Well it depends on your perspective. The OP's question frames the parameters we're considering as a "body of law" and the "average White man." In Rome, the body of law being considered dealt with to whom a military command was bestowed and the White part of the average White man doesn't really play a part because all the Roman citizens would be considered White and all the Italian non-citizens would also be considered White. Many of these Italians were recently granted citizenship as a result of the Social war and they sided with the populist faction. The patricians were certainly not average, they were the noble class that could trace their lineage to the original 100 senators appointed by Romulus. Gaius Marius had been hailed as the "Third Founder of Rome" because he defeated the invading German hordes. Sulla had served under Marius to fight the German invasion. The average person loved Marius. Marius was one of them, he was not from the Patrician clasd. When Marius originally used a Tribune to strip Metellus of command and give it to himself, he had at least been Consul at that time. When he tried to do the same thing to Sulla, he was a 70 year old private citizen. Sulla may have viewed the average people as too stupid to understand their hero was an old, power hungry mad man that needed to step aside so that power could be shared more equally. Many of the average people back then may have viewed Sulla the same way we view the wealthy elite today.