The plebeians were the non-aristocratic, ordinary class. In the early years, roughly 80 % of the citizens were not patricians but rather plebeians, the lower classes. The plebeians themselves were gradually differentiated by stratification. Those who could not afford to serve as soldiers because they did not have the money to purchase weaponry were called the proletarians. Below them were the poorest of the plebeians, simply considered as numbers, without families or money. The correct choice is D.