Editing Gracchi brothers (section)

=== Gaius ===
{{further|Gaius Gracchus}}

Discontent among the Italian allies had grown between Tiberius' land commission and the later 120s&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=58}} One of the land commissioners elected in the early 120s&nbsp;BC, [[Marcus Fulvius Flaccus (consul 125 BC)|Marcus Fulvius Flaccus]] had served as consul in 125&nbsp;BC and – according to Appian – proposed a compromise giving the allies Roman citizenship in exchange for acquiescence to Roman reassertion of claims to the {{lang|la|ager publicus}}. This proposal, however, fell through when Flaccus was dispatched to war in Transalpine Gaul; relations with the allies were also not helped by the revolt and destruction of the Latin colony of [[Fregellae]] when Flaccus' proposals were withdrawn.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1p=59|Lintott|1994b|2p=76}}

Gaius positioned himself politically as the inheritor of Tiberius' popularity and political programme. After a quaestorship, he was elected fourth in the tribunician elections of 124&nbsp;BC;{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=59–60}} after his election, he cast his brother's death as "a failure by the plebeians to maintain their tradition of defending their tribunes".{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=77}} Unlike his brother, Gaius' proposals largely did not relate to land.<ref>{{harnvb|Roselaar|2010|pp=241–42|ps=. "[T]he sources are rather vague about the agrarian activities of Gaius ... His recorded agrarian activity is quite limited; Appian and Plutarch describe in some detail [colonial programmes] but for viritane distributions Gaius could simply revive his brother's law".}}</ref> Over two years, he proposed broad legislation touching all parts of Roman government, from tax collection to senatorial provincial assignments.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=59–60}}

==== Reforms ====
[[File:M. Marcius, AR denarius, 134 BC, RRC 245-1.jpg|thumb|right|Denarius of Marcus Marcius minted in 134&nbsp;BC. The [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|modius]] on the obverse and the corn-ears on the reverse refer to his ancestor Manius Marcius, [[plebeian aedile]] {{circa|440&nbsp;BC}}, who made a distribution of grain at a cheap price of 1 [[As (Roman coin)|as]] per modius.{{sfn|Crawford|1974|p=277}} ]]

During his first tribunate, he proposed a number of laws. First, he proposed legislation to bar anyone who the people had deposed from office from further office. This was, however, dropped at the instigation of his mother Cornelia. The proposal was likely meant to intimidate the other tribunes so they would not exercise their vetoes.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1pp=61–62|Broughton|1951|2p=513}} He then passed legislation reaffirming ''[[provocatio]]'' rights and retroactively extending them to the sentences of exile which the consular commission in 132&nbsp;BC had passed against Tiberius' supporters. [[Publius Popillius Laenas]], the consul who had led the commission and was thereby opened to prosecution for violating those rights, immediately left the city for exile in Campania.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=62–63}}

Gaius also moved legislation which would benefit the rich [[Equites|equestrians]], especially those who served as Rome's [[public contractor]]s (the ''[[publican]]i''):
* Gaius changed the bidding location of public [[tax farming]] contracts from the provinces to Rome, which increased oversight and favoured high-ranking equites in the capital rather than provincial elites.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1p=65|Broughton|1951|2p=514}}
* He also passed legislation to build roads, which he would oversee, with contracts let out to the equestrians.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=65}}
* He also made {{lang|la|equites}} the dominant body for juries for the permanent court on corruption. After, however, the acquittal of a corrupt consul that year, Gaius, with the support of an allied tribune, made the {{lang|la|equites}} the sole class staffing the juries.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=66, 70–71 }}

Gaius also recognised the weakness of Tiberius' coalition, which relied only on the rural plebs, and therefore sought to expand it.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=66}} To do so, he courted the urban plebs with legislation establishing Roman colonies both in Italy and abroad at Carthage.<ref>The bill to establish a colony at Carthage was moved by his ally in the tribunate, Gaius Rubrius. {{harvnb|Broughton|1951|p=517}}.</ref> He also carried legislation to stop deduction of soldier pay for equipment and to establish a minimum age for conscription at 17.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=66–67}} In this package, Gaius also introduced the grain subsidy which allowed all citizens to purchase grain at a subsidised price of six and two-thirds [[Sestertius|sesterces]] per {{lang|la|[[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Dry measure|modius]]}}.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=68}}<ref>{{harvnb|Garnsey|Rathbone|1985|p=20|ps=, noting also that the claim that the grain was provided for nothing at App. ''BCiv.'', 1.21, is incorrect and contradicted by Livy and a surviving commentary on Cicero's ''Pro Sestio''.}}</ref>

Further legislation also regulated the magistrates and the senate. Even though the ancient sources generally cast these reforms as part of "an elaborate plot against the authority of the senate... he showed no sign of wanting to replace the senate in its normal functions".{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=78}} Nor were his reforms meant to undermine the senate indirectly or establish a democracy.{{sfnm|Badian|2012|Mackay|2009|2p=68|Lintott|1994b|3p=78}} Rather, Gaius was seeking to have the senators act more in the public interest rather than in their own private interests.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=68}}  To that end, with an ally in the tribunate, [[Acilia gens|Manlius Acilius Glabrio]], he also moved legislation reforming the provincial corruption laws.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=71–72}} Also importantly, he passed the {{lang|la|lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus}}, which required the senate to assign consular provinces prior to the elections of the consuls and insulated this decision from tribunician veto.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=72–73}}

Some ancient sources claim that Gaius wanted to change voting procedures in the [[wikt:timocracy|timocratic]] {{lang|la|comitia centuriata}} to make it more democratic.<ref>Eg {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=517–18}}, citing Ps.-Sall. ''Ad Caes. sen.'' 8.1.</ref> However, this claim is dubious and largely rejected.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Badian |first=E. |date=1962 |title=From the Gracchi to Sulla |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4434742 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=11 |issue=2 |issn=0018-2311 |pages=244–45 |jstor=4434742 }}</ref>

Gaius made an extremely controversial proposal to improve the state of the Latins and the other Italian allies: the Latins would receive full Roman citizenship with the Italians upgraded to [[Latin rights]]. Doing so further extended to Italians, via Latin rights, the right to vote if present in Rome during elections. This proposal died: the specifics are not entirely clear, it may have been vetoed or otherwise simply withdrawn;{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|pp=82–83}} recent scholarship now trends towards a veto from Livius Drusus.{{sfn|Santangelo|2007|p=481}} Gaius, after taking some leave to set up a colony near Carthage, attempted to stand for a third tribunate, but was unsuccessful. It is said that he had sufficient popular support to have been elected, but was not returned because the ten tribunician offices had already been filled.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=83}}

==== Death ====

Early in the year 121&nbsp;BC, attempts were made to repeal portions of Gaius' legislation. The main point of repeal, however, was not agrarian legislation or his subsidised grain bill, but the comparatively minor question of the proposed colony at Carthage.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|pp=83–84}} After an attendant was killed in the streets by Gaius' supporters, Gaius and his ally Flaccus were summoned to defend themselves before the senate; they refused and barricaded themselves with armed followers on the [[Aventine hill]]. Their refusal was tantamount to rebellion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Badian |first=Ernst |date=1984 |title=The Death of Saturninus |url=https://publications.dainst.org/journals/chiron/article/view/1237 |journal=Chiron |volume=14 |doi=10.34780/1497-zt32 |issn=2510-5396 |page=118 |quote=[C. Gracchus'] own case, two years later, was quite different. He was himself {{lang|la|privatus}}, and he had responded to a summons to the Senate by joining his armed followers on the Aventine. This was rebellion, and it would be widely accepted that emergency action was the only answer. }}</ref> A ''[[senatus consultum ultimum]]'' was then moved, instructing the consul [[Lucius Opimius]] to ensure the state came to no harm and urging him to suppress Gaius and Flaccus on the Aventine. With a force of militia and Cretan archers, Opimius stormed the Aventine, killing Flaccus and his sons; Gaius was either killed or forced to commit suicide. Opimius then presided over drumhead courts investigating and executing many of Gaius and Flaccus' supporters.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=84}}

In the end, most of Gaius' reforms were preserved; archaeology has discovered evidence of Gracchan land colonial activities in Africa {{circa|119&nbsp;BC}} and the land commission remained in operation until 111&nbsp;BC. By that point, almost all land available to distribute had already been distributed.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|pp=85, 87}}{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=278}} In the whole, "the aristocracy's reaction resembled that of a general dealing with a mutiny, who accedes to most of the demands but executes the ringleaders to preserve discipline".{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=85}}