Patrician, title designating honor and prestige; the basis of noble status among various peoples.

It was the Athenians who first instituted the title of patrician . According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Athenian populace was divided into two classes, one of which he calls the εὐπατρίδας, the patricians ; the other, the δημοτικοὺς, i.e., the working classes , the common folk.

The patrician class was made up of those distinguished by the purity of their birth – that is to say, those whose family bore no stain either of servitude or of any other malfeasance. These were also the most prominent citizens, due either to their extensive family ties or to the public offices they held, as well as to their affluence. Theseus assigned them the responsibility of being knowledgeable about religious affairs and (as part of their service to God) of providing spiritual instruction. He also granted them the privileges of being able to be elected to the republic’s public offices and of interpreting the laws.

Solon, who was elected by the people to reform a state that had fallen into disarray, wished for public offices and magistracies to remain in the hands of the wealthy citizens. However, he granted the common folk some limited involvement in the government, and he divided the citizens into four classes. The first consisted of those with 500 minots in income, in either grains or liquid fruits. [1] The second class was formed of those possessing 300 minots and who could also maintain a horse [ cheval ] eligible for military service – hence the origin of the French word chevalier . [2] Those with 200 minots formed the third class; everyone else was grouped in the fourth.

In imitation of the Athenians, Romulus also divided his subjects into patricians and plebeians. After appointing the first Roman magistrates, he established the Senate above them; he tasked the latter with the oversight of public affairs. He filled this body with one hundred of the noblest and most distinguished citizens. Each of the three tribes of Rome was allowed to nominate three senators, and each of the thirty curiae  [3] forming every tribe also supplied three gifted and experienced individuals. Romulus reserved for himself only the right of naming the chief senator.

The members of this august body were called senatores, derived from the word senectute [Latin for “old age”], because those chosen were presumed to have the greatest experience due to their advanced age. They were also given the title of patres, “fathers,” either out of respect for their age, or because they were looked upon as the fathers of the people. The title of patricii, which was bestowed upon the first hundred senators (and, according to other sources, upon the first 200 or 300 senators and their descendants), is thus derived from the root word patres. These men were given the title of patricii, quasi qui et patrem et avum ciere poterant [roughly, “the patricians essentially consisted of those who could invoke [the names of] both their father and grandfather”]. These were the only ones whom Romulus permitted to stand for the magistracies; moreover, until the year 495 (from the founding of Rome), they alone filled the offices of the priesthood. [4]

They were also required to act as patrons to the plebeians, and to protect the latter under all circumstances.

The cruelty inflicted by the patricians on the plebeians, in retaliation for the latter’s insurrections against patrician authority, resulted in the First Agrarian Law, which dealt with land distribution.

The Law of the Twelve Tables had originally forbidden patricians from marrying plebeians, but the people soon abolished this provision.

The Papia-Poppaea Law [5] presented the last remaining restriction on plebeian privileges: it forbade patricians from marrying plebeian women who were not of free status, or those who, like actresses, practiced vile and dishonorable trades. Also excluded were prostitutes or those who condoned prostitution, as well as women caught committing adultery with a married man and those who had been repudiated for the same crime.

Initially, there were but one hundred patrician families; that number grew considerably following various increases in the number of senators.

Shortly after the Senate was established, Romulus himself created another hundred senatorial positions (although other sources indicate that Tullus Hostilius was responsible for this).

Whatever the case, these first 200 senators were called the patres majorum gentium, the “heads of the greater families,” in order to distinguish them from the one hundred other senators added by Tarquin the Elder. These men were in turn called the patres minorum gentium [“fathers of lesser (i.e., less important) families”] , as they were the heads of comparatively less ancient and less prestigious families.

The number of senators remained at 300 for a long time without increasing, since Brutus and Publicola did not add to their ranks after the kings were expelled, but merely filled a large number of vacancies.

Those appointed by Brutus and his successors were known as the patres conscripti [“the registered/enrolled fathers”] , to indicate that their names had been registered along with those of the original senators. However, this designation gradually came to apply to all the members, as none of the original senators remained.

As tribune of the plebeians, Gracchus doubled the number of senators: he added 300 equestrians to their ranks. Sulla made another addition, and Caesar brought the number up to 900; after Caesar’s death, the duoviri [6] added still more. Thus, by the time of Augustus’s reign, there were some 1000 to 1200 senators; Augustus, however, reduced the number to 600.

The word patricii is derived from the term patres, which was the name given by Romulus to the original senators. Patricii designated the descendants of the first 200 senators (or, according to a few other sources, of the first 300). Indeed, in public assemblies, each senator was called by his first name as well as by the name of the founder of his clan.

The senatorial families, except for those descended from the first 200 senators, did not at first all hold equal rank. However, all the senators and their descendants were gradually grouped into the patrician class; at any rate, Titus Livius [7] notes that this was the case by the Augustan era.

As concerns patrician privileges: Romulus had granted them the exclusive right of standing for magisterial posts.

Moreover, until the year 495 (from the founding of Rome), they alone carried out the offices of the priesthood.

The prestige of the patricians stemmed from two sources: in the first place, from the purity ( ingenuitas ) and seniority ( gentilitas ) of their clan; in the second, from their nobility, a quality that the Romans ascribed only to those holding high office. However, this noble status was not hereditary, as it did not extend beyond the grandchildren of the officeholder.

But gradually, the patricians lost nearly all the privileges of their rank; the plebeians, who outnumbered them, arranged for all public matters to be settled by a plurality of votes. Plebeians were admitted to the Senate, and even to the highest magisterial posts, and were put in charge of sacrifices. Eventually, the patricians retained no other privileges save the honor of being descended from the first and oldest families, along with the nobility accorded to those who held major offices or who were the children or grandchildren of some high-ranking official.

The fall of the Republic and the founding of the empire further weakened and inevitably diminished the authority of the patrician families in politics. However, this revolution did not damage their standing immediately; the families more or less retained their purity and public esteem until the influx of Greeks (arriving from Europe, Asia, and Alexandria) into Rome. Thus, at this point, there was a curious mixing of Roman families with these foreigners.

More confusion resulted once the emperors themselves began to no longer come from “Roman” families, strictly speaking.

In the eleventh volume of his Annals, Tacitus recounts that the emperor Claudius included all of the oldest members of the Senate or those of distinguished parentage among the patricians. He adds that very few of those ancient families whom Romulus had called the patres majorum gentium still remained at that time, and that even their replacements – promoted by Caesar in accordance with the Cassian Law, and by Augustus through the Brutan Law – had died out. Thus, it is evident that Caesar and Augustus created as many noble designations as did Claudius.

The civil wars between Nero and Vespasian shook the nation and doubtless continued to destroy many ancient families.

Under the rule of Trajan and Septimus Severus, respectively, many Spaniards and a number of Africans came to Rome and, having grown wealthy there, they used their affluence to do away with the nuances separating patricians and plebeians. The civil wars breaking out between various claimants to the empire also took a heavy toll on the finest and purest Roman families. These barbarian hordes, whom the various combatants had unwisely called upon for help, eventually conquered those who had called on them to conquer others, and became the masters of those to whom they ought to have been enslaved. In haphazard fashion, the army elevated those of inferior birth to positions of authority; these individuals meted out the state’s highest-ranking offices to those who had assisted them – men who, like themselves, were of obscure origins. Ultimately, the prestige of the consulship disappeared; it had been but an empty title ever since the fall of the Republic, and was so particularly between the Antonine dynasty and Justinian’s reign (after whose rule the chronological ordering of the consuls comes to an end). Moreover, as the historians Dio, Cassiodorus, and others have pointed out, the consulship was often filled by Greeks. Thus, the Roman patrician families were gradually eclipsed, since their honors were being transferred to foreigners.

However, the major decline of the patrician families occurred when Rome was seized by Totila, king of the Goths, in the year 546 CE. This barbarian razed a portion of the city walls and forced the populace to withdraw to Campania, while the nobility – i.e., all the families who then held the patrician title – were forced to follow in the wake of his army. Rome stood entirely deserted for more than a year. Belisarius brought his followers back to the city, but most of these died during Totila’s second siege. Those distinguished citizens who did escape fled to Constantinople in order to be under Justinian’s rule. Finally, in an effort to repopulate Rome in the aftermath of these disasters, the city’s pontiffs and magistrates were compelled to indiscriminately summon various Jews, Goths, Huns, and Lombards to the city. As a result of these ravages and massacres, followed by such an assortment of newcomers, it is quite difficult to distinguish the remains of the ancient and truly patrician families.

Those living on the Esquiline Hill, in the vicinity of St.-Mary-Major, [8] claim to be the sole descendants of the ancient Romans; surely, no other people are both so poor and yet so proud. An inhabitant of this quarter would never accept employment as a servant; these people disdain even those living in the center of the new city.

The inhabitants of the Roman Trastevere are generally acknowledged to be wittier than those of other quarters; they also credit themselves with resembling the ancient Romans. However, they disregard that their district was uninhabited in the age of the Republic, and that even after Vespasian established the empire, the Trastevere was only inhabited by Jews. Moreover, they overlook the fact that for over 800 years, the Trastevere has been the seat of all uprisings, and that people in this quarter set themselves apart from the rest of the city – so much so that, when they cross the river, they say that they are “going to Rome.”

The oldest Roman families are said to be the Colonna, Orsini, Conti, Savelli, and Frangipani, among others; nearly all the rest are part of the papal family.

The “patrician” concept remained relevant under the emperors, particularly once the seat of the empire was transferred to Constantinople. [9] Constantine the Great created the new title of patrice (“father of the republic”) to replace the former patricians. The designation of patrice was no longer associated with either family seniority or with the illustriousness of one’s clan, but was rather a personal title of rank that the emperor bestowed on those he wished to honor. This “patricial” or “patrician” honor surpassed all others. Thus, with the decline of the Roman Empire, those in control of Italy did not dare to take the title of emperors ; rather, they called themselves patrices of Rome. This was quite standard until the reign of Augustulus and the seizure of Rome by Odoacer, King of the Heruli. There were also patrices in Gaul, chiefly in Burgundy and Languedoc; by the time the Franks conquered Gaul, they discovered that patrician rank was already an established practice there. Actius, who fought Attila, was known as the last patrice of the Gauls ; after the defeat of the Visigoths, the emperor Anastasius bestowed the title of patrice on Clovis. Pope Adrian also accorded Charlemagne the title of patrice of Rome before the latter became emperor. Additionally, the Popes called Kings Pepin, Charles, and Carloman the patrices of Rome , and these three themselves granted the title of patrice to various other foreign princes and kings.

Notes

1. Minots – an ancient unit of measure. The reference to fruits liquides, translated here as “liquid fruits,” presumably indicates pressed olives or grapes.

2. The translation here is necessarily loose; the article is pointing out the etymology of the French word chevalier as it pertains to the Greco-Roman class system . In English texts, this ancient social order is often referred to as the “equestrians” (another word with a palpably “horsey” etymology).

3. Each of the three founding Roman tribes was split into ten subunits, or curiae.

4. ...from the founding of Rome – i.e., from 753 BCE.

5. Lex Papia Poppaea – part of the Emperor Augustus’s campaign to bolster Roman morality.

6. Literally, “two men” – various positions in the Roman government were jointly held by two magistrates, e.g. certain judicial posts.

7. The Roman historian Livy .

8. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

9. This sentence is translated quite loosely, with particular liberties taken in the first clause, in order to better convey the sense of the original French.