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Populares ("favoring the people", singular popularis) were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 who tended to use the people's assemblies
Roman assemblies

The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new Roman laws, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace...
 and tribunate
Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by 10 elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the exclusive right to propose legislation before it....
 in an effort to break the stranglehold of the Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 on political power. They were opposed by the optimates
Optimates

Optimates were the pro-aristocratic faction of the later Roman Republic. They wished to limit the power of the Roman assemblies and the Tribunes, and to extend the power of the Roman Senate, which was viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats....
.

The populares wanted to strengthen the power of the plebs
Plebs

The Plebs was the general body of Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher class of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian ....
, sharing riches of the nobility
Nobiles

Nobiles, belonged to the small groups of families from both patrician and plebeian origins who had a consul in the family. For instance, Cicero's election as consul meant his family became nobilis....
 with the people, giving away goods such as bread to the poor, and limiting slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
, since slavery took jobs from poor free citizens.

The populares' plans included moving some Roman citizens to provincial colonies; expanding citizenship
Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged social status afforded to certain individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.It is hard to offer meaningful generalities across the entire Roman period, as the nature and availability of citizenship was affected by legislation, for example, the Lex Iulia....
 to communities outside Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
; and modifying the grain dole and monetary value.






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Populares ("favoring the people", singular popularis) were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 who tended to use the people's assemblies
Roman assemblies

The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new Roman laws, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace...
 and tribunate
Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by 10 elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the exclusive right to propose legislation before it....
 in an effort to break the stranglehold of the Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 on political power. They were opposed by the optimates
Optimates

Optimates were the pro-aristocratic faction of the later Roman Republic. They wished to limit the power of the Roman assemblies and the Tribunes, and to extend the power of the Roman Senate, which was viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats....
.

The populares wanted to strengthen the power of the plebs
Plebs

The Plebs was the general body of Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher class of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian ....
, sharing riches of the nobility
Nobiles

Nobiles, belonged to the small groups of families from both patrician and plebeian origins who had a consul in the family. For instance, Cicero's election as consul meant his family became nobilis....
 with the people, giving away goods such as bread to the poor, and limiting slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
, since slavery took jobs from poor free citizens.

The populares' plans included moving some Roman citizens to provincial colonies; expanding citizenship
Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged social status afforded to certain individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.It is hard to offer meaningful generalities across the entire Roman period, as the nature and availability of citizenship was affected by legislation, for example, the Lex Iulia....
 to communities outside Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
; and modifying the grain dole and monetary value. The populares' cause reached its peak under the dictatorship
Roman dictator

Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. The dictator was above the three branches of government in the constitution of the Roman Republic as no other body or officer could check his power....
 of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, their most avid leader. After the creation of the Second Triumvirate
Second Triumvirate

The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic....
 (43 BC–33 BC), the cause of the populares was essentially lost in the ensuing power struggle.

Besides Caesar, notable populares included the Gracchi brothers
Gracchi

The Gracchi brothers were a pair of tribunes in 2nd century BC who attempted to pass land reform legislation in Ancient Rome that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians....
, Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman Republic general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic Marian Reforms of Roman legion, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens and reorganizing the structure of the legions into separate Cohort ....
, Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna

Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Rome Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
, Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher , was a Roman Republic politician of the Populares cause, who passed several significant laws but was chiefly remembered for his feuds with Titus Annius Milo and Marcus Tullius Cicero and for his introduction of the grain dole....
, and (during the First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate

The First Triumvirate is a term used by some historians to refer to the unofficial Rome political alliance of Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey....
) Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman Republic general and politician who commanded Sulla's decisive victory at Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the Slavery revolt led by Spartacus and entered into a secret pact, known as the First Triumvirate, with Pompey and Julius Caesar....
 and Pompey
Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
. Both Pompey and Crassus had, however, fought on the side of Sulla during the civil war
Sulla's second civil war

Sulla's second civil war was one of a series of Roman Republican civil warss of ancient Rome. It was fought between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius the younger in 82 BC....
, and after the death of Crassus, Pompey eventually reverted to his position as a conservative optimas.