The Roman elite

The Roman elite is not necessarily the same as the Roman nobility, as the former refers per its terms and their meaning, to a selection of what accords to Rome in general sense, but nobility to status that was relatively changeable in Roman history, but ‘noble’ in the Latin Roman sense refers to ‘fame among elite peers’, so that a noble was a person famous among the Roman elite. The Roman elite disputed the nobility of other Romans, as seen in changes of guard, and changes of record and official recognition, when an emperor replaces an emperor. Often disputes among the Roman elite over who comprises the Roman nobility resulted in Civil War.
See: The Roman empire.