Note 427 — LIFE OF LUCULLUS. (continued 2)

This is the word of Plutarch ( τῆς ἀριστοκρατιᾶς), which he seems to use here like the Roman "Nobilitas" to express the body of the Nobiles or Optimates, as they were called by a term which resembled the Greek άριστοι. (See Tiberius Gracchus, c. 10, notes.)