The procedural terms that place the Pinarii below the Potitii in the priesthood of Hercules at the Ara Maxima are ministerium (subordinate service/ministry) compared to antistites (chief priests/presiders). [1]

This distinction is found in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita (Book 1, Chapter 7). Because the Pinarii arrived late to the inaugural sacrificial feast and missed the consumption of the sacred entrails (exta), they were permanently demoted to a secondary, helper status. [1, 2]

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The Source Passage (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.12–14)

The primary terminology highlighting their procedural hierarchy is structured as follows:

Term Type	Latin Text (The Latin Library)	English Translation (Loeb Classical Library)
General Rite Assignment	...sacrum Herculi, adhibitis ad ministerium dapemque Potitiis ac Pinariis...	"...a sacrifice to Hercules was made, with the Potitii and Pinarii having been employed for the service and the banquet..."
Demotion Consequence	...Pinarii extis adesis ad ceteram venirent dapem. Inde institutum mansit... ne extis eorum sollemnium vescerentur.	"...the Pinarii came after the inwards had been eaten, in season for the remainder of the feast. Thence came the custom... that they should not partake of the inwards..."
Potitii Superior Status	Potitii ab Evandro edocti antistites sacri eius per multas aetates fuerunt...	"The Potitii, instructed by Evander, were priests [presiders] of this cult for many generations..."
Pinarii Subordinate Status	...donec tradito servis publicis sollemni familiae ministerio genus omne Potitiorum interiit.	"...until, having delegated to public slaves the solemn ministry [subordinate duty] of their family, the entire stock of the Potitii died out."

Key Procedural Distinctions

• Antistites (Chief Priests / Masters of the Rite): The Potitii alone held the right to preside directly over the core sacred actions (the slaughter and offering of the exta). They were considered prior in sacris(foremost in the sacred rites). [1, 2, 3]
• Ministerium (Servantship / Subordinate Ministry): The Pinarii were restricted to helper positions. Because they were barred from eating the exta (the internal organs), their procedural role was reduced to supporting the banquet rather than leading the sacrament. This subordinate ministerial role was what the Potitii eventually passed down to public slaves, causing their ultimate downfall. [1, 2, 3]

If you are tracking this myth across different texts, would you like to compare how Virgil’s Aeneid or Dionysius of Halicarnassus handles the procedural dynamic between these two families?

L'AI può commettere errori, quindi verifica le risposte 

but both gentes became extinct?

No, only the Potitii became immediately extinct. According to Roman tradition, the Pinarii survivedspecifically because they refused to violate the divine law of Hercules. [1]

The divergent fates of the two gentes (clans) in 312 BC highlight a contrast between punishment and preservation: [1, 2]

1. The Immediate Extinction of the Potitii

During his censorship in 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus bribed the Potitii with 50,000 pounds of copper to transfer the direct administration of Hercules' rites to public slaves (servi publici). [1, 2]

• The Divine Wrath: According to Livy (Ab Urbe Condita 9.29), the god Hercules was so enraged by this commercialization and delegation of sacred duties that the entire Potitian clan perished within a year(or 30 days, depending on the source). [1]
• The Toll: The sudden plague wiped out 12 distinct branches of the family and 30 grown men, effectively making the gens Potitia completely extinct. Appius Claudius himself was struck blind as a consequence. [1]

2. The Survival of the Pinarii

When Appius Claudius Caecus attempted to strip the priesthood entirely from the elite clans, the Pinarii steadfastly resisted. [1]

• The Refusal: The Pinarii refused to surrender their office or instruct the public slaves. They maintained that their subordinate role (ministerium), while lesser than that of the Potitii, was still a sacred trust given directly by Hercules that could not be sold or transferred. [1, 2, 3]
• The Reward: Because they chose piety over bribery, the Pinarii were spared from the divine plague. The gens Pinaria survived well into the Roman Republic and early Empire, producing notable magistrates and moneyers long after the Potitii vanished from history. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Would you like to examine the monetary coins issued by the surviving Pinarii during the late Republic, or see how modern historical fiction—like Steven Saylor's novel Roma—handles this family's survival? []

so better late than never (Latin?)

The exact, equivalent idiom for "better late than never" in Latin is:

Potius sero quam numquam

Architectural Breakdown:

• Potius: Rather / Better
• Sero: Late / Tardy
• Quam: Than
• Numquam: Never

Historical Origin

While the sentiment is ancient, this precise phrasing is famously attributed to Livy himself in Ab Urbe Condita(Book 4, Chapter 2), where a character notes that a correct action taken late is still better than no action at all.[1]

It is also famously echoed by the Roman author Cornelius Nepos (Atticus, 12.15).

Variations

If you want to adapt the phrase into an active sentence (e.g., "It is better to learn late than never"), you can use:

• Satius est sero quam numquam discere.

Would you like to explore other Latin idioms or proverbs that the ancient Romans used to describe patience, timing, or making up for past mistakes?

I’m asking better late than never — re pinarii (extant, late) and potiti (not late but bribed out to disapparition — “never”?

That is a brilliant, deeply ironic reversal of the myth! If you apply the idiom to the two families, it completely flips the definition of "late" and "never" into a lesson on historical survival.

The structural irony of your framing works perfectly in Latin:

The Irony of Time and Extinction

• The Pinarii ("Better Late..."): They were famously late to Hercules' very first feast. Because they arrived late (sero), they were demoted to helpers for centuries. But because they were "late," they survived. [1, 2]
• The Potitii ("...Than Never"): They were perfectly on time to the first feast. They enjoyed the highest priesthood honors. But because they took Appius Claudius's bribe and abandoned their duties, they were wiped out completely—reduced to "never again" (numquam). [1, 2]

The Latin Framing

If a Roman were to describe this twist of fate using Livy's own words, it could be framed as: [1]

Pinariis potius sero quam Potitiis numquam.
(For the Pinarii, better late; than for the Potitii, never.)

Why the Pinarii Won the Long Game

In the strict logic of Roman religion (pax deorum), the Pinarii understood that a delayed or secondary devotion is better than a total betrayal.

1. The Pinarii accepted their "late" penalty, stayed humble, and guarded the ritual. They lasted for hundreds of years.
2. The Potitii were punctual, grew arrogant, sold out their sacred office, and vanished from the earth in 30 days.

Arriving late to the feast meant losing the appetizer (exta), but it ultimately saved their entire bloodline. [1, 2]

If you are tracking how the Romans viewed this, would you like to see how other authors like Cicero used the Potitii as a warning against putting a price tag on religious duty?