I think the death knell for the Republic came with Hannibal, much earlier. Italia had been a land of virtuous farmers until Hannibal laid waste to farms and fields all over the country, which were then bought up by the rich, who became powerful landowners with the massive import of slaves to work the land. The people, essentially, went on the government dole. Yes, the failure of the Grachii brothers to achieve reforms, the Social Wars, Sulla’s reign, all played their parts, but they were consequences of this fundamental shift toward a slave-driven and increasingly oligarchic society. We should take note, as well, that in the end, Statism and socialist, perhaps even what we could call communist efforts to save the economy of the Empire would prove disastrous.
good points, I’d need to think that over