NOBILITY Copy link • NOBILITYNoble birth, rank, etc., generosa stirps (nobility of birth); nobilitas, genus nobile (descent from ancestors who bore offices of state, whether patrician or plebeian by birth): nobilitas equestris, natalium splendor equester (of the order of knights; Vid: Gierig., Plin., Ep., 10, 3, 5): old nobility, generis antiquitas, vetus nobilitas, avita nobilitas: new nobility, nobilitas nova, novitas: one of the new nobility, homo novus or a se ortus: a man of high nobility, antiquo genere natus, veteris prosapiae et multarum imaginum (Sall., Jug., 85, 10); sanguine avito nobilis (Propertius, 2, 22, 23): to be of the nobility, nobili loco natum esse: to be of old nobility, generis antiquitate florere, multarum imaginum esse: to be of new nobility, a se ortum esse, una imagine esse nobilem: to be of high nobility, summo loco natum esse. Nobleness of mind, animi splendor (innate): generositas; ingenuitas (by education). Virtue is true nobility, ex virtute fit nobilitas (☞ Liv., 34). The nobles, nobilitas; (homines) nobiles. The higher nobility, nobiles majorum gentium: the lower nobility, nobiles, or patricii, minorum gentium.