And so in a short time the Roman people will neither have a king of the sacrifices, nor flamines, nor Salii, nor one half of the rest of the priests, nor any one who has a right to open the comitia centuriata, or curiata; and the auspices of the Roman people must come to an end if no patrician magistrates are created, as there will be no interrex, for he must be a patrician, and must be nominated by a patrician. I said before the priests, that that adoption had not been approved by any decree of this college; that it had been executed contrary to every provision of the sacerdotal law; that it ought to be considered as no adoption at all; and if there is an end to that, you see at once that there is an end likewise of the whole of your tribuneship.
Cic. Dom. 38
Cicero here has come back from exile and wants his house back, but this passage is just a lovely round up of jobs that could only be done by patricians at the end of the Roman republic. He is looking for reasons why it is bad that Clodius was adopted from the small number of patricians into the plebeian ranks so he could become tribune, and the argument turns on a shortage of patricians. Not great logic, but pretty fun historical evidence.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 