an ancient plebeian gens, which came from Tusculum (Cic. pro Planc. 8), and settled in Rome, probably in the course of the fourth century B. C. According to the statement of L. Cassius, who united with L. Juventius Laterensis in accusing Cn. Plancius, Cicero's client, the first plebeian aedile was a member of the Juventia gens. The correctness of this statement is denied by Cicero; but whether true or false, the fact of its being made sufficiently proves the antiquity of the gens. (Cic. pro Planc. 24.) The name does not occur again in history till the year B. C. 197 [JUVENTIUS, No. 1]; and the first of the gens who obtained the consulship was M. Juventius Thalna in B. C. 163. Notwithstanding their antiquity and nobility, none of the Juventii played any prominent part in history, and the name is indebted for its celebrity chiefly to the two jurists who lived in the second century of the Christian aera. [CELSUS, JUVENTIUS.]
The family-names of this gens are CELSUS, LATERENSIS, PEDO, THALNA : a few occur without a surname. Owing to the common interchange of B and V, the name is frequently written Jubentius in manuscripts and inscriptions.