Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PLEBS (from the root seen in Lat. ple...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 835 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

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

End of Article: PLEBS (from the root seen in Lat. plenus, full; cf. Gr. 7rXit9os)
[back]
PLEBISCITE (Lat. plebiscitum, a decree of the plebs...
[next]
PLEDGE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.