EQUITES ("horsemen" or "knights," from _equus_, "horse"), in Roman history, originally a division of the army, but subsequently a distinct political order, which under the empire resumed its military character. According to the traditional account, Romulus instituted a cavalry corps, consisting of three _centuriae_ ("hundreds"), called after the three tribes from which they were taken (Ramnes, Tities, Luceres), divided into ten _turmae_ ("squadrons") of thirty men each. The collective name for the corps was _celeres_ ("the swift," or possibly from [Greek: keles], "a riding horse"); Livy, however, restricts the term to a special body-guard of Romulus. The statements in ancient authorities as to the changes in the number of the equites during the regal period are very confusing; but it is regarded as certain that Servius Tuillus found six centuries in existence, to which he added twelve, making eighteen in all, a number which remained unchanged throughout the republican period. A proposal by M. Porcius Cato the elder to supplement the deficiency in the cavalry by the creation of four additional centuries was not adopted. The earlier centuries were called _sex suffragia_ ("the six votes"), and at first consisted exclusively of patricians, while those of Servius Tullius were entirely or for the most part plebeian. Until the reform of the comitia centuriata (probably during the censorship of Gaius Flaminius in 220 B.C.; see COMITIA), the equites had voted first, but after that time this privilege was transferred to one century selected by lot from the centuries of the equites and the first class. The equites then voted with the first class, the distinction between the _sex suffragia_ and the other centuries being abolished. Although the equites were selected from the wealthiest citizens, service in the cavalry was so expensive that the state gave financial assistance. A sum of money (_aes equestre_) was given to each eques for the purchase of two horses (one for himself and one for his groom), and a further sum for their keep (_aes hordearium_); hence the name _equites equo publico_. In later times, pay was substituted for the _aes hordearium_, three times as much as that of the infantry. If competent, an eques could retain his horse and vote after the expiration of his ten years' service, and (till 129 B.C.) even after entry into the senate.