of this name occur till the last century of the republic; and the first who obtained any of the higher honours of the state was Q. Cornificius, praetor, B. C. 66. On coins the name is written Cornuficius, which is also the form used by Dio Cassius (48.21).