Deinde interiectis paucis annis tribunatum iniit M. Livius Drusus, vir nobilissimus, eloquentissimus, sanetissimus, meliore in omnia ingenio animoque quam fortuna usus. Qui cum senatui priscum restituere cuperet decus et indicia ab equitibus ad {5} eum transferre ordinem ... in eis ipsis, quae pro senatu moliebatur, senatum habuit adversarium non intellegentem, si qua de plebis commodis ab eo agerentur, veluti illiciendae multitudinis causa fieri, ut minoribus perceptis maiora permitteret. Denique {10} ea fortuna Drusi fuit, ut malefacta collegarum quamvis optime ab ipso cogitatis senatus probaret magis. . . . Tum conversus Drusi animus, quando bene incepta male cedebant, ad dandam civitatem Italiae: quod cum moliens revertisset e foro, immensa {15} illa et incondita, quae eum semper comitabatur, cinctus multitudine in area domus suae cultello percussus, qui affixus lateri eius relictus est, intra paucas horas decessit. Sed cum ultimum redderet spiritum, intuens circumstantium macrentiumque {20} frequentiam, effudit vocem convenientissimam conscientiae suae: ecquandone, inquit, propinqui amicique, similem mei civem habebit res publica? Hunc finem clarissimus iuvenis vitae habuit. VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 13-14. [Linenotes: 3-4. +Drusus.+ ‘Generous and free from all selfishness and meanness, but without political experience, adroitness and knowledge of men, he aspired to a task which surpassed his strength.’ --Ihne. 4-6. By the Sempronian Laws of C. Gracchus 123 B.C. _exclusive judicial rights had been given to the Equites_, as a counterpoise to the power of the Senate. The corruption of the Equites (as Judices) was flagrant, and Drusus proposed to transfer the judicial functions to a mixed body of 300 Senators and 300 Knights, the selected Knights to be included in the now attenuated ranks of the Senate. 14. +ad dandam civitatem Italiae.+ The claims of the Italians to the franchise were just and pressing, but the overbearing pride and self-sufficiency of the Roman citizens proved too strong.] +Parallel Passages.+ Cic. _de Oratore_ iii. 1, and _pro Cluent._ 56, 153. Florus, iii. 18. +Reference.+ Ihne, _Hist._ vol. v. pp. 176-189. ‘Drusus was the Mirabeau of the social revolution of Rome, and had his measures been carried Rome might have been spared the most terrible of her civil wars.’ B9 THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR, 91-88 B.C. (1) A. _Cause and Outbreak of the War at Asculum._