Cornelius

Granting land as a pension to retired soldiers was a part of the Marian reforms. This particular part of the Marian reforms was the work of the Tribune of the Plebs Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, who passed the law in the Plebeian Assembly.

Isoroku295

Granting lands was something the Senate wasn't doing. The Generals had to do it themselves. The Senate actually had to contemplate if they should give land to Pompeys Eastern Veterans

Mr. Rhombus

Personally I think that it was the greatly increasing wealth gap between the plebs and pats, which was for the most part caused by: the expansion of the Republic after the Punic wars, and even before, which caused a massive influx of slaves and a need for large amounts of manpower (mostly plebs from the country) to be redirected from home to abroad. After these new territories were secured, these plebs returned home to find their homes and businesses in a general state of disrepair. Because these plebs were drawn for the most part from the country, their farms were the hardest hit, and many were bankrupted. The patricians then started to buy up these bankrupted properties at reduced prices, and basically sent the former inhabitants packing, having largely replaced the tenents with slaves. These now unemployed and homeless plebs started to flood Rome looking for work, which also increased the demand for reform amongst plebs, who also had, thanks to the influx of migrants, more clout in the form of their legislative assemblies. Because the plebs were now increasingly politicized, and the most populist candidates were elected and put into power. Plus, the plebs, who, thanks to the large amounts of slaves captured in foreign wars, were fast becoming unemployable, started demanding for the senate large welfare programs, and this in turn fostered a culture of dependency. So, due to the economic plight of the plebs characterized by high unemployment and a vast wealth-gap, populists like the Gracchi and non-pleb politicians looking to get the (largely unwavering) support of the plebs (who by Caesars time had such political influence that if one could get their support, he would be unassailable), like Caesar and Sulla, started causing political trouble in the Republic, culminating in the civil wars of the first century BC, which ultimately brought down the Republic.

Cornelius

Marius was the first general to give land as a pension to his retired soldiers. Hid did this by having his bought Tribune of the Plebs(Saturninus) pass a law in the Plebeian Assembly, which granted state-owned land(in Africa) to those soldiers. Thus, Marius set a precedent, which future generals would follow. This precedent is a part of the Marian reforms.

Mr. Rhombus,

You make a good point. The gap between rich and poor(not necessarily between plebeians and patricians, as there were loads of very, very rich plebeian families) was indeed a problem that populist politicians like the Gracchi could use to gain personal power. Still, most of these populist politicians were either Tribunes of the Plebs or rich men who had bought the services of a Tribune of the Plebs. Thus, if it hadn't been for the Tribunate of the Plebs, populist politicians couldn't have used its destructive powers in a way that seriously damaged the mos maiorum and eventually played a large role in the fall of the Republic. I do not, however, think that the civil wars of the last century BC had much to do with the dissatisfaction of the poor. The Social War(if you call that a civil war) was caused by the senate's unwillingness to grant the Italian Allies the Roman citizenship. The Marian/Sullan war was caused by Marius's greed, as he had Sulpicius the Tribune of the Plebs take Sulla's eastern command of him in the Plebeian Assembly(Sulla, by the way, didn't care one iota about the support of the Plebs). The last major civil war, the Caesarean one, was a result of Caesar's apparent belief that he stood above the law(I know someone is gonna jump at me for saying that) - he certainly didn't cross the Rubicon to save the poor, but to save his precious dignitas.

gaius valerius

And in each of these you simply ignore the fact that men like Marius and Caesar and the Gracchi before them were adressing real socio-economic issues and the people didn't support for example Marius for this greed, but because he acted like their champion and they were effectively outraged... I've already attested that to this men auctoritas was everything and that their motives of course were the selfish desire for more standing, that's a given in Roman society, but they didn't operate in a socio-economic vacuüm, they very much tapped into the very real discontent amongst the masses.

Cornelius

I ignore it because it is irrelevant in this context. Adressing socio-economic issues is all well and good, but the fact remains that they did so in ways that undermined the mos maiorum and eventually resulted in the fall of the Republic, namely by abusing the destructive powers of the Tribunate of the Plebs.

You're already familiar with Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, so let me tell you another intriguing story about this dear fellow. He was elected Tribune of the Plebs three times, in 103 BC(when he passed Marius's agrarian law), in 100 BC and in 99 BC - another huge offense against the mos maiorum. During his third term, he started wooing the Head Count by promising them free grain/bread(and do note that cheap grain/bread was already available to the Head Count). Anyway, Rome was plagued by a famine at the time, so no bread/grain was available. Saturninus then blamed the Senate, and the result was a huge riot among the Head Count. In response, Marius allied himself with the boni, and the Senate passed its ultimate decree - the Senatus Consultum Ultimum. Saturninus and his allies were put to death.

Can you not see why I detest the Tribunate of the Plebs? It allowed popular demagouges like Saturninus to undermine the unwritten constitution of the Republic, which eventually led to the fall of the Republic. Adressing socio-economic issues is great, but in this case the end didn't justify the means.

arras

I recommend to everybody these courses (you can get them as mp3) by professor Garrett Fagan. It contains excellent description of Roman constitution including Republic. It also describes in length Roman Revolution which destroyed that Republic:

History of Ancient Rome

Kevinmeath

This may be of interest;-
BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - In Our Time, The Roman Republic

markdienekes

Sadly, a bit out of my price range Looks good though!

arras

Well those courses are expensive like hell. Still not that more expensive than good book with hard cower. And they tend to give discounts over the time. Price can drop as much as 50%.