Social War

With the death of Saturninus and self exile by Marius in 99 BC, a period of relative calm slipped into Roman politics. The calm wouldn?t last long, however, and a new Tribune in a mold similar to the Gracchi brothers, came to the forefront. Marcus Livius Drusus was actually the son of a political opponent of the Gracchi, but he took up the cause of the Italian people with a new zeal. Drusus, among several reforms, attempted to distribute land and citizenship for the Latin rights Italian allies. The failure of his political platform helped spark the Social War.