belonged to the men of the new generation
who wanted far-reaching changes, and they believed that any change must
be at their expense. They at once began attacking Caius. They accused
him of coming home before his time of service abroad was up. They even
declared that he, the most scrupulously honest and disinterested of men,
had made more money than he ought to have done from the various posts he
had held. Caius turned on them. He had already served twelve years in
the army. As for making money: 'I am the only man who went out with a
full purse and returned with an empty one. Others took out casks of wine
for themselves, and when they had emptied them brought the casks back
filled with gold and silver.' He lived not in the rich quarter of Rome
among the high-born and wealthy, but among the poor near the Forum. He
was elected tribune by an overwhelming majority and at once set to work.

His main idea was a really great and original one; nothing less than the
extension of Roman citizenship, in so far as voting rights went, to the
people of Italy. The Italians were called to serve in Rome's armies. The
best soldiers, indeed, had always come from outside the capital. The
Italians paid heavier taxes; they ought to share in the benefits of Rome
and have a voice in its government. Caius Gracchus indeed dreamed of
making the Government of Rome a real democracy. It was a magnificent
dream; but the people were not ready for it. In fact it was only after a
bitter war that the Italians won from the Romans the right to vote.
Gracchus knew that his plan could not be carried through at once; but he
had worked out a series of Bills which would, he believed, pave the way
for it. Until they were through he said nothing of his great scheme.

_Caius Gracchus. The varied Activities of a popular Leader_

When the people had not only passed this law, but actually
commissioned Gracchus to appoint the judges from the Order of the
Knights, he became invested with a kind of royal authority, and
even the senators were ready to listen to his counsel. When he
gave it, he always proposed something to their credit, as, for
example, a most just and honourable decree about the corn which
the proconsul Fabius had sent from Spain. He persuaded the Senate
to sell the corn and return the money to the cities from which it
came, and furthermore to censure Fabius for making his rule
burdensome and unendurable to the inhabitants; and t