The violence against the Gracchi was caused by the Senate fearing the loss of the Senate 's power in the face of two charismatic and intelligent brothers. Sulla was a powerful force by himself who drew upon the power of his soldier’s rather than the power of the people. This is why Sulla succeeded, where the Gracchi failed. The brothers placed too much of their overall plan for Rome on the belief that the peoples ' support would be sufficient to create a stronger Roman Republic. Sulla took a more violent approach to achieve his goals. He set a dangerous precedent that proved to be the downfall of the Roman Republic. If Sulla could successfully maintain power by committing violence against his own people, then why couldn’t others? This would later inspire Caesar to march on Rome and create his own dictatorship, Cicero wrote that Pompey once said that if “Sulla could do it, why can’t I”. The Gracchi provided a different precedent of sorts. They provided the example that if one were to begin to consolidate power at the alarming rate that Tiberius and Gaius did, one must be have reliable and powerful support. Essentially the Gracchi (representatives of the state/people) had violence committed against them while Sulla committed violence against the state. The main difference between these is that the Gracchi were seeking to improve the lot of the people, while Sulla was focused on himself and consolidating his power over the
The violence against the Gracchi was caused by the Senate fearing the loss of the Senate 's power in the face of two charismatic and intelligent brothers. Sulla was a powerful force by himself who drew upon the power of his soldier’s rather than the power of the people. This is why Sulla succeeded, where the Gracchi failed. The brothers placed too much of their overall plan for Rome on the belief that the peoples ' support would be sufficient to create a stronger Roman Republic. Sulla took a more violent approach to achieve his goals. He set a dangerous precedent that proved to be the downfall of the Roman Republic. If Sulla could successfully maintain power by committing violence against his own people, then why couldn’t others? This would later inspire Caesar to march on Rome and create his own dictatorship, Cicero wrote that Pompey once said that if “Sulla could do it, why can’t I”. The Gracchi provided a different precedent of sorts. They provided the example that if one were to begin to consolidate power at the alarming rate that Tiberius and Gaius did, one must be have reliable and powerful support. Essentially the Gracchi (representatives of the state/people) had violence committed against them while Sulla committed violence against the state. The main difference between these is that the Gracchi were seeking to improve the lot of the people, while Sulla was focused on himself and consolidating his power over the