Tribune of the Plebs
Following Gaius Gracchus' second term in the office of Tribune of the Plebs, Lucius Opimius, a strict conservative, was elected consul, determined to oppose Gaius' proposals of land reform and the distribution of Roman citizenship to all Latin citizens. When, on the day that Opimius had planned to repeal the laws of Gaius Gracchus, one of his attendants was slain in a scuffle between the opposing camps, this gave the consul the pretext to act. The senate passed the "senatus consultum ultimum" and the next day, Opimius gathered the senators and their supporters to rid the city of Gaius Gracchus, who was killed in the subsequent battle.