ures
to the Roman people; but Aristonicus, a natural son of Eumenes, the
father of Attalus, laid claim to the crown. He even defeated the Consul
P. Licinius Crassus, who fell in the engagement (B.C. 131), but he was
himself defeated and taken prisoner in the following year. The kingdom
of Pergamus was formed into a Roman province under the name of Asia
(B.C. 129).

The foreign dominions of Rome now comprised the ten following provinces,
to which is added the date of the formation of each: 1. Sicily, B.C.
241. 2. Sardinia and Corsica, B.C. 238. 3, 4. The two Spains, Citerior
and Ulterior, B.C. 205. 5. Gallia Cisalpina, B.C. 191. 6. Macedonia,
B.C. 146. 7. Illyricum, probably formed at the same time as Macedonia.
8. Achaia, that is, Southern Greece, virtually a province after the
capture of Corinth, B.C. 146, though the exact date of its formation is
unknown. 9. Africa, consisting of the dominions of Carthage, B.C. 146.
10. Asia, including the kingdom of Pergamus, B.C. 129. To these an
eleventh was added in B.C. 118 by the conquest of the southern portion
of Transalpine Gaul between the Alps and the Pyrenees. In contrast with
the other portions of Gaul, it was frequently called simply the
"Provincia," a name which has been retained in the modern Provence.

[Footnote 58: See p. 115.(The end of Chapter XVI.--Transcriber)]

[Footnote 59: See p. 128.(Fifth paragraph of Chapter XVIII.--Transcriber)]

[Illustration: Stairs of the modern Capitol.]

CHAPTER XXI.

THE GRACCHI. B.C. 133-121.

The more thoughtful Romans had foreseen the dangers with which Rome was
menaced by the impoverishment of her free population, and the alarming
increase in the number of slaves. It is said that Laelius, the friend of
the elder Scipio Africanus, had at the close of the Second Punic War
meditated some reforms to arrest the growing evil, but had given them up
as impracticable. The Servile War in Sicily had lately revealed the
extent of the peril to which the Republic was exposed. It must have been
felt by many that the evil would never have reached its present height
if the Livinian Law had been observed, if men had been appointed to
watch over its execution, and if the newly-acquired public lands had
from time to time been distributed among the people. But the nobles,
from long possession, had come to regard the public land as their own;
many had acquired their portions by purchase, inheritance, or marriage;
and every one shrank f