f killed by a faithful
slave, and a judicial commission condemned three thousand of his
followers.

*The consequences of the Gracchan disorders.* The memory of the Gracchi
retained a lasting hold upon the affections of the Roman plebs. But
although both were earnest patriots, who made a sincere attempt to reform
existing abuses in the state, one cannot but feel that the success of
their political aims would have brought about no permanent improvement. To
substitute for the Senate the fickle Assembly as the governing force in
the state was no true democratic measure owing to the fact that the
Assembly did not properly represent the mass of the citizen body, and as
the future years were to show, would merely have shifted the reins of
power from one incompetent body to another more incompetent still. As it
was, the Senate, although victorious, emerged from the contest weakened in
authority and prestige, and having left a feeling of bitter resentment in
the hearts of its opponents. It owed its success to violence and not to
legal measures and thus offered a precedent which others might follow
against itself. The alliance between the equestrians and the urban
proletariat while it lasted had proven stronger than the Senate, and this
lesson, too, was not lost upon future statesmen. Besides the loss of some
of its prerogatives, the Senate was weakened by the consolidation of the
business interests as a political party, with which it was brought into
sharp opposition over the question of provincial government. Well might
Caius Gracchus declare that by his judiciary law he had "thrust a dagger
into the side of the Senate." For the provincials, the result of this law
was to usher in an era of increased oppression and misgovernment. The
refusal of the Romans to grant the franchise to the allies served to
estrange them still further from Rome. On the whole we may say that
conditions in Rome, Italy and the provinces were worse after the time of
the Gracchi than before.

*Fate of the agrarian legislation.* It is impossible to estimate how many
Romans received allotments of land under the Gracchan laws. Although the
census list rose from 317,000 in 136 to 394,000 in 125, we cannot ascribe
this increase altogether to an increase in the number of small
proprietors. The admission of freedmen to citizenship doubtless accounts
for many. Still there was beyond question a decided addition made to the
free peasantry. The colony of Junonia was