John Edwin Sandys detects an Optimates grouping at time of the death of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC . The Optimates ' cause reached its peak under the dictatorship ( 81 BC ) of Lucius Cornelius Sulla . Sulla 's administration stripped the assemblies of nearly all power , raised the number of members of the Senate from 300 to 600 , executed an equally large number of Populares via proscription lists and settled thousands of soldiers in northern Italy . However , after Sulla 's withdrawal from public life ( 80 BC ) and subsequent death ( 78 BC ) many of their policies were gradually reversed . Besides Sulla , notable Optimates included Lucullus , Cato the Younger , Titus Annius Milo , Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger . Though the Optimates had opposed him for the entirety of his political career , Pompey also found himself as the leader of the Optimates ' faction once their civil war with Julius Caesar began in 49 BC . Optimates who ( along with disillusioned Populares ) had carried out Julius Caesar 's assassination in 44 BC called themselves Liberatores ( '' liberatores '' meaning " liberators " )
Julius Caesar 's assassination
Assassination of Julius Caesar
Optimates