optimas

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

optĭmas: (optŭm-), ātis, adj. optimus,
I of or belonging to the best or noblest, aristocratic: res publica, quae ex tribus generibus illis, regali et optumati et populari confusa modice, Cic. Rep. 2, 23, 41 (from Non. 342, 31): matronae opulentae, optimates, Enn. ap. Cic. Fam. 7, 6, 1 (Trag. v 294 Vahl.).—Hence, subst.: optĭmas (optŭm-), ātis, usually in plur.: optĭmātes (optŭm-), um and ĭum, comm., the adherents of the best men, in a political sense, i. e. the aristocratic party, the aristocrats (opp. populares, the popular party; cf.: primores, proceres): qui ita se gerebant, ut sua consilia optimo cuique probarent, optimates habebantur ... sunt principes consilii publici, sunt, qui eorum sectam sequuntur, Cic. Sest. 45, 96: cum (summa rerum) est penes delectos, tum illa civitas optimatium arbitrio regi dicitur (opp. to the regnum and the civitas popularis), id. Rep. 1, 26, 42; so, in optimatium dominatu, id. ib. 1, 27, 43: contra voluntatem omnium optimatum, id. Inv. 2, 17, 52: plebis, et optimatium certamina, Tac. A. 4, 32: omnes optimates Juda et Jerusalem, Vulg. Jer 27, 20 et saep.—In sing.: dum pudet te parum optimatem esse, Cael. ap Cic. Att. 10, 9, A, 2.

Latin > French (Gaffiot 2016)

optĭmās,¹⁵ ātis (optimus), adj., formé des meilleurs, de l’aristocratie : Cic. Rep. 2, 41 ; Enn. Scen. 259 ; Apul. Apol. 12 || subst. m., optĭmās, Cæl. d. Cic. Att. 10, 9 a, 2 et surtout le pl. optĭmātēs, ĭum ou um, [les gens du meilleur parti politique, d’après Cicéron, c.-à.-d. le parti du sénat, conservateur et aristocratique] les aristocrates, les optimates : Cic. Sest. 96 ; Rep. 1, 42 ; 43. abl. sing. optimati Cic. Rep. 2, 41.

Latin > German (Georges)

optimās (optumas), ātis (optimus), einer von den Besten, -Edelsten, genus (Ggstz. genus regale u. populare), Cic. de rep. 2, 41 (wo Abl. optimati): matronae optimates, Enn. fr. scen. 259: amor, Apul. apol. 12 (wo Abl. optimati): eminentia, Chalcid. Tim. 44 D. – subst., optimās, ātis, m., der es mit dem Wohle des Staates hält, der Patriot, und da die Patrioten meist auf der Seite des Senates u. der Vornehmen waren = der Aristokrat, te parum optimatem esse, Cael. b. Cic. ad Att. 10, 9. litt. A. § 2. – gew. Plur. optimātēs, Genet. gewöhnl. um, selten ium, m., die Patrioten = die aristokratische Partei, die Aristokraten (Ggstz. populares, die Volksmänner, die Volkspartei), Cic. u.a.: als fem., optimates Gothicae, edle gotische Frauen, Lampr. Bonos. 15, 6.

Latin > English

optimas optimatis N M :: aristocrat, patrician; wellborn; nobles/patricians/"Good men" adherent/partisan

Wikipedia EN

The Optimates (/ˈɒptəmɪts/; Latin for "best ones", singular: optimas), also known as boni ("good men"), were an elitist-conservative political faction in the late Roman Republic.

They formed in reaction against the reforms of the Gracchi brothers—two tribunes of the plebs between 133 and 121 BC who tried to pass an agrarian law to help the urban poor, and a political reform that would have diminished the influence of the senatorial class. As the Optimates were senators and large landowners, they violently opposed the Gracchi, and finally murdered them, but the latters' program was upheld by several politicians, called the Populares ("favouring the people"). For about 80 years, Roman politics was marked by the confrontation of these two factions. The Optimates favoured the ancestral Roman laws and customs, as well as the supremacy of the Senate over the popular assemblies and the tribunes of the plebs. They also rejected the massive extension of Roman citizenship to Rome's Italian allies advocated by the Populares. Although suspicious of powerful generals, they sided with Pompey when they came to believe that Julius Caesar—himself a Popularis—planned a coup against the Republic. They disappeared with their defeat in the subsequent Civil War.

While several leaders of the Optimates were patricians—belonging to the oldest noble families—such as Sulla or Scipio Nasica Serapio, many were plebeians: the Caecilii Metelli, Pompey, Cato the Younger, Titus Annius Milo, etc. Cicero, the most famous Optimas, was even a novus homo (the first of his gens to be senator).