A representative democracy is a system where citizens of a country vote for government representatives to handle legislation and ruling the country on their behalf. It is the opposite of direct democracy, where the public gets to vote on laws to be passed and other issues; and autocracy, where a dictator has absolute power and the people have no say in how a country is governed.
The wealthiest citizens of ancient Rome were "patricians"--meaning literally "fathers". These people were not only the wealthiest but had by far the most political sway of any other social group.