ns in small
allotments, incapable of alienation, and subject to a nominal rental to
the state.

*Deposition of the tribune Octavius.* This proposal aroused widespread
consternation among the Senators, who saw their holdings threatened. In
many cases it had doubtless become impossible for them to distinguish
between their private properties and the public lands occupied by their
families for several generations. The Senate resorted to its customary
procedure in protecting its prerogatives and induced a tribune named
Octavius to veto the measure. But Gracchus was terribly in earnest with
his project of reform and took the unprecedented step of appealing to the
Assembly of the Tribes to depose Octavius, on the ground that he was
thwarting the will of the people. The Assembly voiced their approval of
Tiberius by depriving his opponent of his office. The land bill was
thereupon presented to the Assembly and passed. The first commissioners
elected to carry it into effect were Tiberius himself, his younger brother
Caius, and his father-in-law, Appius Claudius.

*Death of Tiberius Gracchus.* To equip the allotments made to poor
settlers, Tiberius proposed the appropriation of the treasure of King
Attalus III of Pergamon, to which the Roman state had lately fallen heir.
Here was a direct attack upon the Senate's customary control of such
matters. But before this proposal could be presented to the Comitia, the
elections to the tribunate for 132 fell due. Tiberius determined to
present himself for re-election in order to ensure the carrying out of his
land law and to protect himself from prosecution on the ground of the
unconstitutionality of some of his actions. Such a procedure was unusual,
if not illegal, and the Senate determined to prevent it at any cost. The
elections culminated in a riot in which Gracchus and three hundred
adherents were massacred by the armed slaves and clients of the senators.
Their bodies were thrown into the Tiber. A judicial commission appointed
by the Senate sought out and punished the leading supporters of the
murdered tribune.

*The fate of the land commission.* However, the land law remained in force
and the commission set to work. But in 129 B. C. the commissioners were
deprived of their judicial powers, and, since they could no longer
expropriate land, their activity practically ceased.

Still, the Senate's opponents were not utterly crushed. In 131 an attempt
was made to legalize re-election