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Why Was There A Political Divide Between The Optimates And The Populares

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The Roman Republic was created in 509 BCE when the Romans revolted against the Etruscans. Rome became an independent republic controlled by wealthy landowners, also known as the Patricians. The commoners throughout Rome were known as the Plebeians, and there was a constant struggle over rights between these two groups. In later years, the expansion of Rome led to a political divide. In this political divide, two factions emerged; the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates were the most powerful families in Rome and wanted to preserve the current state of the Republic because it allowed the senators to control power. The Populares was full of farmers and was more focused on the causes of the regular man. The more wealthy citizens slowly began to buy land for their homes, which caused small farmers to begin to lose their jobs. Food was beginning to shrink, and thousands of Populares had lost their jobs. This created more animosity between the two factions. …show more content…

Tiberius Gracchus wanted to make land reforms which would protect the commoners. He wanted the excess land bought by the Optimates to be distributed among the peasants. The Senate believed he was doing this to gain power and sent the Optimates to kill him and his followers. Gaius Gracchus also wanted to help the poorer people in Rome. He proposed a law that would lower the price of grain and also wanted to create colonies for the commoners to allow them to own land. The Senate once again felt threatened by Gaius’ plan and killed him to preserve the Republic. This further broke the stability of the

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The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, had intentions of making Rome the best it could be, which contradicted the visions of the Senators. The two brothers grew up during a tough time in the Roman Empire, but they took it upon themselves to make a difference. “The Empire went through tremendous growth, through both acquisition of land, slaves, and various citizen classes.” This drastic growth ultimately led to a fall in the Roman political system. Tiberius, the older brother, founded the idea of the agrarian laws, which was later continued by his younger brother, Gaius, after his death.

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Tiberius built on this trust with the plebs, and told them he could get their land back, and that he wanted to help. This is prompted him to become tribune. After achieving this status, he chose to identify one of Rome's biggest problems, the distribution of land. He claimed that the upper class had too much and the lower class had too little. Therefore he proposed a new law to be passed.

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Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, better known as the ‘Gracchi Brothers’ were a pair of tribunes descending from the plebs from the 2nd century BCE who sought to introduce land reforms and other legislations that aligned with their populist views/ideas. It can be said that the career of the two brothers was marked by murder, riots and outright manipulation of the power they were granted which completely altered the state of Roman politics- aiding in the breakdown of the Roman Republic. The legislation they sought to pass essentially redistributed major aristocratic land ownership among the commoners such as the urban poor and veterans. After achieving little success during the early stages of the reforms, both were assassinated by enemy parties.

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Caesar himself documented a letter in 46 BC, stating his political aims to achieve ‘peace for the provinces, and security for the Empire’ (source 11). Although possibly serving as propaganda, Caesar essentially represents himself as champion of Rome. This did indeed occur, as Caesar established stability by establishing a uniform system of government among the provinces, and also reforming the tax system in order to reduce corruption (source 9). In addition, measures were passed in order to relieve debt and stabilise the economy, while the amount of senators was increased to 900, simultaneously increasing the number of praetors, questers and aediles (source 9). By increasing the number of senatorial positions, essentially, Caesar was transferring power to the plebeians, which is an obvious contradiction to claims Caesar was merely seeking personal glory, as his power was used to enhance

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Furthermore, when the author describes how Tiberius handled his plans, he states, “interempto senatu”, making Tiberius appear to have negative intentions for the senate. In his “doing away with” the senate, Tiberius is depicted to be discarding a traditional Roman value. In this way, the author chooses specific words to make Tiberius appear to be someone who cared about power for himself, but had no regards for the republic- and was thusly

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For example, a bill introduced by Tiberius was without consultation with the Senate, which “was not illegal, but it violated a custom of long standing.” Furthermore, upon receiving a veto by fellow tribune Marcus Octavius, Tiberius had him removed from office with his power, which was unconstitutional. Such actions on his behalf led the Senate to fear his growing alleged tyrant power which eventually led to a revolt in which Tiberius and many of his followers were killed. Similarly, Gaius Gracchus was killed along with his supporters by his political foes as a result of his agrarian reforms that were accumulating a massive public following. These events portray one of the biggest aspects of the Gracchi legacy, which was violence as a means of political resolution.

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This demonstrates one of the reasons for the outbreak of the war. The Senate did not want to relinquish its power or authority to Caesar and so opposed his actions. Plutarch tells us that at a time, Pompey was willing to grant Caesar some of his demands but was actually denied the chance by Lentulus, the consul. This suggests that the optimates, if they wanted peace at all, wanted it on their own terms and not those of Caesar.

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Land is a very controversial topic during the time of Tiberius Gracchus, especially between the rich and poor of the Roman Empire. Whereas the rich believed that in order to own land, a person must be of wealth; Tiberius Gracchus and many of the poor believed the laws for land were made to be equal between the social classes. The problem of land became a problem of conquest during the third Punic War, as Carthage was conquered by Rome and their military and tribune leader, Tiberius Gracchus (Movie). Tiberius Gracchus was an imperfect politician; he strived for equality and power. Once the land of Carthage was conquered, the poor (plebeians), had nowhere to go; the rich (aristocrats) took over the land.

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