Capite censi were literally, in
Latin, "those counted by head" in the
ancient Roman census. Also known as "the head count", the term was used to refer to the lowest class of citizens, people not of the
nobility or
middle classes, owning little or no property, thus they were counted by the head rather than by their property. Initially
capite censi was synonymous with
proletarii, meaning those citizens whose property was too small to be rated for the census. Later though, the
proletarii were distinguished from the
capite censi as having "appreciable property" to the value of 11,000
asses or less. In contrast, the
capite censi are assumed to have not owned any property of significance.