The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

by Mike Duncan

These ruinous wars had led to an unacceptable irony for the average Roman: “though they are styled masters of the world, they have not a single clod of earth that is their own.”35 After bringing the Assembly to tears, Tiberius requested the clerk read the bill in preparation for the vote that he would surely win. But as it turned out senatorial opponents of the Lex Agraria had themselves been busy over the past three weeks. Knowing they would lose the vote, they had recruited Marcus Octavius, one of Tiberius’s fellow tribunes, to prevent the vote from even taking place. One of the most powerful weapons a tribune wielded was the veto—which meant “I forbid.” A tribune could veto anything, at any time, for any reason, and not even another tribune could overturn it. So when the clerk rose to formally read the Lex Agraria, Marcus Octavius stepped forward and vetoed the reading of the bill. Everything stopped. The vote could not take place until the clerk read the bill, so as long as Octavius maintained his veto, the bill could not be read and the vote could not take place. With the proceedings ground to a halt, Tiberius adjourned the Assembly for the day.36