 The purpose was to obtain arable lands for impoverished farmers.The Senate abolished the colony some time later to undermine Gracchus' power.After this ill-fated attempt, a new city of Carthage was built on the same land by Julius Caesar in the period from 49 to 44 BC, and by the first century, it had grown to be the fourth largest city of the empire, with a population in excess of 100,000 people.