What did Republicans in ancient Rome do?

Answer 1

The Romans did not have political parties and therefore did not have a Republican party. In the late Roman Republic two political factions developed. One, the optimates, favoured the interest of the aristocracy and its power was based on the unelected and aristocracy-dominated senate. The other, the popularis, championed the cause of the poor and its power was based on the plebeian tribunes (the representatives of the plebeians, the commoners) and the plebeian Council.

The term republican is used only in relation to the five-year rule of Julius Caesar. Caesar changed the political system of the Roman Republic and concentrated power in his hands. He changed the senate so that it was filled with his supporters and ended the elections of public officials, who became his appointees. He also gave rise to suspicions that he wanted to become a king. Some leading men were opposed to these changes and wanted to save the Republic and did so by murdering Caesar. The Roman Republic had been established some 500 years earlier in a rebellion which deposed the last king of Rome, who was a tyrant. The Romans had decided to do away with the monarchy to prevent the return of tyranny. These republican men equated monarchy with tyranny.