Note 2412 — Chapter XVI · COMITIAL LEGISLATION From the Gracchi to Sulla 134-82

Plut. Mar. 4; Cic. ibid.; Lange, Rom. Alt. ii. 490; iii. 51; Long, Rom. Rep. i. 322 f.; Greenidge, Hist. of Rome, i. 304-6. The opposition of the consuls to this measure, and the consequent threat of Marius to imprison them, Ihne, Hist. of Rome, v. 8, regards as a farce. This interpretation of the circumstances, however, is unnecessary for explaining the policy of Marius; as a champion of the peasants, rather than of the plebs as a whole, be consistently passed his election law and opposed the frumentarian bill.