EQUESTRIAN ORDER

the order of ‘Knights’ in ancient Rome. The equites or knights originally formed the cavalry of the army. They are said by Livy to have been instituted by Romulus, who selected 300 of them from the three principal tribes. About the time of the Gracchi (123 B.c.) the equites became a distinct order in the state, and the judges and the farmers of the revenue were selected from their ranks. They held their position in virtue of a certain property qualification, and towards the end of the Republic they po e ed much infiuence in the state. They had particular seats a igned to them in the cwcus and theatre, and the insignia of their rank, in addition to a horse, were a gold ring and a robe with a narrow purple border (the clavus angustus). Under the later emperors the order grew le influential, and finally disappeared.