From of old the Claudii were the great exponents of this policy; and the Claudii remained on the alert, expecting three consulates, but not unaided. 4 Against novi homines the great families after Sulla stood with close ranks and forbidding aspect. […] The tail of the procession is brought up by Sulpicius Rufus, a timid and respectable jurist lacking in pronounced political opinions, and two novi homines, the Pompeian general Afranius and the orator Cicero, pathetically loyal to a leader of whose insincerity he could recall such palpable and painful testimony. […] He was correct but other novi homines, socially more eminent, had not been debarred in that period; and Cicero was soon to witness the consulates of Murena and of Pompeius’ men, Afranius and Gabinius. 3 After that, no more novi homines as consuls on the Fasti of the Free State, but an effulgence of historic names, ominous of the end. 4 Caesar’s Dictatorship meant the curbing of the oligarchy, promotion for merit. […] Five of them were nobiles, with patricians in high and striking relief. 6 The four novi homines were all signalized by military service in Gaul. 7 NotesPage=>094 1 For examples, P. […] As many of the most eminent of the Caesarians already held office and preferment, were loyal to Antonius or to settled government, he must turn his hopes and his efforts towards the more obscure of the Caesarian novi homines in the Senate, or, failing them, to knights, to financiers and to individuals commanding influence in the towns of Italy.