10. The Rise of This Dictator Was Bad News for Rome’s Patricians
Once he secured himself a consulship, Octavius promptly double-crossed the very Senate and senators who had bent the rules to get him the position. He reached an agreement with Mark Antony, and joined him in a power-sharing dictatorship. A generation earlier, after his victory in Rome’s first civil war, the dictator Sulla, head of the conservative patrician Optimates faction, had gone after the Populares faction that had stood for the Roman commoners.
Sulla murdered the Populares by the thousands in terrifying proscriptions. The conservative victory was not permanent, however. As seen below, once Octavius secured power at the head of the Populares, he paid back the Optimates in full, and with interest to boot.