*The overthrow of Caius Gracchus: 121 B. C.* Caius personally undertook the foundation of the colony, named Junonia, which was located at Carthage, and his absence of seventy days on this mission gave the opposition time to organize their forces. His enemies accused him of aiming at a tyranny, his proposal for extension of the franchise was quashed by the veto of Drusus, and he himself failed to secure his election as tribune for 121. With the opening of that year the Senate initiated an attack upon some of his measures, especially the founding of Junonia. The senators were determined to impeach or kill Gracchus, while he and his friends organized themselves for defence. A riot in which one of the senatorial faction was killed gave the Senate the pretext to proclaim a state of martial law and authorize the consul Opimius to take any steps to safeguard the state. The followers of Gracchus assembled on the Aventine, their overtures were rejected and upon the refusal of Caius and his chief adherent Flaccus to appear before the Senate, Opimius attacked them at the head of the Senators, armed slaves and Cretan archers. The Gracchans were routed; Caius had himself killed by a faithful slave, and a judicial commission condemned three thousand of his followers. *The consequences of the Gracchan disorders.* The memory of the Gracchi retained a lasting hold upon the affections of the Roman plebs. But although both were earnest patriots, who made a sincere attempt to reform existing abuses in the state, one cannot but feel that the success of their political aims would have brought about no permanent improvement. To substitute for the Senate the fickle Assembly as the governing force in the state was no true democratic measure owing to the fact that the Assembly did not properly represent the mass of the citizen body, and as the future years were to show, would merely have shifted the reins of power from one incompetent body to another more incompetent still. As it was, the Senate, although victorious, emerged from the contest weakened in authority and prestige, and having left a feeling of bitter resentment in the hearts of its opponents. It owed its success to violence and not to legal measures and thus offered a precedent which others might follow against itself. The alliance between the equestrians and the urban proletariat while it lasted had proven stronger than the Senate, and this lesson, too, was not lost upon future statesmen. Besides the loss of some of its prerogatives, the Senate was weakened by the consolidation of the business interests as a political party, with which it was brought into sharp opposition over the question of provincial government. Well might Caius Gracchus declare that by his judiciary law he had “thrust a dagger into the side of the Senate.” For the provincials, the result of this law was to usher in an era of increased oppression and misgovernment. The