PLEBS (from the root seen in Lat. plenus, full; cf. Gr. 7rXit9os), the " multitude," or unprivileged class in the early Roman state. For the origin and history of this order see PATRICIANS and NOBILITY. Its disqualifications were originally based on descent; but after the political equalization of the two orders the name was applied to the lower classes of the population with-out reference to their descent. Under the empire the word is regularly used of the city proletariate, or of the commons as distinct from knights and senators.