[1] The Julii Iuli were the oldest branch of the ancient patrician Julia gens, and their magistracies span nearly a century and a half leading to Gaius' dictatorship.
[3][2] Faced with growing unrest, the senate finally directed the interrex Lucius Cornelius Scipio to observe the Licinian law.
As a result, a plebeian, Gaius Marcius Rutilus, who had previously held the consulship in BC 357, was elected alongside the patrician Publius Valerius Poplicola.
Vexed by their defeat, the patricians resolved to defy the law once more in the elections for 351, and they nominated Gaius Julius Iulus dictator, on the pretext that twelve Etruscan cities had formed an alliance to oppose Rome.
Following Julius' resignation, Gaius Sulpicius Peticus was appointed interrex; he too failed to procure the desired result, but his successor, Marcus Fabius Ambustus, succeeded, and two patricians were elected in violation of the Licinian law.