The Use of the Tribunate for Reforms

By Ling Ouyang

Between the years 133 and 70 B.C., the tribunate was used by a number of men for reforms. The men who used the tribunate as the platform for reforms included the Gracchi brothers, Fulvius Flaccus, the younger Livius Drusus, Saturninus and Sulpicius Rufus. While the problems each addressed varied, they were invariably threats to the future and welfare of Rome, be it the poverty in the city, the abuse of senatorial power or the Italian problem. The solutions, though often enacted with infringements of senatorial authority or deviation from traditions, would have ameliorated the problems Rome faced, if embraced.