Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/189

Rh colonists — Romans, Latins, and other Italians. His popularity waned, and on his return he was by fair means or foul defeated at the election of tribunes. On the other hand, his bitterest and most resolute opponent, Lucius Opimius, was elected consul for 121.

Death of Gaius Gracchus. — When the senate had once more become supreme, it had no further use for the Livian bills, which, except possibly one insignificant provision, were never executed. In place of founding a greater numher of colonies, it singled out for attack the useful and important colony at Carthage, and decreed that it be abolished because of unfavorable omens. A tribune in 121 undertook to carry a law to this effect. The excitement again ran high, disorders arose, and martial law was declared (by the senatus consultum ultimum). The consul Lucius Opimius refused to negotiate with Gracchus and Flaccus, and attacked and killed about two hundred and fifty of their followers. Gracchus, who had fled across the Tiber, was at his own request killed by his slave, and Flaccus was slain by his pursuers. Opimius executed about three thousand of the adherents of Gracchus, and, commissioned by the senate, he then built a temple to Concord.

Character of the Legislation of Gracchus. — If Gracchus had succeeded in enlarging the senate and rendering it subservient, in making the centuriate assembly less plutocratic, and in extending Roman citizenship, he might by virtue of his political genius have remained the actual ruler of the state for an indefinite time. This was the tendency of his laws, and may have been his ultimate aim, since he apparently did not realize the instability of his popularity and the precarious character of a position based on annual reëlection without any military support or even the aid of an extensive "spoils system" and a monopoly of public funds.