The plot was a simple one. A handful of ancient and influential senators invited Fabius Maximus, whose vanity and ambition were common knowledge, to a few secret meetings. In the course of those meetings, the senators feigned interest in the need to rethink the distribution of the ager publicus. They then proposed to go even one step further : in order to allow every Roman citizen to obtain land, the Republic would seize a portion of Gallic territory and distribute that land to the needy. With so many more iugera made available, they swore to be able to persuade the owners of large tracts of public land to give them up in compliance with the law.

The conspirators offered Fabius Maximus the privilege of participating in the beginning of the “authentic” senate-inspired land reform. He would lead an army against the Allobroges who, together with the Arverni, were besieging the city of Massilia. A decisive victory would permit poor Romans to become landowners. He accepted, and triumphed. A new province was soon carved out of the lands of the defeated tribes, a controversial move since the Allobroges had never been declared enemies of Rome. Fabius returned a hero. He expected the senators to start giving up their illegal farms, while he himself received a handsome reward in the form of gold. Of course, the senators had no intention of giving anything to the poor. The Gauls were allowed to remain on their farms while the wealthiest Romans bought and sold hundreds of new properties.

Fabius protested, but the triumphal arch erected in the Forum in his honour branded him an accomplice of the conspirators and an opponent of land reform. Why, it was whispered, was Cornelius Ahenobarbus not rewarded with an arch although he had fought and triumphed in the same war as Fabius ? Rumours of secret meetings were leaked, and Fabius Maximus ended his year of consulship amidst widespread suspicion of corruption. Realising that he had been so cynically manipulated, he retired from public office and devoted the rest of his life to helping the careers of just and law-abiding homini novi who scrutinised the dealings of the landowners in order to curtail, if not eradicate, further abuses in the agrarian sector.