Quintus Ceacilius Metellus Pius was born in 130 BC and raised in Rome as a Roman Upper Class Plebian. He comes from the gens Ceacilia. One legend tells that the Ceacilii came from one of Aeneas' companions, Caecas, who journeyed with him to Italy searching for the sack of Troy ("Caecilia (gens)"). Pius' father Quintus Ceacilius Metellus Numidicus was a well known leader of the Roman Senate's conservative section. Like Pius, he was an Optimate, reactionary, and was a great enemy of Gaius Marius.