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DRUSUS, MARCUS LIVIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 607 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DRUSUS, See also:MARCUS LIVIUS , See also:Roman statesman, was colleague of See also:Gaius See also:Gracchus in the tribuneship, 122 B.C. The proposal of Gracchus (q.v.) to confer the full See also:franchise on the Latins had been opposed not only by the See also:senate, but also by the See also:mob, who imagined that their own privileges would thereby be diminished. Drusus threatened to See also:veto the proposal. Encouraged by this, the senatorial party put up Drusus to outbid Gracchus. Gracchus had proposed to found colonies outside See also:Italy; Drusus provided twelve in Italy, to each of which 3000 citizens were to be sent. Gracchus had proposed to distribute allotments to the poorer citizens subject to a See also:state See also:rent-See also:charge; Drusus promised them See also:free of all charge, and further that they should be inalienable. In addition to the franchise, See also:immunity from See also:corporal See also:punishment (even in the See also:field) was promised the Latins. The See also:absence of Gracchus, and the inefficiency of his representative at See also:Rome, led to the See also:acceptance of these proposals, which were never intended to be carried. Drusus himself declined all responsibility in connexion with carrying them out. He was rewarded for his services by the consulship (112), and the See also:title of patronus senatus. He received See also:Macedonia for his See also:province, where he distinguished himself in a See also:campaign against the See also:Scordisci, whom he drove across the See also:Danube, being the first Roman See also:general who reached that See also:river. It is possible that he is the Drusus mentioned by See also:Plutarch as having died in 109, the See also:year of his censorship.

See also:

Appian, See also:Bell. Civ. i. 23; Plutarch, Gaius Gracchus, 8-11; See also:Florus iii. 4; A. H. J. Greenidge, Hist. of Rome, vol. i. (1904). His son, MARCUS Lrvrus DRUSUS, became See also:tribune of the See also:people in 91 B.C. He was a thoroughgoing conservative, wealthy and generous, and a See also:man of high integrity. With some of the more intelligent members of his party (such as Marcus See also:Scaurus and L. See also:Licinius See also:Crassus the orator) he recognized the need of reform.

At that See also:

time an agitation was going on for the See also:transfer of the judicial functions from the See also:equites to the senate; Drusus proposed as a See also:compromise a measure which restored to the senate the See also:office of judices, while its See also:numbers were doubled by the See also:admission of 300 equites. Further, a See also:special See also:commission was to be appointed to try and See also:sentence all judices guilty of taking bribes. But the senate was lukewarm, and the equites, whose occupation was threatened, offered the most violent opposition. In See also:order, therefore, to catch the popular votes, Drusus proposed the See also:establishment of colonies in Italy and See also:Sicily, and an increased See also:distribution of See also:corn at a reduced See also:rate. By help of these riders the See also:bill was carried. Drusus now sought a closer See also:alliance with the Italians, promising them the See also:long-coveted boon of the Roman franchise. The senate See also:broke out into open opposition. His See also:laws were abrogated as informal, and each party armed its adherents for the See also:civil struggle which was now inevitable. Drusus was stabbed one evening as he was returning See also:home. His See also:assassin was never discovered. See Rome: See also:History, ii. " The See also:Republic " (See also:Period C) ; also Appian, Bell.

Civ. i. 35; Florus iii. 17; Diod. Sic. See also:

xxxvii. ro; See also:Livy, Epit. 70; See also:Veil.. Pat. ii. 13.

End of Article: DRUSUS, MARCUS LIVIUS

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