Plutarch

The tribunates of Tiberius and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus mark the beginning of an era of civil turmoil

Tiberius, however, was nine years older than Gaius,* which meant that their public careers were separated in time and was the main reason for their failure: they did not achieve prominence at the same time, so they could not combine and realize the potential the two of them together had for being an irresistibly powerful force.

a short time this edict did check greed and help the poor, and they stayed on the land they had rented, with each person occupying the plot of land he had originally held. Later, however, their rich neighbours began to transfer the leases to themselves under fictitious names, and then ended up by blatantly owning most of the land in their own names. The dispossessed poor lost any interest they might have had in performing military service, and could not even be bothered to raise children, with the result that before long all over Italy there was a noticeable shortage of free men for hire, while the place was teeming with gangs of foreign slaves, whom the rich used to cultivate their estates instead of the citizens they had driven away.