The Gracchi
By Michael Frolek Turner
Aristocratic Class
Senatorial order ~ Furnished members of the Senate;
hugely wealthy and powerful.
Equites ~ Thus named for the requirement that a member
must have sufficient wealth to own a horse; largely
composed of particularly well-to-do businessmen.
Poor
Non optimo iure
The Mob ~ Those who lived in the city, largely tradesmen and artisans, and
lived off populist government handouts and whatever they could earn
themselves.
Farmers ~ Those who lived outside of the city, often desperately poor as
they lacked land to farm.
Latin colonists ~ Those who lived on conquered land with few political
rights.
Provincials ~ Someone native to conquered land; occasionally went untaxed
but completely without legal right.
Slaves
THE GRACCHI
The Gracchi came from a wealthy and influential plebeian
sub-family of the gens Sempronia.
Tiberius and Gaius’ great-grandfather (also Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus) served as consul in 238 BCE.
Their great-uncle (another Tiberius Sempronius) also
twice served as consul.
The brothers’ father, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
the Elder, served as praetor, censor, and consul.
Agricultural Law
Ager publicus ~ Land conquered in war that was held by the
state.
Initially, laws stated that a citizen could only hold up to 300
acres of the public land.
These laws were ignored and the rich forced out the
poorer farmers.
Use of slave labour
Slaves were used to farm the massive landholdings of the
rich, meaning that the people who had lost their farms were
unable to make a wage working someone else’s land.
Tribune of the Plebs
The tribune of the plebs acts as the president of the
Plebeian Council, a legislative body somewhat analogous
to the Commons. As such they could veto actions on
behalf of the plebeians.
The lives and persons of tribunes were sacrosanct, the
violation of this sacrosanctity was not only a secular
offense but a religious one and the violator was
immediately viewed as an outlaw who could be killed
without penalty.
The sacrosanctity of the tribune protected the tribune
from prosecution.
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
Born 163-162 BC
Prior to his career in politics Tiberius had a distinguished
military career, where he was recorded as being the first
to scale enemy walls at Carthage.
It is said that when Tiberius was in Etruria (an area of
land that comprises most of what is now Tuscany) he was
outraged to see the lands worked by slaves while the free
people were unemployed.
Agrarian reforms
Tiberius was elected tribune of the plebs in 133 BCE.
Tiberius believed that most of the problems with poverty
could be solved by the fair redistribution of public land.
Tiberius proposed to limit an individual holding of ager
publicus to 300 acres, that the previous holders be
compensated for any improvements they may have made, and
the land be redistributed fairly and legally.
While this was a legal act as the ager publicus was owned by
the state, many of the landholders who had held the land for
many years felt it was tantamount to theft. Almost immediately
a conflict arose between supporters of Tiberius and the Senate.
Illegal acts
In order to block Tiberius’ reforms the senators
persuaded another tribune, named Marcus Octavius, to
veto the bill. It is important to note that this act, while
ethically dubious, was not illegal.
Tiberius’ response was to call for Marcus Octavius to be
removed from office and an election called, within
Octavius’ term. There was no law that allowed such
proceedings to take place, but Tiberius used popular
opinion to depose Octavius and pass his law.
More law-breaking
The senators determined that the moment Tiberius’ term
ended they would prosecute Tiberius for his illegal act.
To avoid prosecution Tiberius ran for a second
consecutive term as tribune, though a ten-year interval
was required between terms as tribune.
These acts polarized the government, with the senate
calling Tiberius a traitor and the people calling him a
patriot.
The Fall of Tiberius
On the day of the election, after a series of almost absurd
mistakes, a group of senators appeared in the Forum,
lead by Scipio Nasica and armed with clubs, and beat
Tiberius and 300 of his supporters to death.
Ironically, Scipio Nasica’s father was Tiberius the
Elder’s brother-in-law, who’d been forced to resign his
consulship as collateral of Tiberius the Elder’s political
maneuvering.
The murder of a tribune, even one who had committed
crime, was a controversial act, and to placate public
opinion, the Senate did in fact enforce many of the
Gracchan laws
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus
Born 154 BCE, nine years after his brother.
Gaius’ politics were designed to benefit the common
people, who he believed should have more rights
Gaius’ political career started with a seat on the
commission that oversaw Tiberius’ land reforms, though
he quickly rose through use of his famed oratory skill,
which were considered to be the best in Rome at the
time.
He quickly became at odds with the Senate, who feared
the rise of another Gracchus.
The Corn Law
In an attempt to calm the poor, Gaius introduced his ‘corn
law’, which allowed for Roman citizens to purchase grain
from public storehouses for a set price below cost.
As an attempt to calm the populace, it was a failure,
though was popular enough that it was one of the last
vestiges of the Gracchi reign, years after they’d died. It
was, however, extremely expensive for the government;
only a few years after the laws were instituted 320,000
citizens were being fed by the public grain.
This was an early form of welfare.
Judicial reforms
Control over the courts dealing with extortion was moved from
the Senate to the equites, which prevented acquittals based on
nepotism, moved the support of the equites from the Senate to
Gaius, and lessened the power of the Senate.
If the People were to depose a magistrate he would be unable
to hold magisterial office again.
The People were able to prosecute a magistrate for exiling a
citizen without trial.
This law directly attacked a special tribunal with the powers
of capital punishment which had been set up by the Senate
to deal with Gracchan supporters in the aftermath of Tiberius’
downfall.
Lex Militaris
Shortened military service terms
Established the age of conscription at 17
Required the army to provide equipment and clothing for
the soldiers without deducting the cost from the soldiers’
pay.
Senatorial Relations
Relations between the Senate and Gaius had always
been antagonistic, though as his popularity rose they
became even less favourable.
Gaius completely changed even the act of giving a
speech, such was his influence. Previously orators
speaking in the Forum would face the Senate house and
Curia when giving speaking. Gaius, however, spoke
facing towards the Forum proper, literally turning his back
on the Senate.
Popularity
In 122 BCE Gaius was elected tribune despite having not
campaigned or even put his name forward; he was
elected through the sheer will of the people.
The Senate responded to Gaius’ overwhelming popularity
with populist measures designed to win back support as
well as becoming more active in attempting to damage
Gaius’ reputation.
The Fall of Gaius
Several events conspired against Gaius and he and his
supporters were implicated in several deaths.
Gaius also failed to win reelection as tribune for a third
time, possibly due to vote tampering as retribution for
removing the seats for gladiatorial shows so that the poor
could watch.
The Death of Gaius
In 121 BCE Gaius and 3,000 of his supporters were slain
by a group lead by consul Lucius Opimius.
After Senate-incited bloodshed broke out, Gaius, refusing
to take part in the bloodshed, fled to the Temple of Diana
with the intention to commit suicide, though he was
stopped by his friends. Gaius despaired after, upon the
announcement of amnesty, many switched sides.
After fleeing across a bridge, his pleas for assistance
unheeded by onlookers, Gaius committed suicide
the Head of Gaius
The Senate issued the proclamation that whoever
brought back Gaius’ head would be paid its weight in
gold.
The head was brought forward by a man named
Septimuleius, and weighed at 17 2/3 lb., though it was
discovered that Septimuleius achieved this by removing
the brain and filling the cranium with lead.
Because of his fraud Septimuleius was not rewarded.
Aftermath
The Senate’s handling of the death of the Gracchans was
considered by most to be incredibly distasteful.
The widows were forbidden to mourn their husbands and
Gaius’ wife had her dowry confiscated, as well the families’
properties were confiscated by the state and sold and their
homes were looted.
The bodies of Gaius and his 3,000 supporters were thrown into
the Tiber River rather then being given a proper burial.
The son of one of the Gracchan supporters, who had acted as
a messenger during the conflict, was executed, though by
some reports he was allowed to choose his method of
execution.
Aftermath
In celebration of their victory, Lucius Opimius, with the
permission of the Senate, erected a temple to Concord,
goddess of discourse, though the People felt that
celebrating the deaths of so many citizens was
distasteful.
During the night the words ‘This temple of Concord is
the work of mad Discord.’ were carved into the side of
the temple.
Legacy
Within 15 years of Gaius’ death the reforms that the
Gracchi had carried out were reversed or ignored and
the situation of the poor became just as desperate or
even more so then before.
The Gracchi are considered to be one of the primary
creators for the schools of thought that would become
communism and socialism.
Bibliography
Author unkown, “TIBERIUS GRACCHUS (c.168 -133 BC) & GAIUS GRACCHUS (c.159 -121 BC).” The
Romans. <http://www.the-romans.co.uk/gracchi.htm>
Author unkown, “Gaius Gracchus.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 5 December 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Gracchus#cite_ref-30> 8 April 2014
Author unkown, “Tiberius Gracchus.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 14 May 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_Gracchus> 14 April 2014
Morey, William C. Outlines of Roman History. New York: American Book Company, 1901.
Appian (Trans. White, Horace). The Roman History: The Civil Wars, Book I. Cambridge: Harvard
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Shipley, Graham, et al, ed. The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge
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