In some contexts, the equites were subsumed into the wider category of boni, while in others the two groups were clearly distinguished. The question is how they were separated – what were the criteria? And were there implications for the place of the boni in public life, especially in relation to the judicial process? To clarify these questions, we will first have to define Rome’s second order, the ordo equester. Currently the debate evolves around two basic positions, which adopt what we might call the ‘minimalist’ and the ‘maximalist’ approach. The former focuses on the archaic institution of the equus publicus – ‘the public horse’ – as the sole qualifying attribute of an eques, while the latter applies a much broader definition that comprises all those who fulfilled the equestrian census requirement, probably set at HS 400,000 during the late republic.