I was also thinking maybe a more successful tribunate of M. Livius Drusus in the late second and early first centuries B.C. Perhaps he is not assassinated after all, and his reforms on Italian citizenship are forced through, averting the social wars?I stand by the Gracchus brothers being the absolute latest opportunity to outright save the republic. While, technically, it's perfectly possible for the right person to rise into the place that Caesar did and engage in the right kind of reform to save the republic, I find it highly unlikely..
I was also thinking maybe a more successful tribunate of M. Livius Drusus in the late second and early first centuries B.C. Perhaps he is not assassinated after all, and his reforms on Italian citizenship are forced through, averting the social wars?
No Sulla or Marius would butterfly away much of the precedent for a military strongman seizing the reins of government.
And, most interestingly, it's Post-Gracchi.
What does everyone think?
I don't remember just now whether or not the Marian reforms meant that soldiers were payed by the state, in which case their salaries were payed by the Senate anyway.
I think another idea could be to have tours of duties for soldiers: instead of having them stick with the same general for years and years, have some rotation, so that loyalty doesn't have as much time to build.
I don't make a statement about latest PoD, but a very likely and plausible turn of events is Caesar's defeat in the early 40s BC. (The military reasons for that are yet to be made up.) This _could_ lead to a very persistent republic (2nd century is a good perspective you chose). Of course, it could sink as well after another generation.