Note 243 — Chapter II · THE SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF THE PRIMITIVE POPULUS

Livy viii. 39. 12; x. 38. 7: “Nobilissimum quemque genere factisque,” with reference to the Samnites; some were nobles by birth, others by prowess; cf. 46. 4: “Nobiles aliquot captivi clari suis patrumque factis ducti;” some of these captives were noble through their own prowess, others through that of their ancestors. The Samnite nobility was in the formative stage like that of the German nobility in the time of Tacitus. The Yakonan of California are in this condition; Farrand, Basis of American History, 129.