“Nascetur pulchrâ Trojanus origine Cæsar,
(Imperium Oceano, famam qui terminet astris,)
Julius, a magno nomen Iulo.”
“A Trojan, by high lineage shall arise—
Cæsar (whose conquering fame the sea and stars shall bound),
Called Julius, from Iulus, mighty name.”
The Julian gens certainly exceeded Rome in antiquity, and one of their distinguished families bore the cognomen of Iulus; but in spite of Jupiter and Virgil, Livy makes Iulus, or Ascanius, not the Trojan son of Æneas and the deserted Creusa, but the Latin son of Æneas and Lavinia, and modern etymologists hazard the conjecture that Julus may be only a diminutive of dius (divine), since the derivation of Jupiter from Deus pater (father of gods) proves that such is the tendency of the language.
The family resided at Alba Longa till the destruction of the city by Tullus Hostilius, and then came to Rome, where, though of very high rank, they did not become distinguished till, once for all, their star culminated in the great Caius Julius Cæsar, after whom the Julii were only adoptive, though Julia was the favourite name of the emperors' daughters, and their freedmen and newly-made citizens multiplied Julius and Julianus throughout the empire.
Julius was hereditary throughout the empire, and lingered on long in Wales, Wallachia, and Italy. It is the most obvious source for the French Gilles; though, as has been already said, that word claims to be the Greek Aigidios, and is like both the Keltic Giolla and Teutonic Gil. The modern French Jules and English Julius were the produce of the revived classical taste. The latter belonged to a knight whose family name was Cæsar; and Clarendon tells a story of a serious alarm being excited in a statesman by finding a note in his pocket with the ominous words “Remember Julius Cæsar,” which left him in dread of the ides of March, until he recollected that it was a friendly reminder of the humble petition of Sir Julius Cæsar.
| English. | Welsh. | Breton. | French. |
| Julius | Iolo | Sulio | Jules |
| Iola | Julot | ||
| Italian. | Spanish and Portuguese. | German. | Wallachian. |
| Giulio | Julio | Julius | Julie |
| Slavonic. | |||
| Julij |