[2363] Lex Acil., in CIL. i. 198. 22; Lex Agr., CIL. i. 200. 59; Vell. i. 15. 4; ii. 7. 8; Plut. C. Gracch. 10 f.; App. B. C. i. 24; Pun. 136; Livy, ep. lx; Fronto, Ad Verum, ii. p. 125; Sol. 28. For the date, see Vell. i. 15. 4; Oros. v. 12. 1; Eutrop. iv. 21.
[2364] Vell. ii. 6. 2; Plut. C. Gracch. 5, 8 f.; App. B. C. i. 23. 99; 34. 153; cf. Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 474 f.; Greenidge, Hist. of Rome, 233-7. About the end of 123 or the beginning of 122 Gaius had proposed to give the Latins equal suffrage with the Romans; Plut. ibid. 8 f.: Kornemann, Gesch. d. Gracch. 45. The promulgation of this earlier rogation must have preceded that of the Livian bills.
The bill (or possibly bills) which included the Italians among the recipients of the citizenship could have been offered only between his return from Carthage and the elections of midsummer, 122; Kornemann, ibid. 51; Fowler, in Eng. Hist. Rev. xx. 425.
[2365] Cf. Fannius, in Jul. Victor vi. 6. p. 224 Or.; Charisius, p. 143 Keil.
[2366] Appian, B. C. i. 23. 101; Plut. C. Gracch. 9. Plutarch, who alone speaks of the exemption from rent, seems to consider the measure to have applied retroactively to the Sempronian settlements as well as to those proposed by Livius. Although this could hardly have been the intention of the Livian act, the exemption of the colonists under it would naturally lead to the extension of equal privileges to the beneficiaries of the Sempronian agrarian laws.
[2367] Appian, B. C. i. 35. 156 (cf. p. 397 below) assumes that the colonial bill of Livius became a law. If that is true, there is no reason for supposing that the other was dropped before being brought to vote. Gaius might have prevented both by his veto (Lange, Röm. Alt. iii. 45); but even if he felt the intention to be mischievous, he could not have afforded to oppose so popular measures. Mommsen, in CIL. i. p. 87, is of the opinion that Minervia may have been a Livian colony; but he cannot understand why the others provided for were not founded. The reason doubtless is that the senate, which had used Livius as a tool, never seriously intended to execute the law.
[2368] A rogation of Gaius, proposed about the same time as the lex de civitate danda, concerning the order of voting in the comitia centuriata is mentioned by (Sall.) Rep. Ord. ii. 8: “Mihi ... placet lex quam C. Gracchus in tribunatu promulgaverit, ut ex confusis quinque classibus sorte centuriae vocarentur: ita coaequatur dignitate pecunia.” His object, to eliminate the influence of wealth, could be achieved by determining by lot the order of voting of the five classes; or a new grouping of the centuries could be substituted for the classes; but he could not have proposed that the centuries should vote one by one.
[2369] We know that in 91 they vehemently opposed the admission of the allies; p. 399, 400 below; cf. Meyer, Gesch. d. Gracch. 106, n. 1.
[2370] Opimius, consul in 121, ordered the equites to come each with two armed slaves to the support of the government; Plut. C. Gracch. 14. Sallust, Iug. 42, states that the senate, by holding out to the equites the hope of an alliance with the aristocracy, detached them from the plebs; cf. Meyer, ibid. 106.
The lex Acilia Rubria, passed most probably in 122, seems to have had to do with the participation of aliens in the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus; S. C. de Astypalaeensibus, in CIG. ii. 2485. 11 (cf. Böckh’s comment); Lange, Röm. Alt. iii. 42. It is to be connected with the rogation for granting the citizenship to the allies, and probably aimed to liberalize the worship in the Sempronian spirit.