​PLEBS (from the root seen in Lat.plenus, full; cf. Gr.πλῆθος), the “multitude,” or unprivileged class in the early Roman state. For the origin and history of this order seePatricians andNobility. Its disqualifications were originally based on ​descent; but after the political equalization of the two ordersthe name was applied to the lower classes of the population withoutreference to their descent. Under the empire the word isregularly used of the city proletariate, or of the commons asdistinct from knights and senators.