Quote Originally Posted by abou
And you're probably right. If anything, it might have started about the time of the Gracchi brothers. Only problem with those that would want to serve in the Senate is that they would have to satisfy the property requirements.
Well, for the wealthy who had always provided cavalry, as distinct from the traditional citizen-soldier, I don't think property qualifications were really an issue. Not least because with empire came a massive increase in the wealth of the privileged, who bought up or outright stole land off the poor.

Not a big deal for a father who wants his son to qualify before he himself dies to parcel off a tract of land big enough to him.