Aemilia
1. A vestal virgin, who, when the sacred fire was extinguished on one occasion, prayed to the goddess for her assistance, and miraculously rekindled it by throwing a piece of her garment upon the extinct embers. (Dionys. A. R. 2.68; V. Max. 1.1.7.)
2. The third daughter of L. Aemilius Paullus, who fell in the battle of Cannae, was the wife of Scipio Africanus I. and the mother of the celebrated Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. She was of a mild disposition, and long survived her husband. Her property, which was large, was inherited by her grandson by adoption, Scipio Africanus II., who gave it to his own mother Papiria, who had been divorced by his own father L. Aemilius. (Plb. 32.12; Diod. Exc. xxxi.; V. Max. 6.7.1; Plut. Aem. 2; Liv. 38.57.)
3. The third daughter of L. Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a little girl when her father was appointed consul a second time to conduct the war against Perseus. Upon returning home after his election he found her in tears, and upon inquiring the reason she told him that Perseus had died, which was the name of her dog; whereupon he exclaimed " I accept the omen," and regarded it as a pledge of his success in the war. (Cic. de Div. 1.46, 2.40; Plut. Aem. 10.)
4. Aemilia Lepida. [Lepida.]
5. A vestal virgin, who was put to death B. C. 114 for having committed incest upon several occasions. She induced two of the other vestal virgins, Marcia and Licinia, to commit the same crime, but these two were acquitted by the pontifices, when Aemilia was condemned, but were subsequently condemned by the praetor L. Cassius. (Plut. Quaest. Rom. p. 284; Liv. Epit. 63 ; Orosius, 5.15; Ascon. in Cic. Mil. p. 46, ed. Orelli.)
originally written Aimilia, one of the most ancient patrician houses at Rome. Its origin is referred to the time of Numa, and it is said to have been descended from Mamercus, who received the name of Aemilius on account of the persuasiveness of his language (διʼ αἱμυλίαν λόγου). This Mamercus is represented by some as the son of Pythagoras, and by others as the son of Numa, while a third account traces his origin to Ascanius, who had two sons, Julius and Aemylos. (Plut. Aemil. 2, Num. 8, 21; Festus, s. v. Aemil.) Amulius is also mentioned as one of the ancestors of the Aemilii. (Sil. Ital. 8.297.) It seems pretty clear that the Aemilii were of Sabine origin; and Festus derives the name Mamercus from the Oscan, Mamers in that language being the same as Mars. The Sabines spoke Oscan. Since then the Aemilii were supposed to have come to Rome in the time of Numa, and Numa was said to have been intimate with Pythagoras, we can see the origin of the legend which makes the ancestor of the house the son of Pythagoras. The first member of the house who obtained the consulship was L. Aemilius Mamercus, in B. C. 484.
The family-names of this gens are : Barbula, Buca, Lepidus, Mamercus or Mamercinus, Papus, Paullus, Regillus, Scaurus. Of these names Buca, Lepidus, Paullus, and Scaurus are the only ones that occur on coins.
The third daughter of L. Aemilius Paulus (q.v.), wife of Scipio Africanus, and mother of Cornelia, who bore the Gracchi.