#plebians

On their conclusion of the games, the tribunes started addressing meetings at which they abused the mob for allowing their absurd admiration of their political enemies to keep them in perpetual servitude, too craven-spirited either to aspire to a share in the consulship or even to spare a thought for themselves or their friends at the election of military tribunes, in spite of the fact that candidates from either party were eligible.

'Do not be surprised,' they went on to say, 'if nobody bothers to consult your interests; a man will work hard and face risks when he can hope for profit and place as a result, and he will shrink from nothing if only he knows that the reward is likely to be worthy of the attempt; but you can neither ask nor expect a tribune to shut his eyes and go charging, with great peril and no profit, into a struggle which will inevitably subject him to the remorseless persecution of the senatorial party, while you yourselves, for whom he risks all, do not lift a finger to add to his honours.’

‘No, no: ambition cannot live upon air - aspiration must have something to aspire to. No plebeian will despise himself, once you, as a class, get proper recognition. It is high time we proved in a practical way whether some plebeian is fit for high office - or whether we are to assume that vigour or ability in men of our class is a sort of monstrosity only fit to make people gasp with astonishment.’

'We did storm the fortress of privilege in procuring the legalization of our candidature for the office of military tribune with consular powers, and we did put forward candidates with fine military and political records; but with what result? They were kicked around, rejected and jeered at by the patricians, so that as time went on they stopped exposing themselves to such insulting treatment. It seems to us that one might as well abrogate a law, if its sole purpose is to legalize something which can never happen; surely there would be less shame in submitting to injustice and in accepting inequality than in being passed over because nobody thinks we are worth their notice.’

plural noun (usually the hoi polloi) 

derogatory the masses; the common people: avoid mixing with the hoi polloi.

Hoi polloi is an expression from Greek that means the many or, in the strictest sense, the people. In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the masses. 

Hoi polloi is sometimes used incorrectly to mean ‘upper class’—that is, the exact opposite of its normalmeaning. It seems likely that theconfusion arose by association with thesimilar-sounding but otherwise unrelated word hoity-toity.