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So everyone always focuses on Tiberius Gracchus, but Gaius Gracchus was arguably a much better and more potent politician than his elder brother. He was also arguably the greatest orator of his day, and some would say the greatest Roman orator up until Cicero.

(If you know the story of Gaius Gracchus skip to the last two paragraphs).


To paraphrase Dan Carlin a little: Gaius was an expert at being able to divide the senators, equestrians and the common people through political maneuvering. He was the first to propose the corn dole, of which a modified proposal would be passed by Clodius Pulcher later. He gave the equestrians a boone to pry their support away from the Senate, by hinting at doubling the size of the senate by adding men from the equestrian class, and of putting them in charge of the lucrative tax collection in the wealthy province of Asia.

He began making promises for land reform and promised the soldiers that the state would pay for their equipment. He did what his brother couldn't, by getting elected to the tribuneship twice in a row.

Now he made a mistake that would prove fatal by lobbying for giving the Italians citizenship. This damaged his support with the commoners and the equestrians, allowing the Senate to pounce and get another tribune (Marcus Livius Drusus) to combat Gracchus by promising more than him every time he made a proposal, thus undercutting his support further. This allowed Gaius to be defeated in running for tribune for a third term in a row, and thus allowing the senate to start undoing everything Gaius and Drusus did, giving Gracchus his support back, and leading him to march to the voting ground for the repealment of the laws. A scuffle followed, and Gaius and his supporters were forced to retreat, the next day being attacked and forced to commit suicide.


So what if Gaius treaded more carefully and didn't press for Italian citizenship? This would prevent him from losing his support and thus losing his run for the tribuneship for a third time. How far could he go in this case before the inevitable conflict? What more can he accomplish? How would this affect Roman society/politics in the future?

Alternatively, what if he manages to escape Rome when the fight breaks out the next day? Suppose someone was brave enough to lend him a horse so he can flee the city? What can he do from there? Is there possibly any army he can flee to to rally support for his cause and perhaps provoke a civil war? With Gaius alive, the butchering of 3,000 Roman citizens in the aftermath of the fight would almost certainly cause outrage with the mob in Rome and cause trouble for the senators in the city. How would it go from there?
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