While the optimates represented the patricians and senators, the popular ones relied on the lower classes. The optimates sought to maintain the power of the Senate and preserve Roman traditions. But the popular ones promoted laws that benefited the commoners, such as the distribution of land. The optimates believed in political unity. Furthermore, they had greater class homogeneity and unity in their interests. On the other hand, the popular ones opposed the optimates, because they sought to increase their influence in the senate.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix stood out as a dominant Roman general and political force, his legacy linked to defending the Senate’s upper echelon and preserving established control. Emerging from a weakened segment of the esteemed Cornelian clan in 138 BC, he gained prominence through battlefield successes and astute alliances, personifying the ideals of the Optimates, those resolutely dedicated to the supremacy of the senatorial aristocracy.