Gracchi

Gracchus, Gracchi - m.  Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and his younger brother Gaius Gracchus. 

The Romans, empire crazy that they were, had recently fought many wars and pretty much all of Italy was under their control.  The land that was already cultivated would be sold or rented out to farmers, but they had no policy to deal with the war-ravaged lands.  These areas would take work and money to cultivate, but the government could not be bothered with that.  So it was basically loaned out to anyone who wished to work it.  Since it was Ager Publicus, a portion of the profits were to be collected by the government for the use of the people.  It was thought that this land would be well divided by farming families.  The small farmer class would have sons and then the Romans would have an army.  BUT, Almost all the land was claimed by just a few, already wealthy, families, and the land that wasn't was soon sold to them as the small farmers quickly went out of business. 

So here we have all these poor people, many veterans of earlier Roman wars, but with no way to support themselves.  Their farms had gone under, they couldn't find jobs on the large plantations because the rich were too stingy to pay them (preferring slave labor), they didn't qualify to run for government office, and were just generally screwed in an all-around sort of way. 

And then along comes Tiberius Gracchus (fanfare please), the champion of the small farmer. 

He saw the state of Roman affairs being very bad indeed.  Power was held by the small percentage of the population that had wealth, the [Middle Class] was all but gone, and the farmer class was rapidly dimishing and being replaced by a slave class.  Tiberius is elected Tribunate in 133 BCE (or some other year).  He proposes a law that would limit the amount of Ager Publicus a single family could hold and distribute the remaining land to small farmers.  Needless to say, this made a lot of rich people pissed off and made a lot of poverty-stricken farmers very happy.  Here's a more detailed explanation of Tiberius' Agrarian Law.  Let's also see if we can have a little fun with [excuses] given by the upper class. 

Tiberius Gracchus reads his proposal, but before it can be voted on, the Triumvate Marcus Octavius keeps vetoing it.  Tiberius got him voted out of office, he was replaced by Quintus Mummius, and the law passed. 

The real trouble for Tiberius comes election time the next summer.  Fearing for his life as soon as he is no longer a government official, Tiberius runs for a second term.  As this is illegal, a bit of a riot breaks out.  The vote is put off until the next day.  That evening, Tiberius goes around among his followers dressed in black and asking that they take care of his children, as if he is already a dead man.  His followers therefore form a mob around him and barricades himself in the temple where the elections are about to be held.  Then the senators, supposed peace keepers of Rome, rush to the temple and promptly beat to death Tiberius and all his followers.  Their bodies were thrown into the Tiber River. 

Later that year, many confusing law suits were brought up due to crappy surveying, then the judge overseeing those cases is discreetly killed, thus putting the Agrarian Law on hold and flushing all of Tiberius' hard work down the toilet.  It was suggested that perhaps the Iatalian farmers who were orignally supposed to get this land could just be made Roman citizens instead.  This seemed like a fine compromise for both the rich and the poor farmers, but the senate wouldn't go for it.  Can't have Italians holding the same status as Romans can we?  Uh oh, I smell Social Wars coming on... 

Several years later, enter the story of Gaius Gracchus. 

So Gaius gets himself elected Tribune and immediately becomes popular with the poor by proposing that a monthly distribution of grain should be made to every citizen at the expense of the state.  This did make him quite unpopular with the senate however.  Because of a lack of candidates, Gaius gets himself legally elected to a second term in office.  Now that he was in good with the plebian class, Gaius sought to entreat himself to the middle class, or the equites.  Because it was well known that the justice courts took bribes when they tried disputes, Gaius gave this duty over to the equites.  It was thought that they would be much more fair, but of course they all ended taking bribes as well.  This almost completely stipped the Senate of power as they were now under the rule of the equites the same as any other citizen. 

Soon, Gaius tried to get in good with the other Latin Allies by proposing them Roman citizenship.  But this time, he had reached too far.  Though the senate could not openly deny this law, they did manage to get Livius Drusus (another Triumvate) to veto it for them.  They persuaded him by allowing him to found twelve colonies.  The Romans were so gung-ho about these new colonies that they lost favor with Gaius and took up with Drusus instead. 

Gaius decides that the best course of action would be to establish his own colony, so he sets one up in Africa which could hold 6,000 Italians.  The senate tries to deny this colony.  As Gaius arrives at the Voting hall with his gang of supporters, he is startled by a man making a sacrifice on the front steps who tries to talk to him.  Seeing the strange look that Gaius gives the man, one of Gaius' followers draws his sword and kills the man on the spot. 

Gaius decides to fight rather than be called to the Senate for his crimes, and is soon killed.  The man who killed him is rewarded with the weight of Gaius' head in gold.