Politics, Persuasion, and the People Asregardsself-representation,senatorscanbefoundrepeatedlycontrast-
ingthemselveswithothers,namedandunnamed,justasGaiusGracchusdid
after his quaestorship.They never, to my knowledge, proclaim their own
attachmenttoanygroup;iftheyunderlinetheirassociationswithanyone,
itiswithmembersoftheirownfamilies,bothpastandfuture.Association
with past members of the family was precisely the function of the public
funeral oration, delivered from the Rostra; Q. Lutatius Catulus, consul of
,wasthefirsttodeliveroneforawoman,hismotherPopilia(Deor.,),
thussettingaprecedentforCaesar.Nothingcouldmoreclearlyhaveunder-
linedthepublicsignificanceoftheprominentfamily.Thenextgeneration
toocouldbepubliclypresented;inhishourofdanger,asSemproniusAsel-
lio recorded,Tiberius Gracchus produced his male children in public and
commended them to the care of the people (Aulus Gellius,NA, ). By
comparison,C.PapiriusCarboArvina,tribunein,wastorecallinapub-
licmeetingthecontrastbetweenLiviusDrusus,thedeceasedtribuneofthe
previousyear,andhisfather,LiviusDrusus,consulin.TheyoungCicero
heardhimspeak(Orator):
O Marcus Drusus—I call on the father—you used to say that theres
publicawassacred,andthatallthosewhohadviolatedithadpaidthe
penalty.Thewisdomofthefather’ssayingwasprovedbytherashcon-
ductoftheson.Bothfatherandsonhad,ofcourse,heldofficeatmomentswhenmajorissues
ofprinciplewereatstake—abouttheexerciseofpowerinthestate,theuse
ofpublicpropertyfortheindividualbenefitofthecitizens,andtheexten-
sionofthecitizenshipitself.That,finally,isoneparticularreasonforcon-
centrating here on the six decades before the Social War. Moreover, as is
obvious,theSocialWaritselfwasamajorturningpoint,whichintroduced
a new era in Roman politics. But how significant the war was is brought
out only if we realise that the Romans lost. And we will only see that in
perspective if we look at the legislation, and proposed legislation, of the
previoushalfcentury.Awholerangeoffundamentalissueswasputtothe
Romanpeople,andvotedonbythem.Amongthesequestionsthererepeat-
edlycameforwardoneswhichaffectedtheconstitutionalrightsofLatinsand
Italianallies.Thoseproposedlawswhichwouldhaveextendedsuchrights
withoutexceptionfailedtopass,orwereneverevenputtothevote;those
whichrestrictedthemdidpass.Theonly,partial,exceptiontotherulewas
thelawofSaturninusinwhichgrantedlandinGaul—probablyCisal-
pina—toformersoldiersofMarius,includingItalians,someofwhomwere
to gain citizenship in the new colonies. It was passed only in the face of