From: "gracchus" <tiberiusgracchus-AT-home.com>
Subject: Re: yada yada
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 21:28:23 -0700



>
> It is more probable that the Grachii simple were in it for their
personal gain.
> They fought that with the support of the plebs they could make some
career.
> Just your everyday populism i guess. A lot of lowerclass voted for
Berlusconi this year
> (he's gonna lower taxes, so we'll all get richer!), which shows it
can work quite effectively.
>
> Cheerio,
>
> Oege
>
> --

howdy, oege.

sure, G and T gracchus were clearly ambitious and ruthless.  so what?
i  admire that over ineffectual good intentions.  and i don't buy the
comparison with berlusconi.  he's a right-wing zenophobe.

i'm no expert, but i think that while their tenure as tribunes was no
doubt due to the support (shamelessly bought in some cases) of the
urban plebs, they got in hot water as much for their resistance to the
growth of large, nobel estates at the expence of the middling
landowners who, as citizens, had provided the army with recruits since
before the punic wars.  [i nominate the last ramble for meritorious
mention as the longest semi-coherent sentence in recent a-list
history.] while i'm sure they profiteered and looked out for
themselves, i also don't believe they were entirely unprincipled.

it's an interesting debate.  i don't know of much radical literature
that discusses the roman rebublic, but then i don't get out much.

roger