_Tarquinius Priscus_ made an Addition to these Centuries; the like did _Servius Tullius_, who ordained, that those who should succeed in that Body, should be elected _ex censu_, _viz._ from a considerable and certain Valuation of their Estates, who had the greatest Cense, and were of the most Noble Families, says _Dyonys. Halicarn._ And soon after, the Equestrian Class began to be formed and constituted one of the three Orders of the Commonwealth, which were thus rank’d, according to _Livy_: _Senatus, Ordo Equestris & Plebs_; which in the _Roman_ Literal Notes is set down after this Manner: CON. SEN. E. ORD. P. Q. R. And forasmuch as this Degree is placed between the _Patricians_, or Senators, and the _Plebeians_, it answers exactly the State of our Knights between the Nobility and Commonalty: And from this Order, to the Height of Nobility which resided in the Senators, was the Way prepared; _Junius Brutus_ being the first who was raised to a Senator from the Equestrian Order. IT was a Constitution, as old as _Tiberius_’s Reign, that none should be admitted, unless Free-born, or a Gentleman for three Generations; and, indeed, for a long Time none were elected Knights but the best Sort of Gentlemen, and Persons of Extraction, as was the illustrious _Mœcenas_. _Atavis regibus ortus eques_, Mart. who aspired no higher, not out of any Incapacity of attaining greater Honours, but that he desired them not, says _Paterculus_: Yet at length, thro’ Corruption of Times, Plebeians and Freedmen being too frequently received into this Degree (too near a Parallel among the Knights of this Age) occasion’d their Power to grow less and less, ’till it shrunk to nothing; so that the Places and Offices of Judges which they before had executed, became conferrable upon the _Publicans_. And when _Cicero_ was Consul, _anno ab urbe conditi_ 690, the Equestrian Order stood in need of Re-establishment, whereupon they were then incorporated into that Commonwealth in the third Degree, all Acts passing _in the Name of the Senate, the People of_ Rome, _and the Equestrian Order_. They often enjoy’d Abroad the Government of several Provinces, whereof _Egypt_ had this peculiar to itself, that none of the Senators were admitted, but only those of the Equestrian Order, whose Decrees _Augustus_ commanded to be had in like Regard, as if the Magistrates of _Rome_, or Kings, Consuls, or Prætors, had pronounced them. As a Mark of Eminence, they had the Titles of _Splendidi_ and _Illustres_ bestowed upon them, and sometimes have been called _most sacred_ Knights. AND besides other Privileges, they had Seats with the Senators in the _Circus Maximus_; and by the _Roscian_ Law, sat next them in the Theatres: They had likewise a College called _Collegium Equitum_; and Temples were dedicated to the Goddess _Fortune_, under the Title of _Equestri Fortunæ_.