  Assuming that the natural gauge group of gravity is given by the group of
isometries of a given space, for a maximally symmetric space we derive a model
in which gravity is essentially a gauge theory of translations. Starting from
first principles we verify that a nonlinear realization of the symmetry
provides the general structure of this gauge theory, leading to a simple choice
of dynamical variables of the gravity field corresponding, at first order, to a
diagonal matrix, whereas the non-diagonal elements contribute only to higher
orders.
