(i) De Tribunis Plebis Reficiendis; (ii) De Legibus Iunia et Acilia Repetundarum

Abstract

It is evident that there was no law expressly forbidding the re-election of tribunes of the plebs. When Tiberius Gracchus raised the issue, his colleagues were in doubt, though the majority apparently held that his candidature was inadmissible (Appian, B.C. I, 14–15). Two years later Papirius Carbo proposed a bill ‘ut eundem tribunum plebi quotiens vellet creare liceret’, which was rejected by the plebs (Livy, Epit. LIX, Cic., de Amic. 95). This event would have confirmed the presumption against the reeligibility of tribunes, but of course made no change in the legal position. In fact Gaius Gracchus was re-elected in 123 (for 122) without any recorded protest.