We begin in the year 133 BC, with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus.

Tiberius descended from the aristocracy (on his mother's side), of a fine and ancient house - very respectable. He had had a successful military career and was a war hero. His political goals were nothing more than to introduce certain reforms in order to take care of veteran soldiers and improve the quality of active soldiers.

All of this hardly sounds like the program of a revolutionary, and he was not one. Tiberius Gracchus was an experienced commander who saw a real need for serious reform. What marks him apart from others is the lengths to which he was prepared to go to achieve his reform, and the lengths to which his opponents were prepared to go to stop him.

. . . Tiberius tried to work through the Senate to enact his reforms, but he was opposed at every step.

. . . Any tribune could veto a bill simply by walking to the speaker's podium and announcing veto, which is Latin for "I deny."

When the moment came, and it was obvious the Land Act would pass, the other tribune went to the podium, whereupon some of Tiberius' men grabbed him and carried him out of the assembly. The veto had no effect unless it was delivered personally by the tribune, so he shouted in vain. The bill passed.

This is the traditional beginning of the Roman Revolution because it marks the use of violence for political ends. This was certainly not the first instance, but it was dramatic and public and there is a thread between this event and Caesar that is essentially unbroken.