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Posted by Webmaster on September 20 2004, 03:38 PM
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The Gracchi were two brothers who worked hard to change Rome in the period in-between the second and third Punic Wars. Both brothers were champions of the plebeians (common people). Eventually Tiberius, the elder Gracchi paid for his reforms with his life and the younger Gracchi, Gaius killed himself.
To understand why the Gracchi did what they did one must look at their family history. Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Cornelia the daughter of Scipio Africanus. Sempronius was a very successful politician and military leader, becoming consul two times and censor and praetor once, his military career was also impressive, earning him lavish triumph. All of this was quite amazing to many because the Gracchus family were plebeians and had only just begun their rise to prominence. Cornelia, as stated above was daughter of Scipio Africanus, she was also the granddaughter of L. Aemilius Paullus, another great politician. Cornelia also had a rather good education for a woman and rulers throughout the Mediterranean frequently sought her out. Cornelia married Sempronius after he saved her father from arrest. Sempronius and Cornelia ultimately had 12 children and out of that number only Tiberius, Gaius, and a daughter called Sempronia (later in time Sempronia married Scipio Aemilianus, her own cousin) survived. Tiberius and Gaius were raised primarily by their mother, who also oversaw every aspect of their education, as far as Cornelia only the best Greek tutors would teach her sons. This education would prove important later on for the Gracchi as they entered the political arena of Rome.
The Gracchi first appeared on the Roman world stage in 133 B.C. In 133 B.C. Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune by the plebeians for his fearless stand against the nobility in a recent quarrel between the two classes. This quarrel was over the division of land, for when a country was conquered the land was divided between all of the people, but as time went on only the nobles got newly conquered land. The plebeians chose Tiberius for tribune not only for standing up for them but because he had a reputation for honesty and understanding. Soon after assuming office Tiberius introduced a new law for reforming the way land was divided. This new law would limit the amount of land a noble could take to 500 Iugera (that is 310 acres) the rest of the land would go to the government who would rent it out to the plebeians. The nobility opposed the new law and threw monkey wrench after monkey wrench into the voting process to delay the bill passing. Finally one of the nobles bribed Tiberius’ fellow tribune, Octavius. Tiberius was outraged and took Octavius to a meeting of the Assembly of Tribes, a body of plebeians that voiced the will of the people. Tiberius accused Octavius of thwarting the will of the people and asked for him to be replaced, the Assembly did so and soon after Tiberius’ land reform bill passed in the Senate.
Tiberius was popular and beloved by the common man, but the nobles despised him and sure enough trouble was right around the corner. In 133 B.C. Attalus III the king of Pergamum died and left his kingdom to the Roman people in his will. Tiberius jumped on the opportunity and proposed that money inherited from Attalus be used to help the plebeians. This was followed by numerous legislation in 132 B.C. but because a good number of Tiberius’ supporters were out of town for harvest so the measures was defeated. Soon afterwards rumors began to spread that the nobles were conspiring to kill Tiberius. During a speech about the rumors a senator and cousin of the Gracchi named Scipio Nasica mistook a hand motion to the head as asking for a crown and began to plot to kill him. At another speech Nasica led his followers into the crowd with clubs, staves, and broken benches. During the fighting Tiberius and 300 of his followers were killed, following this Nasica and his men threw the bodies into the River Tiber. This attack was the first outbreak of civil violence in Rome; the last time was during the ousting of the Tarquins (the last kings of Rome) 400 years earlier.
The death of Tiberius Gracchus had a large affect on Roman politics as the nobles began to plot to seize power again. In the years following Tiberius’ death there was great strife within the Roman Republic as lands gained from Attalus’ will plunged into war. Also in this time Scipio Aemilianus was found dead in the streets of Rome for his policies. The Plebeians needed a new Tiberius to help them and they got Tiberius’ younger brother Gaius. Gaius had been relatively unknown until this time and the plebeians soon had him appointed questor of Sardinia where he proved his worth to them.
In 123 B.C. Gaius was appointed as tribune and set out to continue the work of his brother, history however would show that Gaius would be much more Populist (liberal) in his reforms. Gaius almost immediately proposed many different measures to the assembly and then the senate, these laws are commonly known as the Sempronian Laws. Other measures proposed by Gaius were to establish colonies all over the land of the Republic; one such colony was Novo Carthago on the site of the former city of Carthage. Another measure of Gaius Gracchus was to appoint the members of the equestrian class the right to preside as judges in cases were the provincial governors were accused of wrongdoing, as well as appointing them as tax collectors in the new province of Asia (this province was created from the Kingdom of Pergamum). This measure was a literal slap in the face to the senators as it diminished their power.
In 122 B.C. the people reelected Gaius to position of tribune along with a long time supporter of the Gracchi, M. Fulvius Flaccus. Gaius continued with his revolutionary reforms throughout this term, going as far as proposing a measure too far ahead of its time to be passed. Gaius proposed to the Assembly of Tribes that full roman citizenship be extended to the Latins and that the privileges enjoyed by the Latins be extended to all non-roman Italians. The Assembly needless to say smacked this measure down without much debate. For the Optimate Party (opponents of the Gracchi, named for Consul Lucius Optimus) this was the last straw, so they began to plot on how rid themselves of him. In 121 B.C. Gaius planned for a third term as tribune and his popularity looked like it would catapult him there. The Optimates however had a trick up their sleeve and they introduced their own candidate for tribune, M. Livius Drusus who campaigned on an even more populist platform then Gaius and his supporters, who were known as the Populist Party. Due to recent unrest towards Gaius for his ideas about citizenship and rumors of superstition about Gaius’ recent visit to Novo Carthago he lost the election. A few days later Flaccus and a large number of Gracchi supporters went to Aventine Hill and protested the recent elections, some of the men brought their weapons with them. Hearing the protesters shouts Consul Optimus arrived on the scene and soon saw the weapons, this gave him the idea on how to rid himself of Gaius Gracchus. Using his special powers of senatus consultum optimum (this power was the highest authority in the Roman constitution) Optimus brought a small force of soldiers and militia and in short massacred the demonstrators, a total of 3,000 was dead by the end of the day. In the confusion Gaius Gracchus ordered his personal slave to kill him. With the death of Gaius Gracchus the days of the Gracchi had ended
Following the Aventine Massacre much tumult erupted in Rome. The death of Gaius Gracchus sent shockwaves throughout the Roman Republic, as it meant that the last of Gracchi was gone. The nobility took the opportunity to try to get the Agrarian and Sempronian Laws abolished and thus erase to them anyway the painful memory of their reforms. However the Gracchi had opened a Pandora’s Box of problems for Rome as they had exposed some serious flaws in the Roman State. Although the Agrarian and Sempronian Laws were abolished eventually by the great Gaius Marius the effect the Gracchi had would never go away. |
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