The Paterfamilias in early Rome was The oldest living male in a Family. Option C. He was the head of a Roman Family he excercised authorithy over his extend family and always he had to be a Roman citizen.
The Paterfamilias had the legal privilege over his family and varying levels of authority over his dependents which are his wife and children, certain other relatives through blood or adoption, clients, freedmen, and slaves. He had a duty to father and raise healthy children as future citizens of Rome. According to history, the Paterfamilias had powers of life and death over every member of his extended family.