Patrician
a Roman senator; a person of noble birth; a nobleman; a wealthy noble. Also one who is familiar with the writings of the early fathers of the Church; one versed in patristic learning. The Roman patricians consisted of about 300 gentes, houses, or clans, who, descending from the first Roman senators, constituted the aristocracy of the city and territory. At first the patricians monopolized all high offices in the state, but after political contests with the plebeians, lasting for centuries, Licinius (365 B. c.) carried his rogation, by which plebeians were admitted to the consulate and to the custody of the Sibylline books. cieties go back to the Colonial period and these are the earliest. The Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society of the Ark and Dove, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of Colonial Dames of America, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, National Society of Scions of Colonial Cavaliers, National Society of Colonial Dames, Society of Daughters and Patriots of America, Order of Washington, Order of Pequot and King Phillip are other societies devoted to the Colonial period.