Michael Korovkin Mar 25, 2009:

Simon, toga is a metaphor of nobility and power – no, not either nobility OR power but both together. Even "the upper classes" is, in my carefully considered opinion, a completely wrong answer.Ma "professional" non c'entra proprio niente.Scusa,eh?

simon tanner Mar 25, 2009:

bit late now, seeing as you have closed, but for what it's worth at that point I would have said 'professional classes'. Obviously no point posting it now, though...

Hilary Bruce (asker) Mar 25, 2009:

Yes. It was for privacy reasons. Just because if I put the name of the family in, the document would be easy to trace in internet and I thought it would be best to avoid any complications. However, we're talking about a family that managed to gain the status of nobles thanks to financial fortunes accumulated through commercial or banking activities or the execution of administrative or judicial offices.

simon tanner Mar 25, 2009:

perhaps for reasons of privacy, you don't want to tell us the name of the family, although if it's history, why not? I only ask, because a look at the family history might help understand what kind of 'togato' we're talking about - nobles, judges...