Politics, Persuasion, and the People restrictedthoserights.TiberiusGracchusperhapsintendedtooffercitizenship
totheItalians;inanycasesuchalawwascertainlynotvoted;nor(inmyview
at least) did Italians share in his allotments of Roman public land.^24 More
certainly, Iunius Pennus, as tribune in , did get a law passed prohibit-
ingforeigners(peregrini)fromthecity.GaiusGracchusseems,onceagain,to
haveusedhistoricalexamplestoargueagainstit:‘‘Thosenationsdestroyed
theirres publica,amongotherthings,byavariceandstupidity.’’^25 InFul-
viusFlaccusmadeaproposalforextensionofthecitizenship,whichseems
nevertohavecometoavote.^26 Gaius Gracchus did propose a law,which,
as it seems, gave Latin voting rights to the Italians and full citizenship to
theLatins.Thistoo,ifeverputtothevote,wasnotpassed.^27 Butweknow
fromCicero(Brut.)ofaspeechofGaiusFannius,consulof,De sociis et
nomine Latino contra Gracchum.Itisevidentlyfromthisthattherecomesone
highlyilluminatingfragment,addressedtothepeople:‘‘Ifyouweretogive
thecitizenshiptotheLatins,doyousupposethatyouwouldhaveanyroom
inthepublicmeeting,inthesamewayasyouhavenowassembled,orwould
beabletoattendthegames[ludi]ordaysofpublicbusiness?’’^28
Imentionedearliertheviolentconflictsinoverlandallotmentswhich
wouldhaveincludedItalianalongwithRomanex-soldiers.^29 Ifashareinthe
profitsofEmpire,forwhichtheyhadtofight,wasoneofthethingswhich
theItalianswanted,theymustsurelyhavenotedthisepisode.Worsewasto
come.Alawpassedbytheconsulsof,LiciniusCrassusandMuciusScae-
vola,setupaproceduretoenquireintocitizenrightsimproperlyenjoyed,or
. Foraninterestingandvaluable,butnotultimatelypersuasive,attempttoarguethat
underTiberius’agrarianlawItalianalliescouldreceivebothallotmentsofpubliclandand
a simultaneous grant of the citizenship, see J. S. Richardson, ‘‘The Ownership of Italian
Land:TiberiusGracchusandtheItalians,’’JRS():.
. FestusM/L.Cicero,De off.,,suggests,withoutquiteproving,thatthe
lawwasactuallypassed.WasitdirectedspecificallyagainstItalianallies,oragainstall(or
overseas?)foreigners?InthelattercaseitmaynotbequitecertainthatGaiusGracchuswas
opposing the law. Might he not have been arguing that ‘‘these nations’’ (e.g., the Greek
cities)hadsuffereddisasterbytheirownfault?
. Val.Max.,,;Appian,BC,/–;/.
. Appian,BC,/–.Iwouldnotputanyweightonthevariousproposalsand
counter-proposalsvaguelyrecordedbyPlutarch,Gaius Gracchusand–.
. IuliusVictor,(C.Halm,Rhetores Latini Minores(),p.).
. Appian,BC,–/–.Foradetaileddiscussionofthispassage,theonlyitem
in ourevidence to mention popular hostility to benefits for Italian ex-soldiers, see now
H.Schneider,‘‘DiepolitischeRollederplebsurbanawährendderTribunatedesL.Appuleius
Saturninus,’’Ancient Society–(–):.