Editing Patrician (ancient Rome) (section)

===Status===
Patricians historically had more privileges and rights than plebeians. This status difference was marked at the beginning of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]]: patricians were better represented in the [[Roman assemblies]], and only patricians could hold high political offices, such as [[Roman dictator|dictator]], [[Roman consul|consul]], and [[Roman censor|censor]], and all priesthoods (such as [[pontifex maximus]]) were closed to non-patricians. There was a belief that patricians communicated better with the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman gods]], so they alone could perform the sacred rites and take the [[Augury|auspices]].

Additionally, not only were the patricians of higher status in political offices but they also had the best land in ancient Rome.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Mathisen|first=Ralph W.|title=Ancient Roman civilization: history and sources, 753 BCE to 640 CE|year=2019|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-084960-3|oclc=1137838429}}</ref> Having the best land allowed the patrician class to have more opportunities, such as being able to produce better agriculture. This view had political consequences, since in the beginning of the year or before a military campaign, Roman magistrates used to consult the gods. Livy reports that the first admission of plebeians into a priestly college happened in 300 BC with the passage of the [[Lex Ogulnia]] when the [[College of Augurs]] raised their number from four to nine. After that, plebeians were accepted into the other religious colleges. By the end of the Republic, only priesthoods with limited political importance, such as the [[Salii]], the [[Flamen|Flamines]], and the [[Rex Sacrorum]], were filled exclusively by patricians.

While it was not illegal for a plebeian to run for political office, a plebeian would not have had the backing needed to win a seat.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Mathisen|first=Ralph W.|title=Ancient Roman civilization: history and sources, 753 BCE to 640 CE|year=2019|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-084960-3|oclc=1137838429}}</ref> Since society was organized in this way, the patrician class was essentially in control of ancient Rome's government.<ref name=":03" /> In Cassius' accounts of ancient Rome, he details how important and advantaged the patrician class was over the plebeian class.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/2*.html|title=Cassius Dio — Fragments of Book 2|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref> He indicates the status difference between patricians and plebeians by detailing the specific shoes the patricians wore. Cassius states, "For the shoes worn by the patricians in the city were ornamented with laced straps and the design of the letter, to signify that they were descended from the original hundred men that had been senators."<ref name=":2" /> It is clear through Cassius' account that these details mattered and represented the differentiation between classes.

Few plebeian names appear in lists of [[Roman magistrate]]s during the early Republic. Two laws passed during the fourth century BC began the gradual opening of magistrates to the plebeians: the [[Lex Licinia Sextia]] of 367 BC, which established the right of plebeians to hold the consulship; and the [[Leges Genuciae|Genucian Law]] of 342 BC, which required that at least one of the consuls be a plebeian (although this law was frequently violated for several decades).

Many of the ancient patrician gentes whose members appear in the founding legends of Rome disappeared as Rome acquired its empire, and new plebeian families rose to prominence. A number of patrician families such as the Horatii, Lucretii, Verginii and Menenii rarely appear in positions of importance during the later republic. Many old families had patrician and plebeian branches, of which the patrician lines frequently faded into obscurity, and were eclipsed by their plebeian namesakes.

The decline accelerated toward the end of the Republic, principally because of the civil wars, from the [[Social War (91–88 BC)|Social War]] to the proscriptions of the [[Triumviri rei publicae constituendae|Triumvirs]], which took a heavy toll on them. As a result, several illustrious patrician houses were on the verge of extinction during the first century BC, sometimes only surviving through adoptions, such as:

* [[Claudius Caesar|Julii Caesares]]
* [[Manlia gens#Manlii Torquati|Manlii Torquatii]]
* [[Cornelii Scipiones]]
* [[Papiria gens#Papirii Masones|Papirii Masones]]
* [[Postumia gens#Postumii Albi et Albini|Postumii Albini]]
* [[Servilii Caepiones]]

However, large gentes with multiple {{lang|la|stirpes}} seem to have coped better; the [[Aemilia gens|Aemilii]], [[Claudia gens|Claudii]], [[Cornelia gens|Cornelii]], [[Fabia gens|Fabii]], [[Sulpicia gens|Sulpicii]], and [[Valeria gens|Valerii]] all continued to thrive under the [[Principate]].