Cominia gens
The gens Cominia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome, which appears in history from the Republic to imperial times. The first of this gens to hold the consulship was Postumus Cominius Auruncus in 501 BC, and from this some scholars have inferred that the Cominii were originally patrician; but all of the later Cominii known to history were plebeians. Origin The surname Auruncus, borne by the consul of 501 BC, suggests that the Cominii might have been of Auruncan origin, although if this were so, the family had reached the highest level of Roman society by the beginning of the Republic. However, there could be other explanations for this cognomen. This early consulship implies that the family was once numbered amongst the patricians, although in the later Republic all of the Cominii seem to have been plebeians. It may be that the family passed over to the plebeians during the fourth or fifth centuries BC, or that the patrician branch of the gens became extinct. Alternatively it has been suggested that the earliest consuls included members of a number of plebeian families, and that plebeians were not formally excluded from the office until the passage of the Twelve