Roman Civil War

[Democratic Hawk]

In 133BC, the murder of the Tribune Tiberius Gracchus triggered events that would ultimately plunge the Roman Republic into civil war between two major factions:

The optimates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimates and the populares http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populares

Who might have you supported?

Dave (currently addicted to Rome airing on BBC 2)

N.B. Pompey the Great was, basically, an optimate except for his period of alignment with Caesar and Crassus in the First Triumvirate

[afleitch]

I really enjoyed this when I was doing Classical Studies. I would have supported the populares as they wished to extend citizenship.

[Blue Rectangle]

Optimates.

There is plenty of good and bad on each side.  The fall of the Republic and the birth of the Empire is full of flawed heros and complex personalities, which is what makes it so interesting.

I prefer the Optimates because they had real philosophical groundwork for their position, as opposed to the Populares, which seemed to be driven more by Caesar's personality.  Of course, personality trumps ideals in politics always, which is why the Optimates made the uncomfortable (especially to Cato and Cicero) decision to promote Pompey as an alternative.  Caesar won mainly because of the loyalty of his supporters, such as Marcus Antonius, who mostly put personal ambition above any ideal.  (Eventually, this is what got Caesar killed.)  The Optimates failed for the opposite reason: infighting among idealistic factions prevented Pompey from being an effective leader.

[jokerman]

Populares (normal)

[Democratic Hawk]

I voted Populares of course, but I really think both Pompey and Julius Caesar deserved to die of old age, or natural causes, or in battle, rather than at the hands of such treachery

Both Pompey and Caesar were men of distinction. Of course, among Romans, Augustus was probably my ideal though his step-grandson/grandson-in-law Germanicus would have made a splendid Emperor had he lived (which is more than I can say for that son of his)

Dave