nobiles, ("nobles"). The small groups of families from both patrician and plebeian origins who had had a consul in the family. For instance, Cicero's election as consul meant his family became nobilis. They controlled Rome's wealth and government. The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... Patricians were originally the elite caste in ancient Rome. ... In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. ... Consul (abbrev. ... Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA: ;) (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin orator and prose stylist. ...

Created after the Lex Hortensia (287 BC), the nobiles were a new social class consisting of both patrician and plebeian families, in which the family consisted of governmental officers. In Roman law, Lex Hortensia (287 BCE) was the final result of the long class struggle between patricians and plebeians. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC Years: 292 BC 291 BC 290 BC 289 BC 288 BC - 287 BC - 286 BC 285 BC...

See also: Roman Republic, populares, optimates, novus homo, Marcus Tullius Cicero See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... Populares (Favoring the people, singular popularis) were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who tended to use the peoples assemblies in an effort to break the stranglehold of the nobiles and optimates on political power. ... Optimates (Good Men) were the aristocratic faction of the later Roman Republic. ... The term novus homo (literally, new man in Latin), referred in ancient Roman times to a person who was the first of his family to serve in the Roman Senate, or, less generally, the first to be elected as consul. ... For other uses see Cicero (disambiguation) Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BC - December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. ...