occupátus_. Thus the patricians who possessed, not owned, this land
were naturally regarded as usurpers by the plebeians.

The first object of the AGRARIAN LAWS was to remedy this evil.

SPURIUS CASSIUS, an able man, now came forward (486?), proposing a law
that the state take up these lands, divide them into small lots, and
distribute them among the poor plebeians as homes (homesteads). The
law was carried, but in the troublesome times it cost Cassius his
life, and was never enforced.




CHAPTER VIII.

THE CONTEST OF THE PLEBEIANS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.


The plebeians were now (about 475) as numerous as the patricians, if
not more so. Their organization had become perfected, and many of
their leaders were persistent in their efforts to better the condition
of their followers. Their especial aim was to raise their civil and
political rights to an equality with those of the patricians. The
struggle finally culminated in the murder of one of the Tribunes,
Gnarus Genucius, for attempting to veto some of the acts of the
Consuls.

VALERO PUBLILIUS, a Tribune, now (471) proposed and carried,
notwithstanding violent opposition by the patricians, a measure to the