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

by Mike Duncan

Just as had happened during Flaccus’s consulship, the Senate dealt with Gaius’s call for Italian citizenship by once again expelling non-Roman Italians from entering the city in the run-up to the vote. The decree stated, “Nobody who does not possess the right of suffrage shall stay in the city or approach within [five miles] of it while voting is going on concerning these laws.” Facing a population thoroughly hostile to the bill, Gaius let it die rather than risk his other plans. Another attempt at reform having failed, the issue of Italian citizenship would remain a persistent problem for the Romans. Especially because the Italians were already detecting a pattern: citizenship would be dangled only to be snatched away at the last minute. It was not a game that amused them.39