Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/317

 The Western World and Rome 265 at home. To be sure many of them have no higher desire than the opportunity of plundering the provinces themselves, but the landless condition of Rome's citizen-soldiers is destroying the very foundation of Roman power. Two men of the noble class, Tiberius Gracchus and his Reforms of brother Gaius, patriots with the welfare of the State in view, and civil war now (133-122 B.C.) endeavored to better the situation by laws which would redistribute the lands among the citizens and weaken the power of the selfish aristocrats in the Senate. Both men lost their lives in the struggle. The proud and powerful Senate was no longer willing to make concessions to the people as of old. A revolution began, with intermittent civil war which lasted for a century (ending 31 B.C.) (p. 273). As it went on, and the legions were turned against each other, some of the ^greatest, b attles in the history of the ancient world were fough t bet weeiL- Rmnan armie s. At the same time multitudes of slaves seizej L ar ms and t^rorized southern Italy and Sicily for ye ars. As we watch the further course of this century of civil war, Roman insti- we see that the statesman in the Senate more than once found to milftJiy himself confronted by the general from the field backed by po^er Roman legions. Such a commander with a loyal army behind him could force Rome to elect him dictator. He might not abolish the institutions and the outward forms of the republic, but he controlled the State like an absolute monarch. He crushed his enemies, he appropriated their property, and the streets of the city were stained with the blood of her own citizens. Mihtar y power was und ermining Roman institutions.^ Such were the methods of Marius and Sulla — Marius on be- Marius and half of the people and redistribution of lands ; Sulla in defense of the Senate and the wealthy of Rome (81-79 B.C.). Sulla and the Senate triumphed, though Rome was compelled to grant citizenship to the rebellious Italian cities. At Sulla's death the struggle broke out anew. More than one man plotted for the complete overthrow of the Republic, and the gifted orator and literary man Cicero, elected consul in 63 B.C., saved the State