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DRUSUS, MARCUS LIVIUS, Roman statesman, was colleague of Gaius Gracchus in the tribuneship, 122 B.C. The proposal of Gracchus (q.v.) to confer the full franchise on the Latins had been opposed not only by the senate, but also by the mob, who imagined that their own privileges would thereby be diminished. Drusus threatened to veto the proposal. Encouraged by this, the senatorial party put up Drusus to outbid Gracchus. Gracchus had proposed to found colonies outside Italy; Drusus provided twelve in Italy, to each of which 3000 citizens were to be sent. Gracchus had proposed to distribute allotments to the poorer citizens subject to a state rent-charge; Drusus promised them free of all charge, and further that they should be inalienable. In addition to the franchise, immunity from corporal punishment (even in the field) was promised the Latmn.s. The absence of Gracchus, and the inefficiency of his representative at Rome, led to the acceptance of these proposals, which were never intended to be carried. Drusus himself declined all responsibility in connection. with carrying them out. He was rewarded for his services by the consulship (112), and the title of patronus senatus. He received Macedonia for his province, where he distinguished himself in a campaign against the Scordisci, whom he drove across the Danube, being the first Roman general who reached that river. It is possible that he is the Drusus mentioned by Plutarch as having died in 109, the year of his censorship.
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