Note 54 — Chapter XVIII

The Nobiles were distinguished from the Ignobiles. The outward distinction of the former was the Jus Imaginum. These Imagines were figures with painted masks of wax, representing the ancestors who had held any of the curule magistracies. They were placed in cases in the atrium or reception-hall of the house, and were carried in the funeral procession of a member of the family. Any one who first obtained a curule magistracy became the founder of the nobility of his family. Such a person was himself neither a Nobilis nor an Ignobilis. He was termed a Novus Homo, or a new man.