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When Gaius was done with all this legislation he not only introduced reforms that anticipated by a hundred years the stable imperial structure of Augustus, but it also put Gaius at the center of a powerful antisenatorial coalition. The plebs urbana, the rural poor, the Equestrians generally, and the publicani particularly were all now arrayed behind Gaius—his success would be their success; his ruin, their ruin. The coalition forged by Gaius would become familiar in years to come as men like Marius, Saturninus, Drusus, Sulpicius, and Cinna would all use the same basic mix to pursue their own antisenatorial agendas.

AS ELECTIONS FOR the next year’s tribunate approached, Gaius appeared ready to pass the baton to his old friend and ally Flaccus, who put himself forward as a candidate. Flaccus running for tribune was all on its own another chink in the unspoken armor of mos maiorum—a former consul had never before stood for the lesser office of tribune. With the backing of Gaius, Flaccus won election easily but then—as a result either of careful planning, unexpected luck, or some combination of the two—Gaius himself won reelection to the tribunate. The very thing that had once been so controversial it had literally gotten his brother killed.³⁴

As shocking as it was, Gaius’s reelection remains historical mystery. We know that Gaius was still not tecÚically a candidate when the elections occurred, but when the results came, a few of the ten tribune slots remained vacant—an unusual but not unheard of outcome. In such cases, it was the tribunes’ prerogative to assign men to fill the vacant seats and Gaius Gracchus was among those appointed. The question is, how much of this drama was preengineered? Was the first vote manipulated to ensure open seats remained? Or was it the spontaneous work of the goddess Fortuna, and Gaius was as surprised as anyone to find himself reelected? We do not know. We only know that Gaius was now tribune for a second consecutive year.³⁵

GAIUS ENTERED HIS second term at the peak of his powers. He was “closely attended by a throng of contractors, artificers, ambassadors, magistrates, soldiers, and literary men, with all of whom he was on easy terms… Thus he was a more skillful popular leader in his private intercourse with men and in his business transactions than in his speeches from the rostra.”³⁶

But there was a core of conservative senators opposed to him. This group had gotten steamrolled during Gaius’s first term but had regrouped for his second term. As had happened to Tiberius, Gaius’s enemies tapped a rival tribune named Marcus Livius Drusus to do their dirty work. Drusus was himself a rising star in Roman politics. Like Gaius he was eloquent, wealthy, and had been raised to expect a public career. But where Gaius sought advancement through popular reforms, Drusus planned to advance by blocking them. He entered office on a mission to undermine Gaius at every turn—if he was successful he would gain powerful allies in the Senate. Drusus opened by offering a new colonization project of his own. Though Gaius’s plan had until that point been the most ambitious colonization project in history, Drusus now promised twelve new colonies—each with generous land grants and startup capital for three thousand colonists. Fully thirty-six thousand families stood to benefit, and the news sent shockwaves through the population. Drusus also very carefully made sure everyone knew that only Roman citizens qualified for the new colonies. Italians would not be allowed.³⁷

Drusus’s clever dividing of Roman from Italian came just as Gaius was preparing to introduce the measure Flaccus had failed to carry during his consulship: citizenship for the Italians. As a matter of principle and political interest, Gaius supported a broader franchise and had been a frequent spokesman on behalf of the Italians. Gaius proposed those with Latin Rights be elevated to full Roman citizenship, while Allies would be granted Latin Rights. Gaius’s bill fell short of blanket equality proposed in 125 by Flaccus, but this was a massive bomb to lob into the middle of the Forum—especially as it came on the heels of Drusus’s Romans-only colonization project.³⁸