Politics, Persuasion, and the People theywouldbesubjecttoanewcourt(Cicero,Rab.Post.).Whattheopera-
tionsofpoliticsdidnotyettouchwasprivateproperty.Theonlyhintofa
threattothatwhichwehearofinthisperiodcameinaspeech,orspeeches,
of L. Marcius Philippus as tribune in perhaps . He said a great deal in
demagogicstyleincludingtheclaimthattherewerenot,meninthe
communitywhohadanyproperty.Thespeechatleastimpliedthepossibility
ofequaldistributionofproperty;buthislandlaw,ofunknowncontent,was
rejected(Cicero,De off.,).
Nonetheless,thescopeofthesubjectmatterofpoliticswasenormously
extended in this period; and the issues at stake embodied basic questions
abouttherightsofcitizens,thelocationofsovereigntyinthestate,thecon-
trolofforeignrelationsandmilitaryaffairs,andtheaccessofindividualciti-
zenstoashareintheresourceswhichthestatehadatitsdisposal.Thebest
proof that what we see happening in this period represents ‘‘real’’ politics,
embodyingseriouschallengestotheestablishedorder,ispreciselytheirrup-
tionsofviolencewhichendedthelivesofTiberiusandGaiusGracchusand
of Saturninus; this last event was,of course, to be celebrated in evocative
detailbyCicerointhePro Rabirio.^15
WecanhardlyhelpseeingallthisthroughtheeyesofCicero,whoseyouth
wasspentundertheguidanceofthemajorconservativefiguresof justthis
period.^16 Buttheredoremaintwootheravenuesofaccesstotheideaswhich
wereembodiedinpopularlegislationinthisperiod,orwhichwereexpressed
inspeechesaddressedtothepeople.Thefirstandmostimportantaccessis
providedbytheinscribedlawsfromthistime.Itcannotbestressedtoooften
that these represent the only direct testimonies to the political mentality,
conceptions,andvocabularyoftheperiod.Asforthegreatinscriptionofthe
extortionlaw,whichwemaytaketobethatofGracchus,manyaspectsofits
truesignificancewerebroughtout,forthefirsttime,bySherwin-White.^17
Herightlystressedtheemphasiswhichisplacedinthislawonpublicity,that
isthenecessityoftheobservance,undertheeyesofthepeople,oftherules
on the part of both the praetorand the jurors themselves.That must give
apossiblecluetotherealpointofanotherlawofGracchus,thataboutthe
censorial farming out (censoria locatio) of the revenues of Asia. It should be
seennotjustasapoliticalschemetobenefittheequitesortaxcollectors,but
asaimed,firstly,atsecuringtherevenuesduetothepeople;and,secondly,at
. SeemostrecentlyE.Badian,‘‘TheDeathofSaturninus,’’Chiron():.
. Onthis,seeesp.T.N.Mitchell,Cicero: The Ascending Years(),chap..
. A. N. Sherwin-White, ‘‘The Lex Repetundarum and the Political Ideas of Gaius
Gracchus,’’JRS():.