The Romans stay... but how?

[Dead Moroz]

You get the resources divided in two, not three. You get the world divided between two, not three. You get Italy divided between two, not three. Two factions have more possibilities of expansion than three. It will take longer to trigger civil war for two factions than three. Etc.

Disagree. Especially about civil war.

And this system of Roman factions is related more to political simulation than to conquests. There is only one faction enough to simulate Roman conquest. The only purpose of making 4 Roman factions instead of one is to simulate political struggle within Roman society. All Roman factions must have equal conditions in start to make this system less predictable and to allow it to go it's own way in every new game.