Qui cum summa quiete animi civitatis princeps esse posset, vel vindicandae fraternae mortis gratia vel praemuniendae regalis potentiae eiusdem exempli tribunatum ingressus, longe maiora et acriora petens dabat civitatem omnibus Italicis, extendebat eam  paene usque Alpis, dividebat agros, vetabat quemquam civem plus quingentis iugeribus habere, quod aliquando lege Licinia cautum erat, nova constituebat portoria, novis coloniis replebat provincias, iudicia a senatu transferebat ad equites, frumentum plebi dari instituerat; nihil immotum, nihil tranquillum, nihil quietum, nihil denique in eodem statu relinquebat; quin alterum etiam continuavit tribunatum.
Gaius might have been the first man in the state had he held his spirit in repose; but, whether it was with the object of avenging his brothers death or of paving the way for kingly power, he followed the precedent which Tiberius had set and entered upon the career of a tribune.b His aims, however, were far more ambitious and drastic. He was for giving the citizenship to all Italians, extending it almost to the Alps, distributing the public domain, limiting the holdings of each citizen to five hundred acres as had once been provided by the Licinian law,a establishing new customs duties, filling the provinces with new colonies, transferring the judicial powers from the senate to the equites, and began the practice of distributing grain to the people. He left nothing undisturbed, nothing untouched, nothing unmolested, nothing, in short, as it had been. Furthermore he continued the exercise of his office for a second term.
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