LIFE OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS.
I. Having finished the first History,20 it remains to contemplate
equal calamities in the pair of Roman Lives, in
a comparison of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus with Agis
and Kleomenes.21 Tiberius and Caius were the sons of54 Tiberius Gracchus,22 who was censor and twice consul,
and celebrated two triumphs, but was still more55 distinguished for his personal character, to which he owed the
honour of having for his wife Cornelia, the daughter of
Scipio,23 the conqueror of Hannibal, whom he married
after Scipio’s death, though Tiberius had not been a
friend of Scipio, but rather a political opponent. A story
is told that Tiberius once caught a couple of snakes24 in
his bed, and the diviners, after consulting on the matter,
told him that he must not kill both nor yet let both go;
as to the male, they said, if it were killed, the death
of Tiberius would follow, and if the female were killed,
Cornelia would die. Now Tiberius, who loved his wife
and thought it would be more suitable for him to die first,
as he was an elderly man and his wife was still young,
killed the male snake and let the female go; and he died 56no long time after, leaving twelve children by Cornelia,
Cornelia undertook the care of her family and her husband’s
property, and showed herself so prudent, so fond
of her children, and of so exalted a character, that Tiberius
was judged to have done well in dying in place of such a
wife. And though Ptolemæus,25 the king of Egypt, invited
Cornelia to share his crown, and wooed her for his
wife, she refused the offer and continued a widow. All
her children died before her, except one daughter, who
married the younger Scipio,26 and two sons, of whom I am 57going to speak, Tiberius and Caius, who were brought up
by their mother so carefully that they became, beyond
dispute, the most accomplished of all the Roman youth,
which they owed, perhaps, more to their excellent education
than even to their natural good qualities.
II. Now as the figures of the Dioscuri,27 whether sculptured
or painted, though resembling one another, still
present such an amount of difference as appears when
we contrast a boxer with a runner, so in these two youths,
with all their resemblance in courage, temperance,
generous temper, eloquence, and magnanimity, yet great
contrasts also in their actions and polity blossomed forth,
so to speak, and displayed themselves, which I think it
well to set forth. First in the character and expression
of his countenance, and in his movements, Tiberius was
mild and sedate; Caius was animated and impetuous.
When Tiberius harangued the people, he would stand
composedly on one spot; but Caius was the first Roman
who moved about on the rostra28 and pulled his toga
from his shoulder while he was speaking, as Kleon29 the58 Athenian is said to have been the first popular orator at
Athens who threw his cloak from him and struck his
thigh. The manner of Caius was awe-striking and
vehemently impassioned; the manner of Tiberius was
more pleasing and calculated to stir the sympathies: the
language of Tiberius was pure and elaborated to great
nicety; that of Caius was persuasive and exuberant. In
like manner, in his mode of life and his table, Tiberius
was frugal and simple; compared with others, Caius was
moderate and austere, but, contrasted with his brother,
luxurious and curious, as we see by Drusus charging him
with buying silver dolphins30 at the price of twelve hundred
and fifty drachmæ for every pound that they weighed.
The differences in their character corresponded to their
respective styles of speaking: Tiberius was moderate and
mild; Caius was rough and impetuous, and it often happened
that in his harangues he was carried away by
passion, contrary to his judgment, and his voice became
shrill, and he fell to abuse, and grew confused in his discourse.
To remedy this fault, he employed Licinius, a
well-educated slave, who used to stand behind him when
he was speaking, with a musical instrument,31 such as is 59used as an accompaniment to singing, and whenever he
observed that the voice of Caius was becoming harsh and
broken through passion, he would produce a soft note,
upon which Caius would immediately moderate his
vehemence and his voice, and become calm.
III. Such were the contrasts between the two brothers,
but in courage against the enemy, in justice to the subject
nations, in vigilance in the discharge of public duties,
and in self-control over indulgence, they were both alike.
Tiberius was the elder by nine years, a circumstance
which caused their political career to be separated by an
interval, and greatly contributed to the failure of their
measures, for they did not rise to eminence at the same
time nor unite their strength in one effort, which from their
union, would have been powerful and irresistible. I must
accordingly speak of each separately, and of the elder first.
IV. Immediately on attaining man’s estate, Tiberius
had so great a reputation that he was elected a member
of the college of augurs,32 rather for his excellent
qualities than his noble birth. Appius Claudius,33 a man
of consular and censorian rank, who in consideration of 60his dignity was appointed Princeps Senatus,34 and in
loftiness of character surpassed all his contemporaries,
showed his opinion of Tiberius; for when the augurs were
feasting together, Appius addressed Tiberius with many
expressions of friendship, and solicited him to take his
daughter to wife. Tiberius gladly accepted the proposal,
and the agreement was forthwith made. As Appius was
entering the door on his return home, he called out to his
wife in a loud voice, “Antistia, I have given our daughter
Claudia to wife.” Antistia in surprise replied, “What is
the need or the hurry, unless you have got Tiberius Gracchus
for her husband?” I am aware that some writers
tell this story of Tiberius the father of the Gracchi and of
Scipio Africanus; but the majority have the story as I
give it, and Polybius35 says that after the death of Scipio
Africanus, his kinsmen selected Tiberius to be the husband
of Cornelia, and that she had neither been given in
marriage nor betrothed by her father in his lifetime.
Now the younger Tiberius served in the army in Africa36 61with the second Scipio,37 who had married his sister, and
by living in the general’s tent he soon learned his character,
which exhibited many and great qualities for virtuous
emulation and practical imitation. Tiberius, also, soon
surpassed all the young soldiers in attention to discipline
and in courage; and he was the first to mount the enemy’s
wall, as Fannius38 says, who also asserts that he mounted
the wall with Tiberius and shared the honour with him.
While he was in the army Tiberius won the affection of
all the soldiers, and was regretted when he went away.
V. After that expedition he was elected quæstor,39 and
it fell to his lot to serve in that capacity under the consul
Caius Mancinus,40 no bad man, but the most unlucky of62 Roman generals. Accordingly in adverse fortune and
critical affairs the prudence and courage of Tiberius
became the more conspicuous, and not only his prudence
and courage, but what was truly admirable, his consideration
and respect for his general, whose reverses almost
made him forget who he was. Having been defeated in
several great battles, Mancinus attempted to leave his
camp by night and make a retreat. The Numantines,
however, perceived his movements, and immediately
seizing the camp, fell on the Romans in their flight and
killed those in the rear; and at last, when they were
surrounding the whole army and driving them to unfavourable
ground, from which escape was impossible,
Mancinus, despairing of all chance of saving himself by
resistance, sent to treat for a truce and terms of peace.
But the Numantines declared that they would trust
nobody except Tiberius, and they bade Mancinus send
him. The Numantines had come to this resolution as well
from a knowledge of the young man’s character, for there
was much talk about him in this campaign, as from the
remembrance of his father Tiberius, who, after carrying
on war against the Iberians and subduing many of them,
made peace with the Numantines, and always kept the
Roman people to a fair and just observance of it. Accordingly
Tiberius was sent, and had a conference with the
Numantines, in which he got some favourable conditions,
and, by making some concessions, obtained a truce, and
thus saved twenty thousand Roman citizens, besides the
slaves and camp-followers.
VI.. All the property that was taken in the camp became
the booty of the Numantines; and among it were
the tablets of Tiberius, which contained the entries and
accounts of his administration as quæstor. Being very
anxious to recover them, though the army had already
advanced some distance, he returned to the city with
three or four companions, and calling forth the magistrates
of Numantia, he begged to have back his tablets, in order
that his enemies might not have an opportunity of calumniating
him if he should not be able to give an account 63of his administration of the public money. The Numantines
were pleased at the opportunity of doing him a
service, and invited him to enter the city; and when he
stood hesitating, they came near and clung to his hands,
and were urgent in entreating him not to consider them
as enemies any longer, but as friends, and to trust them.
Tiberius determined to do so, as he was very anxious to
get the tablets, and feared to irritate the Numantines if
he should seem to distrust them. When he had entered
the city, the first thing they did was to prepare an entertainment,
and to urge him most importunately to sit
down and eat with them. They afterwards gave him
back the tablets, and bade him take anything else he
liked. Tiberius, however, would have nothing except the
frankincense which he wanted for the public sacrifices,
and after a friendly embrace he took his leave of them.
VII. On his return to Rome, the whole transaction was
greatly blamed as dishonourable and disgraceful to Rome.
The kinsfolk and friends of the soldiers, who were a
large part of the people, crowded about Tiberius, charging
the general with the disgraceful part of what had happened,
and declaring that Tiberius had been the saviour
of so many citizens. Those who were the most vexed at
the events in Iberia,41 recommended that they should 64follow the example of their ancestors; for in former times
the Romans stripped of their clothes and delivered up to
the Samnites42 those who had purchased their safety on 65dishonourable terms, both the generals and all who had any
share or participation in the treaty, quæstors and tribunes
all alike, and on their heads they turned the violation of the
oaths and the infraction of the agreement. It was on this
occasion particularly, that the people showed their affection
and zeal towards Tiberius: for they decided to deliver
up the consul, stripped and in chains, to the Numantines,
but they spared all the rest on account of Tiberius. It
appears that Scipio also, who was then the most powerful
man in Rome, gave his assistance in this matter, but nevertheless
he was blamed for not saving Mancinus, and not
making any exertion to ratify the treaty with the Numantines,
which had been concluded by his relation and friend
Tiberius. But whatever difference there was between Scipio
and Tiberius on this occasion, perhaps originated mainly
in jealousy and was owing to the friends of Tiberius and
the sophists, who endeavoured to prejudice him against
Scipio. There was, however, no irreconcilable breach made
between them, and no bad result from this affair; indeed,
it seems to me that Tiberius would never have been involved
in those political measures which cost him his
life, if Scipio Africanus had been at Rome while they
were going on. But it was while Scipio was carrying on
the war at Numantia43 that Tiberius commenced his legislation,
to which he was led from the following motives.
VIII. Whatever territory the Romans acquired from
their neighbours in war, they sold part, and retaining
the other part as public property,44 they gave it to the 66poorer citizens to cultivate, on the payment of a small
sum to the treasury. But as the rich began to outbid the
poor, and so to drive them out, a law was passed which
forbade any one to have more than five hundred jugera
of land. This law restrained the greediness of the rich for a
short time, and was a relief to the poor, who remained on
the land which they had hired, and cultivated the several
portions which they originally had. But in course of 67time their rich neighbours contrived to transfer the
holdings to themselves in the names of other persons, and
at last openly got possession of the greater part of the
public lands in their own names, and the poor, being
expelled, were not willing to take military service and
were careless about bringing up families, in consequence
of which there was speedily a diminution in the number
of freemen all through Italy, and the country was filled
with ergastula45 of barbarian slaves, with whom the rich
cultivated the lands from which they had expelled the
citizens. Now Caius Lælius,46 the friend of Scipio, attempted
to remedy this mischief, but he desisted through fear
of the disturbances that were threatened by the opposition
of the rich, whence he got the name of wise or prudent,
for such is the signification of the Roman word “sapiens.”
Tiberius, on being elected tribune,47 immediately undertook
the same measures, as most say, at the instigation of the
orator Diophanes and the philosopher Blossius.48 Diophanes 68was an exile from Mitylene: Blossius was an Italian from
Cumæ, and had been an intimate at Rome with Antipater
of Tarsus, who had done him the honour of dedicating to
him some of his philosophical writings. Some give part of
the blame to Cornelia also, the mother of Tiberius, who
frequently reproached her sons that the Romans still
called her the mother-in-law of Scipio, but not yet the
mother of the Gracchi. Others say that jealousy of one
Spurius Postumius,49 a contemporary of Tiberius, and a
rival of his reputation as an orator, was the immediate
motive: for it is said that when Tiberius returned to
Rome from his military service, he found that Postumius
had far out-stripped him in reputation and influence, and
seeing the distinction that Postumius had attained, he
determined to get the advantage over him by engaging in
measures which were attended with hazard, but promised
great results. But his brother Caius in a certain book has
recorded, that as Tiberius was passing through Tyrrhenia
(Tuscany), on his road to Numantia, he observed the deserted
state of the country, and that the cultivators and
shepherds were foreign slaves and barbarians; and that he
then for the first time conceived those political measures
which to them were the beginning of infinite calamities.
But the energy and ambition of Tiberius were mainly excited
by the people, who urged him by writing on the
porticoes, the walls, and on the tombs, to recover the public
land for the poor.
IX. He did not, however, draw up the law without
assistance, but took the advice of the citizens most eminent 69for character and reputation, among whom were Crassus50 the pontifex maximus, Mucius Scævola,51 the jurist, who
was then consul, and Claudius Appius, his father-in-law.
Never was a measure directed against such wrong and
aggression conceived in more moderate and gentle terms;
for though the rich well deserved to be punished for their
violation of law and to be compelled to surrender under
penalties the land which they had been illegally enjoying,
the law merely declared that they should give up their
unjust acquisitions upon being paid the value of them,
and should allow the lands to be occupied by the citizens
who were in want of this relief. Though the reform of
this abuse was so moderate and reasonable, the people
were satisfied to take no notice of the past and to secure
themselves against wrong for the future. But the 70rich and those who had possessions detested the proposed
law because of their greediness, and the proposer of it was
the object of their indignation and jealousy; and accordingly
they attempted to divert the people from the
measure, by insinuating that Tiberius was proposing a
division of land merely to disturb the state and to bring
about a revolution. But they failed altogether; for
Tiberius, supporting a measure in itself honourable and
just, with an eloquence52 calculated to set off even a meaner
subject, showed his power and his superiority over his
opponents, whenever the people were crowded round the
rostra and he addressed them about the poor. “The
wild beasts of Italy,” he would say, “had their dens and
holes and hiding-places, while the men who fought and
died in defence of Italy enjoyed, indeed, the air and the
light, but nothing else: houseless and without a spot of
ground to rest upon, they wander about with their wives
and children, while their commanders, with a lie in their
mouth, exhort the soldiers in battle to defend their tombs
and temples against the enemy, for out of so many
Romans not one has a family altar or ancestral tomb, but
they fight to maintain the luxury and wealth of others,
and they die with the title of lords of the earth,53 without
possessing a single clod to call their own.”
X. Such language as this, proceeding from a lofty
spirit and genuine feeling, and delivered to the people,
who were vehemently excited and roused, none of the 71enemies of Tiberius attempted to refute. Abandoning,
therefore, all idea of opposing him by words, they
addressed themselves to Marcus Octavius,54 one of the
tribunes, a young man of sober and orderly disposition,
and a companion and friend of Tiberius. At first Octavius,
from regard to Tiberius, evaded the proposals, but being
urged and importuned by many of the powerful nobles,55 72and as it were, driven to it, he set himself in opposition
to Tiberius, and prevented the passing of the law. Now 73all the power is virtually in the hands of the dissentient
tribune, for the rest can do nothing if a single tribune 74oppose them. Irritated at this, Tiberius withdrew his
moderate measure and introduced another, more agreeable 75to the people and more severe against the illegal possessors
of land; this new measure ejected persons out of the
lands which they had got possession of contrary to existing
laws. There was a daily contest between him and
Octavius at the rostra, but though they opposed one
another with great earnestness and rivalry, it is said they
never uttered a disparaging word against one another,
and that no unbecoming expression ever escaped either of
them against the other. It is not, then, in bacchanalian
revelries56 only, as it seems, but also in ambitious rivalry
and passion, that to be of noble nature and to have been
well brought up, restrains and governs the mind. Tiberius,
observing that Octavius himself was obnoxious to the law
and possessed a considerable tract of the public land,
begged him to desist from his opposition, offering to pay
him the value of the land out of his own purse, though
he was by no means in affluent circumstances. Upon
Octavius rejecting the proposal, Tiberius by an edict
forbade all the other magistrates to transact any public
business until the people had voted upon his law; and
he placed his private seals on the temple of Saturn,57 that
the quæstors might not be able to take anything out of it
or pay anything in, and he gave public notice that a
penalty would be imposed on the prætors if they76 disobeyed; in consequence of which all the magistrates were
afraid and ceased from discharging their several functions.
Upon this the possessors changed their dress and went
about the Forum in a piteous and humble guise, but
in secret they plotted against Tiberius and endeavoured
to procure assassins to take him off; in consequence of
which, Tiberius, as everybody knew, wore under his dress
a short sword, such as robbers use, which the Romans call
dolo.58
XI. When the day came and Tiberius was calling the
people to the vote, the voting-urns59 were seized by the 77rich and the proceedings were put into great confusion.
However, as the partisans of Tiberius, who had the superiority
in numbers, were collecting in order to make
resistance, Manlius60 and Fulvius, both consular men,
falling down at the knees of Tiberius, and clinging to his
hands with tears, begged him to desist. Tiberius, seeing
that matters were near coming to extremities, and from
regard to the men also, asked them what they would have
him do; to which they replied, that they were not competent
to advise on so important a matter, and they
urged him to refer it to the senate, and at last he
consented. The senate met, but did nothing, owing to
the opposition of the rich, who had great influence in the
body; upon which Tiberius had recourse to the unconstitutional
and violent measure of depriving Octavius
of his office, finding it impossible to put his proposed
law to the vote in any other way. In the first place,
he publicly entreated Octavius, addressing him affectionately
and clinging to his hands, to yield to and gratify
the people, who asked for nothing but their rights, and
would only get a small matter in return for great dangers
and sufferings. Octavius rejected this proposition; upon
which Tiberius reminded him that both of them were
magistrates and were contending with equal power on
a weighty matter, and that it was not possible for this
struggle to continue without coming to open hostility;
that he saw no remedy except for one of them to give
up his office; and he bade Octavius put it to the people
to vote on his case first, and said that he would immediately
descend to the station of a private man, if the 78citizens should desire it. As Octavius refused this proposal
also, Tiberius said that he would put the question
about Octavius retiring from the tribunate to the people,
if Octavius did not change his resolution.
XII. Thus ended the assembly of that day. On the
following day Tiberius mounted the rostra and again
endeavoured to persuade Octavius; but as he would
not yield, Tiberius proposed a law by which Octavius
should be deprived of his tribunate, and he forthwith summoned
the citizens to vote upon it. Now, there were
five and thirty tribes,61 and when seventeen of them
had already given their vote, and the addition of one more
tribe would reduce Octavius to a private condition,
Tiberius stopped the voting, and again entreated Octavius,
embracing him in the presence of the people and urgently
praying him not to be careless about being deprived
of his office, and not to bring on him the blame of so
severe and odious a measure. It is said that Octavius
was not entirely untouched or unmoved by these entreaties,
and his eyes were filled with tears and he was
silent for some time. But when he looked to the rich and
the possessors, who were standing together in one body,
through fear of losing their good opinion, as it seems,
he boldly determined to run every risk, and he told
Tiberius to do what he pleased. Accordingly the law
was passed, and Tiberius ordered one of his freedmen
to drag Octavius from the rostra, for Tiberius employed
his own freedmen as officers; a circumstance which made
the spectacle of Octavius dragged from the rostra with
contumely still more deplorable. At the same time the
people made an assault on Octavius, and though the rich
all ran to his assistance and disengaged him from their
hands, it was not without difficulty that he was rescued
and made his escape from the mob. But one of his faithful
slaves, who had placed himself in front of his master
to defend him, had his eyes torn out. This violence was 79quite contrary to the wishes of Tiberius, who, on seeing
what was going on, speedily made his way to the disturbance.
XIII. The law about the land was now immediately
carried, and triumviri62 were appointed for ascertaining
its bounds and distributing it; the triumviri were
Tiberius, and his father-in-law Claudius Appius, and
Caius Gracchus, his brother, who, however, was not at
Rome, but serving under Scipio against Numantia. All
this Tiberius accomplished quietly without any opposition,
and he also procured to be elected tribune in the room of
Octavius, not a person of rank, but one Mucius63 a client64 of his own. The nobles, who were vexed at all these
measures and feared the growing power of Tiberius,
treated him in the senate with contumely; and upon his
asking, according to custom, for a tent from the treasury
for his use while he was distributing the land, they
refused it to him, though others had often had one
allowed them on less important occasions; and they only
gave him for his expenses nine oboli65 a day, which was
done on the motion of Publius Nasica,66 who entered
violently into the opposition against Tiberius, for he was
in possession of a very large amount of public land, and
was greatly annoyed at being forcibly ejected from it.
But the people now became still more violent. A
friend of Tiberius happened to die suddenly, and suspicious
marks immediately showed themselves on the
body. The people cried out that he was poisoned, and
collecting in great numbers at the funeral, they carried the
bier and stood by while the body was burnt. And the
suspicion of poison appeared to have some reason, for the 80body burst on the pile and sent forth such a quantity of
corrupt humours as to quench the flame; and though a
light was again applied, the body would not burn till it
was removed to another place, where, after much trouble,
the fire at last laid hold of it. Upon this Tiberius, with
the view of exciting the people still more, changed his dress,
and showing his children to the people, begged that they
would protect them and their mother, for he now despaired
of his own safety.
XIV. On the death of Attalus67 Philometor, Eudemus of
Pergamum brought his will to Rome, in which the Roman
people were made the king’s heir. In order to please the
people, Tiberius promulgated a law to the effect that as
soon as the king’s treasures were received, they should be
distributed among those who had assignments of land,
in order to enable them to stock the farms and to assist
them in their cultivation. With respect to the cities
included within the kingdom of Attalus, he said that the
senate had no right to decide about them, but he would
bring the subject before the popular assembly. This
measure gave violent offence to the senate, and Pompeius68 getting up, said that he lived near Tiberius, and so knew
that Eudemus of Pergamum had given a diadem out of the
royal treasures and a purple robe to Tiberius, who
designed to make himself king in Rome. Quintus
Metellus69 reproached Tiberius by reminding him, that
whenever his father, during his censorship, was returning
home from supper, the citizens used to put out the lights 81for fear it might be supposed that they were indulging
too much in entertainments and drinking, but that the
most insolent and needy of the citizens accompanied
Tiberius with lights at night. Titus Annius,70 who was
not a man of good repute or sober behaviour, but in any
contest of words by way of question and answer was considered
to be unequalled, challenged Tiberius to answer
definitely whether he had or had not branded with infamy
his brother tribune, though by the law he was sacred and
inviolable. As the question was received with signs of
approbation, Tiberius, hastily quitting the senate-house,
convoked the people and ordered Annius to be brought
before them, with the intention of accusing him. But
Annius, who was much inferior to Tiberius both in
eloquence and reputation, had recourse to his tricks, and
called on Tiberius to answer a few questions before he
began his speech. Tiberius assented, and as soon as there
was silence, Annius said, “If you intend to deprive me
of my rank, and disgrace me, and I appeal to one of
your brother tribunes, and he shall come to my aid,
and you shall then fall into a passion, will you deprive
him of his office?” On this question being put, it
is said that Tiberius, though no man was readier in
words or bolder in action, was so confused that he made
no reply.
XV. For the present Tiberius71 dissolved the assembly,
seeing that his proceedings with respect to Octavius were 82not liked either by the nobles or the people, for they
considered that the high and honourable dignity of the
tribunate, which had been kept unimpaired up to that
time, had been destroyed and trampled upon. He made
an harangue to the people, a few of the arguments of
which it will not be out of place to mention, for the
purpose of showing the persuasive eloquence and the
subtlety of the man. He said that a tribune was sacred
and inviolate, only because he was dedicated to the people
and was the guardian of the people. If then a tribune
should deviate from his duty and wrong the people,
abridge their power and deprive them of the opportunity
of voting, he had by his own act deprived himself of his
rank, by not fulfilling the conditions on which he
received it. Now we must consider a tribune to be still a
tribune, though he should dig down the Capitol and burn
the naval arsenal. If he should commit such excesses
as these, he is a bad tribune; but if he should attempt to
deprive the people of their power, he is not a tribune at
all. And is it not a monstrous thing if a tribune shall
have power to order a consul to be put in prison, and the
people shall not be able to deprive a tribune of his power
when he is using it against the people who gave it to
him? for both tribune and consul are equally chosen
by the people. Now the kingly office, besides comprehending
within it all civil power, is consecrated to the
divinity by the discharge of the chief ceremonials of religion;
and yet the state ejected Tarquinius for his wrong-doing,
and for the violence of one man the ancient power
which established Rome was overthrown. And what is
there at Rome so sacred, so venerated as the virgins who
guard the ever-burning fire? but if any of them offends,
she is buried alive; for when they sin against the gods,
they no longer retain that inviolable sanctity which they
have by being devoted to the gods. In like manner,
neither has a tribune when he is wronging the people any
right to retain the inviolable character which he receives
from the people, for he is destroying the very power
which is the origin of his own power. And indeed, if he
has legally received the tribunitian power by the votes of a
majority of the tribes, how is it that he cannot even 83still
more legally be deposed by the vote of all the tribes? Now,
nothing is so sacred and inviolable as things dedicated to
the gods; but yet no one has ever hindered the people
from using such things, moving them, and changing their
places as they please. It is therefore legal for the
people to transfer the tribunate, as a consecrated thing,
from one man to another. And that the tribunate is
not an inviolable thing, nor an office of which a man
cannot be divested, is clear from this that many magistrates
have abdicated their office and prayed to be excused
from it of their own free will.
XVI. Such were the heads of the justification of
Tiberius. His friends, seeing the threats of his enemies
and their combination, thought that he ought to be a
candidate for the tribunate for the next year; and
Tiberius attempted to strengthen his popularity by
promising to carry new measures,72 such as a diminution
of the period of military service, an appeal to the people
from the judices, an intermixture of an equal number of
the Equites with the Senators, from whom alone the
judices were then taken; and in every way he attempted
to abridge the power of the Senate, influenced rather
by passion and ambition, than justice and the interests of
the state. While the voting was going on, the friends of
Tiberius, seeing that their enemies were gaining the
advantage, for all the people were not present,73 at first
attempted to prolong the time by abusing the other tribunes,
and next they dissolved the meeting and appointed
it for the following day. Tiberius, going down to the
Forum, supplicated the citizens in humble manner and
with tears in his eyes; he then said that he feared his
enemies would break into his house by night and kill him, 84and thus he induced a great number of the citizens to take
their station about his house and watch there all night.
XVII. At daybreak the man came to bring the birds
which the Romans use in their auspices, and he threw them
food. But the birds would not come out of the basket74 with the exception of one, though the man shook it hard;
and even this one would not touch the food, but after
raising its left wing and stretching out a leg it ran back
to the basket. This reminded Tiberius of another omen
that had happened. He had a helmet which he wore in
battle, elaborately worked and splendid. Some snakes
had got into the helmet unobserved, and laid their eggs
and hatched them there. This made Tiberius still more
uneasy about the signs from the fowls. Nevertheless
he advanced up the city on hearing that the people was
assembled about the Capitol; but before he got out of
the house he stumbled over the threshold, and the blow
was so violent that the nail of his great toe was broken,
and the blood ran out through his shoe. He had not got
far before some crows were seen fighting on the roof of
a house on the left hand, and though a great crowd was
passing by, as was natural on such an occasion, a stone
which was pushed off by one of the crows fell by the
feet of Tiberius. This made even the boldest of his
adherents hesitate; but Blossius of Cumæ, who was
present, said it would be a shame and a great disgrace if
Tiberius, a son of Gracchus and a grandson of Scipio
Africanus, and a defender of the Roman people should 85not obey the summons of the people for fear of a crow,
and that his enemies would not treat this cowardly act
as a matter of ridicule, but would make it the ground of
calumniating him to the people as playing the tyrant and
treating them with contempt. At the same time many
persons ran up to Tiberius with a message from his friends
in the Capitol, to hasten there, as all was going on
favourably. And indeed everything promised well at
first, for as soon as he appeared he was greeted with
friendly cheers, and as he ascended the Capitol he was
joyfully received, and the people crowded about him to
prevent any stranger from approaching.
XVIII. Now, Mucius began to summon the tribes again,
but nothing could be conducted with the usual forms on
account of the confusion that prevailed among those who
were on the outskirts of the assembly, where they were
struggling with their opponents, who were attempting
to force their way in and mingle with the rest. At this
juncture Flavius Flaccus,75 a senator, posted himself in a
conspicuous place, and as it was not possible to make
his voice heard so far, he made a signal with his hand
that he wished to say something in private to Tiberius.
Tiberius bade the crowd let Flaccus pass, who, with
great difficulty making his way up to Tiberius, told him
that the Senate was sitting, that as they could not prevail
on the consul, the rich were resolving to kill Tiberius
themselves, and that they had armed many of their slaves
and friends for this purpose.
XIX. Upon Tiberius reporting this to those who were
standing about him, they forthwith tucked up their
dress, and breaking the staves which the officers use to
keep the crowd back, distributed the fragments among
them and made ready to defend themselves against their
assailants. While those at a distance were wondering at
what was going on, and asking what it meant, Tiberius
touched his head with his hand, since his voice could not
be heard, intending thereby to signify to the people that
his life was in danger. His enemies on seeing this ran to 86the Senate and told them that Tiberius was asking
for a crown, and that his touching his head was a proof of
it. On this the whole body was greatly disturbed; Nasica
entreated the consul76 to protect the state and put down
the tyrant. The consul however answered mildly that he
would not be the first to use violence, and that he would
not take any citizen’s life without a regular trial; if however,
he said, the people should come to an illegal vote at the
instigation of Tiberius, or from compulsion, he would not
respect any such decision. Upon this Nasica springing up
exclaimed, “Well then, as the consul betrays the state, do
you who wish to maintain the laws follow me.” As he
uttered these words he drew the skirt of his dress over his
head, and hastened to the Capitol; and the senators who
followed him, wrapping their dress about them with one
hand, pushed all the people they met out of the way, no one
opposing them, from respect to their rank, but taking to
flight and trampling down one another. The followers
of the senators had clubs and sticks which they had
brought from home; but the senators seizing the fragments
and legs of the benches which were broken by the people
in their hurry to escape, made right to Tiberius, and
struck all those who were in their road. The people
were all put to flight or killed. As Tiberius was attempting
to make his escape, some one laid hold of his dress,
on which he dropped his toga and fled in his tunic; but
he stumbled over some persons who were lying on the
ground and was thrown down. While he was endeavouring
to rise, he received the first blow, as it is universally
admitted, from Publius Satyreius, one of his colleagues,
who struck him on the head with the leg of a bench.
Lucius Rufus claimed the credit of giving him the second
blow, as if that were a thing to be proud of. Above three
hundred persons lost their lives by sticks and stones, but
none by the sword.
87
XX. This is said to have been the first disturbance at
Rome since the abolition of the kingly power, which
ended in bloodshed and the death of citizens. All
previous disputes, though they were neither trifling nor
about trifling matters, were settled by mutual concession:
the nobles yielded through fear of the people, and the
people yielded from respect to the Senate. Even on this
occasion it is probable that Tiberius would have given
way to persuasion without any difficulty, and still more
readily if his assailants had not come to bloodshed and
blows, for those about him were not above three thousand
in number. But the combination against him seems to
have proceeded rather from the passion and hatred of the
rich citizens, than from the reasons which they alleged;
and the brutal and indecent treatment of his dead body is
a proof of this. For they would not listen to his brother’s
request77 to take up the body and bury it at night, but it
was thrown into the Tiber with the other bodies. And
this was not all; they banished some of his friends without
trial, and others they seized and put to death, among
whom was Diophanes the orator. One Caius Villius78 they shut up in a vessel with snakes and vipers, and thus
he died. Blossius of Cumæ, being brought before the
consuls and questioned about what had passed, admitted
that he had done everything at the bidding of Tiberius.
On Nasica asking79 him, “What if Tiberius had told you
to burn the Capitol?” Blossius said, that Tiberius would
never have given him any such order. The same question
being often put to him, and by several persons, he said, “If
he had commanded me to burn the Capitol, it would have
been a good deed for me to do; for Tiberius would not
have given such an order unless it were for the interest of
the people.” Blossius, however, was set at liberty, and
afterwards went to Aristonikus80 in Asia, on the ruin of
whose affairs he killed himself.
88
XXI. The Senate, under present circumstances, endeavoured
to soothe the people; they made no opposition to
the distribution of the public land, and they allowed the
people to elect another commissioner in place of Tiberius.
Having come to a vote, they elected Publius Crassus81 a
relation of Gracchus, for his daughter Licinia was the wife
of Caius Gracchus. Cornelius Nepos,82 indeed, says that
Caius did not marry the daughter of Crassus, but the
daughter of Brutus83 who triumphed over the Lusitanians:
however, the majority of writers state the matter as I have
done. Now, as the people were sore about the death of
Tiberius, and were manifestly waiting for an opportunity
to be revenged, and Nasica84 was threatened with prosecutions,
the Senate, fearing for his safety, made a decree for
sending him to Asia, though they had nothing for him to do
there. For when men met Nasica they did not conceal their
hostility, but broke out into violence, and abused him
wherever they fell in with him, calling him accursed, and
tyrant, who had stained with the blood of an inviolable
and sacred functionary the most sacred and revered of all
the holy places in the city. Accordingly, Nasica left Italy, 89though bound by the most sacred functions, for he was
Pontifex Maximus; and, rambling about despised from
place to place, he died no long time after in the neighbourhood
of Pergamum. It is no wonder if Nasica was so
much hated by the people, when even Scipio Africanus,
whom the Romans considered inferior to no man in
integrity, and loved as well as any, narrowly escaped
losing the popular favour, because, on receiving the news
of the death of Tiberius, at Numantia, he exclaimed in the
verse of Homer,
So perish
85 all who do the like again.
Subsequently, when Caius and Fulvius asked him, before
an assembly of the people, what he thought of the death
of Tiberius, he showed by his answer that he was not
pleased with the measures of Tiberius. This made the
people interrupt him with their shouts when he was
speaking, as they had never done before; and Scipio was so
far transported with passion as to break out into invectives
against them. But of this I have spoken more particularly
in the Life of Scipio.86
90
LIFE OF CAIUS GRACCHUS.
I. Caius Gracchus at first, either through fear of his
enemies or with the view of making them odious, withdrew
from the Forum87 and kept quiet at home, like a
man humbled for the present, and intending for the
future to keep aloof from public affairs; which gave
occasion for some people to say that he disliked the
measures of Tiberius, and had abandoned them. He was
also still quite a youth, for he was nine years younger
than his brother, and Tiberius was not thirty88 when he
was killed. But in the course of time, as his character
gradually displayed itself in his aversion to indolence,
luxury, wine, and all matters of private profit, and it was
clear, from his application to the study of eloquence, that
he was preparing, as it were, his pinions for public life,
and that he would not remain quiet; and further, when
he showed by his defence of Vettius, one of his friends,
who was under prosecution, the people all around him
being wild and frantic with delight, that the rest of the 91orators were mere children, the nobles were again alarmed,
and there was much talk among them that they would
not allow Caius to obtain the tribunate. It happened
without any set design that the lot fell on him to go as
quæstor to Sardinia,89 under Orestes90 the consul, which
pleased his enemies, and was not disagreeable to Caius.
For he was fond of war, and equally disciplined for
military service and speaking in the courts of justice;
but he still shrunk from public affairs and the Rostra,
and as he could not resist the invitations of the people
and his friends, he was well pleased with this opportunity
of leaving Rome. It is true it is a common opinion that
Caius was a pure demagogue, and much more greedy of
popular favour than Tiberius. But it was not so in fact,
and Caius seems to have been involved in public affairs
rather through a kind of necessity than choice. Cicero
the orator also says that Caius declined all offices, and
had determined to live in retirement, but that his brother
appeared to him in a dream,91 and said, “Caius, why do
you linger? There is no escape: one life for both of us,
and one death in defence of the people is our fate.”
II. Now, Caius during his stay in Sardinia exhibited his
excellent qualities in every way; he far surpassed all the
young men in military courage, in upright conduct to the
subject people, in loyalty and respect to the commander;
and in temperance, frugality, and attention to his duties
he excelled even his elders. The winter having been
severe and unhealthy in Sardinia, the general demanded
clothing for his soldiers from the cities, upon which they
sent to Rome to pray to be relieved from this imposition.
The Senate granted their petition, and ordered the general
to get supplies for the troops by other means; but as the
general was unable to do this, and the soldiers were suffering,
Caius went round to the cities and induced them
voluntarily to send clothing and to assist the Romans.
This, being reported to Rome, made the Senate uneasy, for 92they viewed it as a preliminary to popular agitation.
Ambassadors also arrived at Rome from Libya, with a
message from King Micipsa,92 that the king had sent corn
to the commander in Sardinia, out of respect for Caius
Gracchus. The Senate, taking offence at the message,
would not receive the ambassadors, and they passed a
decree that fresh troops should be sent out to replace those
in Sardinia, but that Orestes should stay; intending by
this measure to keep Caius there also, in respect of his
office. On this being done, Caius immediately set sail in
a passion, and appearing at Rome contrary to all expectation,
was not only blamed by his enemies, but even the
people considered it a strange thing for the quæstor to
leave his general behind. However, when the matter was
brought before the Censors,93 he asked for permission to
make his defence, and he produced such a change in the
opinions of his audience, that he was acquitted, and considered
to have been exceedingly ill used: he said that he 93had served in the army for twelve years, while others were
only required to serve ten years, and that he had exercised
the functions of quæstor to the commander for three years,
though the law allowed him to return after one year’s
service; he added that he was the only soldier who took
out a full purse with him and brought it back empty,
while the rest took out with them only jars of wine, which
they had emptied in Sardinia, and brought them back full
of gold and silver.
III. After this, his enemies brought fresh charges
against him, and harassed him with prosecutions on the
ground of causing the defection of the allies and having
participated in the conspiracy which had been detected at
Fregellæ.94 But he cleared himself of all suspicion, and
having established his innocence, immediately set about
canvassing for the tribunate. All the men of distinction,
without exception, opposed him; and so great a multitude
flocked to Rome from all parts of Italy, to the Comitia,
that many of them could not find lodgings, and the Campus
Martius95 being unable to contain the numbers, they
shouted from the house-tops and tilings. However, the
nobility so far prevailed against the people as to disappoint
the hopes of Caius, inasmuch as he was not returned first,
as he expected, but only fourth. But upon entering on
his office he soon made himself first, for he surpassed every
Roman in eloquence,96 and his misfortunes gave him a 94licence for speaking freely when lamenting the fate of his
brother. He took every opportunity of directing the
thoughts of the people to this subject, reminding them of
former times, and contrasting the conduct of their
ancestors, who went to war with the Falisci on behalf of
Gemicius, a tribune, who had been insulted by them, and
condemned Caius Veturius to death because he was the
only man that did not make way for a tribune as he was
passing through the Forum. “But before your eyes,” he
exclaimed, “these men beat Tiberius to death with staves,
and his body was dragged through the midst of the city
to be thrown into the Tiber; and all his friends who
were caught were put to death without trial. And yet
it is an old usage among us, if a man is accused of a
capital charge and does not appear, for a trumpeter to come
to the door of his house in the morning and summon him
by the sound of the trumpet, and the judices cannot vote
upon the charge till this has been done. So circumspect
and careful were the Romans of old in the trials of persons
accused.”
IV. Having first stirred up the people by such harangues
as these (and he had a very loud voice, and was most
vigorous in speech), he promulgated two laws:97 one, to the 95effect that if the people had deprived any magistrate of
his office, he should be incapacitated from holding office a
second time; and the other, which rendered a magistrate
liable to a public prosecution if he had banished any
citizen without trial. One of these rogations had the
direct effect of branding with infamy Marcus Octavius,
who had been deprived of the tribunate by Tiberius; and
Popillius98 came within the penalties of the other, for
during his prætorship he had banished the friends of
Tiberius. Popillius did not stand his trial, and he fled
from Italy; but the other law Caius himself withdrew,
saying that he refrained from touching Octavius at the
request of his mother Cornelia. The people admired his
conduct on this occasion, and gave their consent, for they
respected Cornelia no less for the sake of her sons than her
father; and afterwards they set up a bronze statue99 of her,
with the inscription—Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi.
There are recorded several things that Caius said in
defence of his mother in a rhetorical and coarse way, in
reply to one of his enemies. “What,” said he, “do you
abuse Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius?” And as the
man laboured under the imputation of being a dissolute
fellow, he added, “How can you have the impudence to
compare yourself with Cornelia? Have you been a
mother, as she has?”—and more to the like effect, but
still coarser. Such was the bitterness of his language, and
many like things occur in his writings.
V. Of the laws100 which he promulgated with the view 96of gaining the popular favour and weakening the Senate,
one was for the establishment of colonies and the distribution 97 of Public Land among the poor; another provided for
supplying the soldiers with clothing at the public expense,
without any deduction on this account being made from
their pay, and exempted youths under seventeen years of
age from being drafted for the army; a third was in
favour of the allies, and put the Italians on the same footing
as the citizens with respect to the suffrage; another
related to grain, and had for its object the lowering of the 98price for the poor; the last related to the judices, a
measure which most of all encroached on the privileges of
the senate—for the senate alone supplied judices for the
trials, and this privilege rendered that body formidable
both to the people and the equites. The law of Gracchus
added three hundred equites to the senate, who were also
three hundred in number, and it made the judices eligible
out of the whole six hundred. In his endeavours to carry
this law he is said to have made every exertion; and in
particular it is recorded that all the popular leaders who
preceded him turned their faces to the senate and the
comitium while they were speaking, but he was the first
who turned his face the other way to the Forum while
haranguing the people, and he continued to do so; and by
a small deviation and alteration in attitude he stirred a
great question, and in a manner transformed the government
from an aristocratical to a democratical form, by this
new attitude intimating that the orators should direct
their speeches to the many and not to the senate.
VI. The people not only passed this law, but empowered
Gracchus to select from the equites those who were to act
as judices, which conferred on him a kind of monarchical
authority, and even the senate now assented to the
measures which he proposed in their body. But all the
measures which he proposed were honourable to the senate;
such, for instance, was the very equitable and just decree
about the grain which Fabius the proprætor sent from
Iberia. Gracchus induced the senate to sell the grain and
to return the money which it produced to the Iberian cities,
and further to censure Fabius for making the Roman
dominion heavy and intolerable to the subject nations; this
measure brought him great reputation and popularity in
the provinces. He also introduced measures for sending
out colonies, the construction of roads, and the building of
public granaries; and he made himself director and superintendent
for the carrying all these measures into effect.
Though engaged in so many great undertakings, he was
never wearied, but with wonderful activity and labour he
effected every single object as if he had for the time no
other occupation, so that even those who thoroughly hated
and feared him were struck with amazement at the 99rapidity
and perfect execution of all that he undertook. But the
people looked with admiration on the man himself, seeing
him attended by crowds of building-contractors, artificers,
ambassadors, magistrates, soldiers, and learned men, to all
of whom he was easy of access; and while he maintained
his dignity, he was affable to all, and adapted his behaviour
to the condition of every individual, and so proved the
falsehood of those who called him tyrannical or arrogant or
violent. He thus showed himself more skilful as a popular
leader in his dealings with men, and in his conduct, than
in his harangues from the Rostra.
VII. But Caius busied himself most about the construction
of roads,101 having in view utility, convenience, and
ornament. The roads were made in a straight line, right
through the country, partly of quarried stone and partly
with tight-rammed masses of earth. By filling up the
depressions, and throwing bridges across those parts which
were traversed by winter torrents or deep ravines, and
raising the road on both sides to the same uniform height,
the whole line was made level and presented an agreeable
appearance. He also measured all the roads by miles (the
Roman mile is not quite eight Greek stadia), and fixed
stone blocks to mark the distances. He placed other stones
at less distances from one another on each side of the road,
that persons might thus easily mount their horses without
assistance.
VIII. As the people extolled him for all these services,
and were ready to show their good will towards him in
any way, he said on one occasion when he was addressing
them, that he would ask a favour, which he would value
above everything if it was granted, but if it were refused, 100he should not complain. It was accordingly expected that
he would ask for the consulship, and everybody supposed
that he would be a candidate for the consulship and the tribunate
at the same time. When the consular comitia were
near, and all were at the highest point of expectation, Caius
appeared conducting Caius Fannius into the Campus
Martius, and canvassing with his friends for Fannius.102 This gave Fannius a great advantage. Fannius was
elected consul, and Caius tribune for the second time,
though he was neither a candidate nor canvassed, but his
election was entirely due to the zeal of the people. Perceiving,
however, that the senate was clearly opposed to
him, and that the kind feeling of Fannius towards him
cooled, he forthwith endeavoured to attach the people by
other measures, by proposing to send colonies to Tarentum
and Capua, and by inviting the Latins to a participation
in the Roman franchise. The senate, fearing that Gracchus
would become irresistible, attempted a new and unusual
method of diverting the people from him, by opposing
popular measures to his, and by gratifying the people,
contrary to sound policy. Livius Drusus was one of the
colleagues of Caius, a man by birth and education inferior
to none in Rome, and in character, eloquence, and wealth
equal to any who enjoyed either honour or power by the
aid of these advantages. To him accordingly the chief
nobles applied, and they urged him to attack Caius, and
to unite with them against him, not by adopting violent
measures, nor coming into collision with the many, but by
a course of administration adapted to please, and by making
such concessions as it would have been honourable to refuse,
even at the risk of unpopularity.
IX. Livius, having agreed to employ his tribunitian
authority on the side of the senate, framed measures which
had neither any honourable nor any useful object: he only
had in view to outbid Caius in the popular favour, just as
it is in a comedy, by making himself busy and vying with
his rival. This showed most clearly that the senate were 101not displeased with the measures of Caius, but only wished
to destroy him or completely humble him. When Caius
proposed to send out ten colonies consisting of citizens of
the best character, the senate accused him of truckling to
the people; but they co-operated with Livius, who proposed
twelve colonies, each of which was to consist of
three thousand needy citizens. They set themselves in
opposition to Caius when he proposed to distribute land
among the poor, subject to a yearly payment to the
treasury from each, on the ground that he was trying to
gain the popular favour; but they were satisfied when
Livius proposed to relieve the colonists even from this
payment. Further, Caius gave them offence by proposing
to confer on the Latins the Roman suffrage; but when
Livius brought forward a measure which forbade any Latin
to be beaten with rods even while serving in the army,
they supported it. And indeed Livius himself, in his
harangues to the people, always said that he only proposed
what was agreeable to the senate, who had a regard for
the many; which indeed was the only good that resulted
from his measures. For the people became more pacifically
disposed towards the senate; and though the most
distinguished of them were formerly suspected and hated
by the people, Livius did away with and softened their
recollection of past grievances and their ill feeling, by
giving out that it was in accordance with the wish of the
senate that he had entered upon his popular career and
framed measures to please the many.
X. But the best proof to the people of the good intentions
and honesty of Livius was, that he proposed nothing for
himself or in behalf of his own interests; for he appointed
other persons to superintend the establishment of the
colonies, and he did not meddle with the administration of
the money, while Caius had assigned to himself most of
such functions, and the most important of them. It happened
that Rubrius, one of the tribunes, had proposed a
measure for the colonisation of Carthage, which had been
destroyed by Scipio; and as the lot fell on Caius, he set sail
to Libya to found the colony. In his absence, Drusus,
making still further advances, insinuated himself into the
favour of the people, and gained them over mainly 102by
calumniating Fulvius.103 This Fulvius was a friend of
Caius and a joint commissioner for the distribution of
lands; but he was a noisy fellow, and specially disliked
by the senate; he was also suspected by others of stirring
up the allies, and secretly encouraging the Italians to
revolt; and though this was said without proof or inquiry,
Fulvius himself gave it credit by his unwise and revolutionary
policy. This more than anything else destroyed
the popularity of Caius, who came in for his share of the
odium against Fulvius. And when Scipio104 Africanus died
without any obvious cause, and certain signs of blows and
violence were supposed to be visible on the body, as I told
in the Life of Scipio, the suspicion fell chiefly on Fulvius,
who was his enemy, and on that day had abused Scipio
from the Rostra. Suspicion attached to Caius also.
So abominable a crime committed against the first and
greatest of the Romans went unpunished, and there was
not even an inquiry; for the many opposed it and stopped
the investigation through fear for Caius, lest he should be
discovered to be implicated in the murder. These events,
indeed, belong to an earlier period.
XI. In Libya, as to the foundation of Carthage,105 which103 Caius named Junonia, which is the same as Heraea, it is
said there were many supernatural hindrances. For the
first standard was seized and broken by a violent gust of
wind, though the standard-bearer stuck to it vigorously;
and the victims which were lying on the altars were dispersed
by a tempest, and scattered beyond the stakes
which marked the limits of the city, and the stakes were
torn up by the wolves and carried a long way off. However
Caius, after settling and arranging everything in
seventy days, returned to Rome upon hearing that Fulvius
was hard pressed by Drusus, and that affairs required his
presence. Lucius Opimius, a man who belonged to the
faction of the oligarchs,106 and had great influence in the
senate, failed on a former occasion when he was a candidate
for the consulship, at the time when Caius brought
forward Fannius and canvassed against Opimius; but
now, being supported by a powerful party, it was expected
that Opimius would be elected consul and would put down
Caius, whose influence was already in some degree on the
wane, and the people also were tired of such measures as
his, for there were many who sought their favour, and
the senate easily gave way.
XII. On his return from Libya, Caius removed from the
Palatium to the neighbourhood of the Forum, as being a
more popular place of residence, for it happened that most
of the lowest classes of the poor lived there; he next promulgated
the rest of his measures, intending to take the
vote of the people upon them. As crowds were collecting 104from all parts to support Caius, the senate prevailed on
the consul Fannius to drive out of the city all who were
not Romans. Accordingly a strange and unusual proclamation
was made, to the effect that none of the allies or
friends of the Roman state should appear in Rome during
those days; on which Caius published a counter edict, in
which he criminated the consul and promised his support
to the allies if they remained in Rome. But he did not
keep his promise; for though he saw one of them, who
was his own friend and intimate, dragged off by the
officers of Fannius, he passed by without helping him,
whether it was that he feared to put to the test his power
which was now on the decline, or that he did not choose,
as he said, to give his enemies the opportunity which they
were seeking of coming to a collision and a struggle. It
also chanced that he had incurred the ill-will of his fellow-colleagues,
in the following manner:—The people were
going to see an exhibition of gladiators in the Forum, and
most of the magistrates had constructed seats round the
place, with the intention of letting them for hire. But
Caius urged them to remove the seats, that the poor might
be able to see the show without paying. As no one took
any notice of what he said, he waited till the night before
the show, when he went with the workmen whom he had
under him, and removed the seats, and at daybreak he
pointed out to the people that the place was clear; for
which the many considered him a man, but he offended
his colleagues, who viewed him as an audacious and violent
person. Owing to this circumstance, it is supposed, he
lost his third tribunate, though he had most votes, for it
is said that his colleagues acted illegally and fraudulently
in the proclamation and return. This, however, was disputed.
Caius did not bear his failure well: and to his
enemies, who were exulting over him, he is said to have
observed, with more arrogance than was befitting, that
their laugh was a sardonic laugh,107 for they knew not 105what a darkness his political measures had spread all
around them.
XIII. After effecting the election of Opimius to the
consulship, the enemies of Caius began to repeal many
of his laws and to disturb the settlement of Carthage,
for the purpose of irritating Caius, in order that he might
give them some cause of quarrel, and so be got rid of.
He endured this for some time, but his friends, and
especially Fulvius, beginning to urge him on, he again
attempted to combine his partisans against the consul.
On this occasion it is said that his mother also helped him,
by hiring men from remote parts and sending them to
Rome in the disguise of reapers, for it is supposed that
these matters are obscurely alluded to in her letters108 to her son. Others, on the contrary, say that this was
done quite contrary to the wishes of Cornelia. On the
day on which the party of Opimius intended to repeal
the laws of Caius, the Capitol had been occupied by
the opposite faction early in the morning. The consul
had offered the sacrifices, and one of his officers, named
Quintus Antyllius,109 was carrying the viscera to another
part, when he said to the partisans of Fulvius, “Make
way for honest men, you rascals.” Some say that as
he uttered these words he also held out his bare arm
with insulting gestures. However this may be, Antyllius
was killed on the spot, being pierced with large styles110 said to have been made expressly for the purpose. The 106people were greatly disturbed at the murder, but it
produced exactly opposite effects on the leaders of the
two parties. Caius was deeply grieved at what had happened,
and abused his party for having given a handle
to their enemies, who had long been looking for it; but
Opimius, as if he had got the opportunity which he
wanted, was highly elated, and urged the people to avenge
the murder.
XIV. A torrent of rain happened to fall just then,
and the meeting was dissolved. Early on the following
day Opimius summoned the senate to transact business.
In the mean time the naked body of Antyllius was placed
on a bier, and, according to arrangement, carried through
the Forum past the senate-house with loud cries and
lamentations. Opimius, though he knew what was going
on, pretended to be surprised at the noise, and the senators
went out to see what was the matter. When the bier had
been set down in the midst of the crowd, the senators
began to express their indignation at so horrible and
monstrous a crime; but this only moved the people to
hate and execrate the oligarchs, who, after murdering
Tiberius Gracchus in the Capitol, a tribune, had treated
his body with insult; while Antyllius, a mere servant,
who perhaps had not deserved his fate, yet was mainly
to blame for what happened, was laid out in the Forum,
and surrounded by the Roman senate lamenting and
assisting at the funeral of a hireling; and all this merely
to accomplish the ruin of the only remaining guardian
of the people’s liberties. On returning to the senate-house,
the senators passed a decree111 by which the consul
Opimius was directed to save the state in such way as
he could, and to put down the tyrants. Opimius gave 107notice to the senators to arm, and each eques was commanded
to bring in the morning two armed slaves. On
the other side, Fulvius also made preparation and got
together a rabble; but Caius as he left the Forum stood
opposite his father’s statue, and looking at it for some
time without speaking, at last burst into tears, and
fetching a deep sigh, walked away. The sight of this
moved many of the spectators to compassion, and blaming
themselves for deserting the man and betraying him, they
came to the house of Caius and passed the night at his
door; but not in the same manner as those who watched
about the house of Fulvius, for they spent the night in
tumult and shouting, drinking, and bragging what they
would do. Fulvius himself, who was the first to get
drunk, spoke and acted in a way quite unseemly for a
man of his age. The followers of Caius, viewing the
state of affairs as a public calamity, kept quiet, thinking
of the future, and they passed the night watching and
sleeping in turns.
XV. At daybreak Fulvius was with difficulty roused
from his drunken sleep, and his partisans, arming themselves
with the warlike spoils in his house, which he had
taken in his victory over the Gauls during his consulship,
with loud threats and shouts went to seize the Aventine
Hill.112 Caius would not arm, but went out in his toga
just as if he was proceeding to the Forum, with only a
short dagger at his side. As he was going out at the
door, his wife met him, and throwing one arm round him,
while she held in the other their little child, said, “Caius,
not as in time past do I take my leave of you going to the
Rostra as tribune and as legislator, nor yet going to a
glorious war, where, if you died in the service of your
country, you would still leave me an honoured grief; but
you are going to expose yourself to the murderers of Tiberius:
’tis right indeed to go unarmed, and to suffer rather
than do wrong, but you will perish without benefiting the
state. The worst has now prevailed; force and the sword
determine all controversies. If your brother had died at
Numantia, his body would have been restored to us on the 108usual terms of war; but now perchance I too shall have to
supplicate some river or the sea to render up to me your
corpse from its keeping. What faith can we put in the
laws or in the deities since the murder of Tiberius?”
While Licinia was thus giving vent to sorrow, Gracchus
gently freed himself from his wife’s embrace, and
went off in silence with his friends. Licinia, as she
attempted to lay hold of his dress, fell down on the floor,
and lay there some time speechless, until her slaves took
her up fainting, and carried her to her brother Crassus.
XVI. When they were all assembled, Fulvius, at the
request of Caius, sent his younger son with a caduceus113 to the Forum. He was a most beautiful youth, and with
great decorum and modesty, and with tears in his eyes he
addressed to the consul and the senate the message of
conciliation. The majority who were present were not
disinclined to come to terms; but Opimius replied, that
Fulvius and Gracchus must not attempt to bring the
senate to an accommodation through the medium of a
messenger; they must consider themselves as citizens who
had to account for their conduct, and come down and
surrender, and then beg for mercy; he further told the
youth that these were the terms on which he must come
a second time, or not at all. Now Caius, it is said,
wished to go and clear himself before the senate, but as no
one else assented, Fulvius again sent his son to address the
senate on their behalf in the same terms as before. But
Opimius, who was eager to come to blows, forthwith ordered
the youth to be seized and put in prison, and advanced
against the party of Fulvius with many legionary soldiers
and Cretan bowmen114 who mainly contributed to put them
into confusion by discharging their arrows and wounding
them. The partisans of Fulvius being put to flight, he
made his escape into a bath that was not used where he
was soon discovered and put to death with his elder son.
Caius was not observed to take any part in the contest,
but greatly troubled at what was taking place, he retired 109to the temple of Diana, and was going to kill himself there,
but was prevented by his faithful friends Pomponius and
Licinius, who took the sword away and induced him to fly.
It is said that he went down on his knees in the temple,
and stretching out his hands to the statue of the goddess,
prayed that the Roman people, for their ingratitude and
treachery to him, might always be slaves; for the greater
part of them had openly gone over to the other side upon
an amnesty115 being proclaimed.
XVII. In his flight Caius was followed by his enemies,
who were near overtaking him at the wooden bridge,116 but his two friends, bidding him make his escape, opposed
the pursuers and allowed no man to pass the head of the
bridge till they were killed. Caius was accompanied by a
single slave, named Philocrates,117 and though all the spectators
urged him to fly, just as if they were shouting
at a race, yet no one, though he prayed for it, would come
to his aid or lend him a horse: for the pursuers were close
upon him. He just escaped into a sacred grove of the
Furies,118 and there he fell by the hand of Philocrates, who
killed himself on the body of his master. Some say
both of them were taken alive by their enemies, and that
the slave embraced his master so closely, that Caius could 110not be struck until the slave had been dispatched first, and
with many blows. It is said that a man cut off the head
of Caius and was carrying it away, but it was taken from
him by a friend of Opimius named Septimuleius; for
proclamation had been made at the beginning of the
contest, that those who brought the heads of Caius and
Fulvius should have their weight in gold. The head
of Caius was brought to Opimius by Septimuleius stuck on
a spear, and it weighed seventeen pounds and two-thirds in
the scales. Septimuleius was a scoundrel and a knave119 here also, for he had taken out the brain and dropped
melted lead in its place. Those who brought the head of
Fulvius got nothing, for they belonged to the lower
class. The bodies of Caius and Fulvius and their partisans
were thrown into the river, the number of dead being
three thousand: their property was sold and the produce
paid into the treasury. They also forbade the women to
lament for their relatives, and Licinia was deprived of her
marriage portion. But their conduct was most cruel to
the younger son of Fulvius, who had neither raised up his
hand against them nor been among the combatants; for
he was seized before the battle, when he came to treat of
terms, and was put to death after the battle. But what
most of all vexed the people was the circumstance of
Opimius erecting a temple to Concord, which was viewed
as an evidence of his insolence and arrogance, and as a
kind of triumph for the slaughter of so many citizens.
Accordingly by night some person wrote under the inscription
on the temple the following line:—
The work of Discord
120 makes the temple of Concord.
111
XVIII. This Opimius,121 the first man that ever exercised
the dictatorial power in the office of consul, and who
had condemned without trial three thousand citizens, and
among them Caius Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus122—Flaccus,
a consular, who had enjoyed a triumph;
Gracchus, the first man of his age in character and reputation—this
Opimius did not keep himself free from
corruption. Being sent as a commissioner to Jugurtha,
the Numidian, he was bribed by him, and being convicted
of most shameful corruption, he spent the last years of his
life in infamy, hated and insulted by the people, who,
though humbled and depressed for the time, soon showed
how much they desired and regretted the Gracchi. For
they had statues of the two brothers made and set up in
public places, and the spots on which they fell were declared
sacred ground, to which people brought all the first
fruits of the seasons, and many persons daily offered sacrifices
there and worshipped, just as at the temples of the gods.
XIX. Cornelia is said to have borne her misfortunes
with a noble and elevated spirit, and to have said of the
sacred ground on which her sons were murdered, that
they had a tomb worthy of them. She resided in the
neighbourhood of Misenum, without making any change
in her usual mode of life. She had many friends, and
her hospitable table was always crowded with guests;
Greeks and learned men were constantly about her, and
kings sent and received presents from her. To all her
visitors and friends she was a most agreeable companion: [Pg 112]
[Pg 113]
[Pg 114]she would tell them of the life and habits of her father
Africanus, and, what is most surprising, would speak of
her sons without showing sorrow or shedding a tear,
relating their sufferings and their deeds to her inquiring
friends as if she was speaking of the men of olden time.
This made some think that her understanding had been
impaired by old age or the greatness of her sorrows, and
that she was dull to all sense of her misfortunes, while in
fact such people themselves were too dull to see what a
support it is against grief to have a noble nature, and to
be of honourable lineage and honourably bred; and that
though fortune has often the advantage over virtue
in its attempts to guard against evils, yet she cannot
take away from virtue the power of enduring them with
fortitude.123
FOOTNOTES:
