The regulation of the patronage relationship was believed by the Greek historians Dionysius and Plutarch to be one of the early concerns of Romulus; hence it was dated to the very founding of Rome.[1] In the earliest periods, patricians would have served as patrons; both patricius, "patrician", and patronus are related to the Latin word pater, "father", in this sense symbolically, indicating the patriarchal nature of Roman society.