Unfortunately, in so doing, he used phrases savouring of aristocracy which offended many of his countrymen, - as in the sentence in which he suggested that " the rich, the well-born and the able " should be set apart from other men in a senate.
Another brother, Larichus, was public cup-bearer at Mytilene - a position for which it was necessary to be well born.
Women could also hold priestly rank, though apparently in early times only in the service of goddesses; priestess of Hathor is a frequent title of well-born ladies in the Old Kingdom.
All the greater writers, with the exception of Robert Henryson, were well born and connected with the Household, or in high office.
Livy's easy independent life at Rome, and his aristocratic leanings in politics seem to show that he was the son of well-born and opulent parents; he was certainly well educated, being widely read in Greek literature, and a student both of rhetoric and philosophy.
