A problem which confronts an author who plunges into the midst of the history of a nation (however complete may be the unity of the period with which he deals) is that of the amount of introductory information which he feels bound to supply to his readers. In this case, I have felt neither obligation nor inclination to supply a sketch of the development of Rome or her constitution up to the period of the Gracchi. The amount of information on the general and political history of Rome which the average student must have acquired from any of the excellent text-books now in use, is quite sufficient to enable him to understand the technicalities of the politics of the period with which I deal; and I was very unwilling to burden the volume with a _precis_ of a subject which I had already treated in another work. On the other hand, it is not so easy to acquire information on the social and economic history of Rome, and consequently I have devoted the first hundred pages of this book to a detailed exposition of the conditions preceding and determining the great conflict of interests with which our story opens. A. H. J. G. OXFORD, _August_, 1904 CONTENTS CHAPTER I: Characteristics of the period. Recent changes in the conditions of Roman life. Close of the period of expansion by means of colonies or land assignments. Reasons for social discontent. The life of the wealthier classes. The expenses of political life. Attempts to check luxury. Motives for gain amongst the upper classes. Means of acquiring wealth open to members of the nobility; those open to members of the commercial class. The political influence of the Equites. The business life of Rome; finance and banking. Foreign trade. The condition of the small traders. Agriculture. Diminution in the numbers of peasant proprietors. The Latifundium and the new agricultural ideal. Growth of pasturage. Causes of the changes in the tenure of land. The system of possession. Future prospects of agriculture. Slave labour; dangers attending its employment; revolts of slaves in Italy. The servile war in Sicily (_circa_ 140-131 B.C.). The need for reform.