How did the nouveau riche come into being?

After more than 200 years of struggle, civilians have made achievements in politics, society and economy to varying degrees. All civilians have won equal rights with nobles politically and legally. They have the right to hold public office, attend tribune meetings and exercise political power, and legally become the masters of the country. The legalization of intermarriage between civilians and nobles has made civilians gain equal social status with nobles. The economic status of civilians has also been improved through struggle. This adjusted the internal relations of Roman citizens and expanded the social foundation of the Republic. In particular, the abolition of debt slavery drew a clear line between free men and slaves, and opened the way for Roman slave owners to enslave foreign slaves instead of their own citizens. Later, with the further development of slavery, the contradiction between Roman citizens gradually gave way to the opposition between slave owners and slave classes, which made Rome develop into a typical slave country.

The improvement of civilian status, especially the opening of senior national posts to civilians, is of great significance to the wealthy upper class among civilians. Once they are elected as senior officials, they may be elected to the Senate. At the same time, the right to intermarry enables them to integrate with the nobility through marriage. From the second half of the 4th century BC to the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the upper class of the common people gradually merged with the nobility, forming the so-called "nouveau riche", and held the political power together with * * *. Because in the process of class struggle, the nobility declined day by day, participated in the war many times, died in the battlefield, and fell into poverty. The narrow aristocratic custom of internal marriage also made his pedigree unsound. On the contrary, the political influence and power of civilians are increasing day by day, especially the wealthy civilians participated in the political power and became prominent figures in the society at that time. Many nobles abandoned their family values and began to make friends with upper-class civilians. The upper class of civilians also intended to attach themselves to the nobility, intermarry with each other and gradually dissolve into one. They monopolized power, excluded dissidents, used their power to embezzle a large amount of public land, and used slaves for productive labor on a large scale, becoming the new upper class of slave owners. It is said that shortly after the adoption of the Lisinius and Suikestus bills, civilian families such as Lisinius, Suikestus and Jinusius became the nouveau riche first. After that, the nouveau riche increased one after another, and by the end of the 4th century BC, there were more than a dozen nouveau riche. Among the nouveau riche, there are also dignitaries from Latin and Oena cities, such as the Fulvi Uss family in Tus Cullom, which is the most famous nouveau riche family in Latin nation.

Wealthy civilians become nouveau riche, and the remaining civilians are mainly farmers who own or lack land, urban craftsmen and businessmen, and the poor. In the process of class struggle, their status has improved. Although the land problem has not been fundamentally solved, with the invasion and expansion of Rome, the establishment of military colonies and the distribution of a small amount of public land have also met the requirements of some civilians for land. According to statistics, from 343 BC to 264 BC, about 60,000 plots of land were distributed to Latin people and Romans, of which about 40,000 were Romans. Debt relief, land concentration has eased, and small farmers in Rome have also been maintained. Free peasants actively supported and participated in Rome's foreign aggression and expansion activities, and they constituted the main source of the Roman army. In addition, due to the improvement of Rome's status, the development of urban industry and commerce, the expansion of civil rights, a large number of immigrants, especially Latin people, moved to Rome, resulting in a rapid increase in urban population. They include a large number of liberated slaves and dependents who are out of protective relationship. At the same time, due to the development of large-scale land ownership, slave labor began to be used on a large scale, which made farmers lose their land and job opportunities. Farmers who lost their land flowed into cities and joined the original urban poor, forming rogue proletarians. In this way, the nouveau riche, as the upper class of the slave owners' ruling class, appeared, and at the same time, a new civilian class was formed.