Senators
The senatorial class was initially exclusive to the patrician order and based on birth, but when membership came to depend on wealth, the restrictions imposed on the economic activities of senators (lex Claudia, 218 BC), meant wealth in land. Senatorial status could be lost by falling below the required minimum amount of land owned; non-patricians could become senators if they acquired sufficient landed wealth.
Equites (horsemen, cavalry, knights)
In the regal period the cavalry numbered three hundred men, recruited from the three archaic Roman tribes and divided into three centuriae. Later this number was doubled and Servius 01Tullius increased the total to eighteen. This number remained unchanged throughout the duration of the Republic, during which time the horsemen were known as equites equo publico (‘knights with a public horse’) since their upkeep was paid for by the public purse.
During the Early Republic, the growing number of battlefronts brought a further increase in the number of mounted troops. This time they were recruited from among the wealthy citizens, who purchased the horses at their own expense and paid for their upkeep. These horsemen were therefore called equites equo privato (‘knights with a private horse’).
After Rome gained control of the peninsula (third century BC), they replaced their own cavalry with that of their Italian allies. Later, when Rome became masters of the Mediterranean (second century BC), the Italian cavalry in turn was replaced by the equestrian forces of Rome’s overseas allies.
Socially and culturally, equites and senators belonged to the same class. Senators were excluded from the state contracts to construct military works, operate state mines, collect taxes and supply the military; these contracts were undertaken by publicani who primarily came from the equestrian class and were backed by smaller negotiatores, who went into money-lending, banking and trading. In the first half of the second century BC, a large number of equites grew wealthy as publicani, invested their wealth in land and in so doing increased the competition for the limited number of senatorial positions.
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