What is "lucilia"

The gens Lucilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The most famous of the gens was the poet Gaius Lucilius, who flourished during the latter part of the second century BC. Although many Lucilii appear in Roman history, none of them obtained any of the higher offices of the Roman state.

Lucilia is the wife of the Roman philosopher Lucretius and is mentioned in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in " The Wife of Bath's Prologue". According to legend, in order to make her husband love only her, Lucilia prepared an aphrodisiac which killed him.

In his poem "Lucretius", Tennyson follows the tradition that Lucretius was driven mad by a love-potion, which was given to him by Lucilia, and perished by his own hand, His poem first imagines Lucilia greatly dissatisfied with the cooling of her husband's ardor for her after the first bloom of their marriage has passed, and her scheme to reinvigorate that flame:

She brook'd it not; but wrathful, petulant, Dreaming some rival, sought and found a witch Who brew'd the philtre which had power, they said. To lead an errant passion home again. And this, at times, she mingled with his drink, And this destroy'd him; for the wicked broth Confused the chemic labour of the blood,...

Lucilia may refer to:

• Lucilia (wife of Lucretius), the wife of Roman philosopher Lucretius
• Lucilia (fly), a greenbottle fly genus in the family Calliphoridae
• Lucilia (plant), a plant genus in the family Asteraceae

and also:

• Napaea lucilia, a butterfly species in the genus Napaea ( Mesosemiini, Riodinidae)
• Sabatinca lucilia, a moth species

Lucilia is a genus of blow flies, in the family Calliphoridae. Various species in this genus are commonly known as " green bottle flies".