There was at that
time, either in Rome or in Italy, a crowd of citizens without means
who desired a revolution; even among the rich the majority were of the
class of the knights, who complained that they had no part in the
government. Tiberius Gracchus had himself named tribune of the plebs
and sought to gain control of the government. He proposed to the
people an agrarian law. All the lands of the public domain occupied by
individuals were to be resumed by the state (with the exception of 500
acres for each one); these lands taken by the state were to be
distributed in small lots to poor citizens. The law was voted. It
caused general confusion regarding property, for almost all of the
lands of the empire constituted a part of the public domain, but they
had been occupied for a long time and the possessors were accustomed
to regard themselves as proprietors. Further, as the Romans had no
registry of the lands, it was often very difficult to ascertain
whether a domain were private or public property. To direct these
operations, Tiberius had three commissioners named on whom the people
conferred absolute authority; they were Tiberius, his brother, and his
father-in-law, and it was uncertain whether Tiberius had acted in the
interest of the people, or simply to have a pretext for having power
placed in his hands.
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