‘Nobilis’ may not be quite a technical term, but its connotation is pretty clear. […] As in its beginning, so in its last generation, the Roman Commonwealth, ‘res publica populi NotesPage=>011 1 P. […] Noble families determined the history of the Republic, giving their names to its epochs. […] But Rome was not a Greek city, to be mastered from its citadel. […] But that province was soon to be stripped of its legions.