Singular of optimates, a member of the traditionalist, conservative wing of the Senate in the Late Republic.
Optimas
Fact of the Day
In 1875 the king of Fiji brought back measles from a state visit to Australia and wiped out 25% of his own people.
Quote of the Day
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
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~ Friedrich Engels
On This Day
1829 The Roman Catholic Relief Act received royal assent. It allowed British Catholics to vote, hold public office, and sit in parliament.
1912 The Royal Flying Corps was founded.
1919 British troops slaughter hundreds of unarmed Indian civilians in Amritsar at the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
1970 Late in the evening, an explosion in one of the oxygen tanks after a routine procedure caused crisis and a mission abort for Apollo 13.
