Marcus Fulvius Flaccus (consul 125 BC)

He became an administrator of the agrarian reform in 130 BC and, as a solution to the problem of land division among the allied cities, proposed to give Roman citizenship to individual Italian allies in order to obtain lands, thus introducing a question that vexed Roman politics for many years.[1][2]

Elected consul in 125 BC on this programme, he was circumvented by the Optimates of Roman Senate, who ordered him to assist Massalia (modern Marseille) against Salluvian attacks.[1] Beyond the internal political conflict, the Roman objective was to ensure the safety of the trading route between the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, which was threatened by the Ligurian tribes around Massalia.[3][4] Flaccus became the first to overcome the transalpine Ligurians in war,[5] and returned in 123 BC to Rome with a triumph.[1] Livy's account suggests that Flaccus may have travelled across the Alps (presumably by Mont Genèvre and the Durance valley) rather than by the coast, possibly fighting the Vocontii east of the Rhône Valley before reaching the territory of the Salluvii. At any rate, Flaccus' victory was not decisive, and another consul, C. Sextius Calvinus, was sent the following year to subdue the local tribes.[3]

In 122 BC he became a tribune to assist Gaius Gracchus in implementing an amended version of his policy of citizenship for Italians,[1] making him the only ex-consul to hold the position of tribune.[6]

When he and Gracchus failed to win re-election in 121 BC, Flaccus led a mass protest on the Aventine Hill, but the consul Lucius Opimius suppressed it brutally, killing Flaccus, among many others, and resulting in the suicide of Gracchus.

Plutarch describes Flaccus as a born agitator and violent drunkard that initiated Gracchus' rebellion.[7] Cicero describes him as an orator of moderate gifts and comments that his writings reveal him as a student of letters rather than an orator.[8]

Flaccus had at least two sons: the elder son, possibly named Marcus Fulvius Flaccus after him due to Roman naming conventions, was executed along with the senior Flaccus after being discovered hiding in an abandoned bath or workshop;[9] the younger son Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, who served only as a herald for his father and Gracchus, was also executed, with Lucius Opimius allowing the young boy to choose his own manner of death.