Answer:
The correct answer is C. A cause of the decline of the Roman Republic was the growing gap in wealth between the social classes, that caused tension and instability.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Roman Republic consolidated its power in central Italy during the 5th century BC and in the fourth and third centuries BC prevailed as the dominant power of the Italian peninsula, subjecting the other peoples of the region and facing the southern Greek polis. In the second half of the third century BC it projected its power outside Italy, which led to a series of clashes with the other great powers of the Mediterranean, in which it defeated Carthage and Macedonia, annexing their territories.
In the following years, being already the greatest power of the Mediterranean its power on the Greek polis expanded; the kingdom of Pergamum was incorporated into the Republic and in the 1st century BC it conquered the coasts of the Middle East, then held by the Seleucid Empire and Sackcloth pirates. During the period that covers the end of the second century BC and the 1st century BC, Rome underwent major political changes, caused by a crisis resulting from a system used to direct only the Romans and not adequate to control a great empire. At this time the competition for the magistracies between the Roman aristocracy intensified, creating irreconcilable political fractures that would shake the Republic with three great civil wars; These wars would end up destroying the Republic, and leading to a new stage in the history of Rome: the Roman Empire.