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GRACCHUS
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GRACCHUS , in See also:ancient See also:Rome, the name of a plebeian See also:family of the Sempronian gens. Its most distinguished representatives were the famous tribunes of the See also:people, Tiberius and See also:Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, (4) and (5) below, usually called simply " the Gracchi."
I. TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, See also:consul in 238 B.C., carried on successful operations against the Ligurian mountaineers, and, at the conclusion of the Carthaginian See also:mercenary See also:war, was in command of the See also:fleet which at the invitation of the insurgents took See also:possession of the See also:island of See also:Sardinia.
2. TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, probably the son of (I), distinguished himself during the second Punic war. Consul in 215, he defeated the Capuans who had entered into an See also:alliance with See also:Hannibal, and in 214 gained a See also:signal success over See also:Hanno near Beneventum, chiefly owing to the volones (slave-See also:volunteers), to whom he had promised freedom in the event of victory. In 213 Gracchus was consul a second See also:time and carried on the war in Lucania; in the following See also:year, while advancing' northward to reinforce the consulsin their attack on See also:Capua, he was betrayed into the hands of the Carthaginian See also:Mago by a Lucanian of See also:rank, who had formerly supported the See also:Roman cause and was connected with Gracchus himself by ties of hospitality. Gracchus See also:fell fighting bravely; his See also:body was sent to Hannibal, who accorded him a splendid See also:burial.
3. TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS (e. 210 — 151 B.C.), See also:father of the tribunes, and See also:husband of See also:Cornelia, the daughter of the See also:elder Scipio See also:Africanus, was possibly the son of a Publius Sempronius Gracchus who was See also:tribune in 189. Although a determined See also:political opponent of the two Scipios (Asiaticus and Africanus), as tribune in 187 he interfered on their behalf when they were accused of having accepted bribes from the See also: In r85 he was a member of the See also:commission sent to See also:Macedonia to investigate the complaints made by See also:Eumenes
II. of See also:Pergamum against See also: 4. TIBERIUS SEMPRONILS GRACCHUS (163–133 B.C.), son of (3), was the elder of the two See also:great reformers. He and his See also:brother were brought up by their See also:mother Cornelia, assisted by the rhetorician Diophanes of 1Viytilene and the Stoic Blossius of See also:Cumae. In 147 he served under his brother-in-See also:law the younger one of the See also:chief obstacles that had hampered Tiberius. The See also:bill instead of after their See also:election; and the consuls themselves had to was then rejected, but appears to have subsequently passed in a modified See also:form, as Gaius himself was re-elected without any disturbance. Possibly, however, his re-election was illegal, and he had only succeeded where his brother had failed. For the next few years nothing is heard of Gaius. Public See also:opinion pointed him out as the See also:man to avenge his brother's See also:death and carry out his plans, and the aristocratic party, warned by the example of Tiberius, were anxious to keep him away from Rome. In 126 Gaius accompanied the consul L. Aurelius See also:Orestes as See also:quaestor to Sardinia, then in a See also:state of revolt. Here he made himself so popular that the senate in alarm prolonged the command of Orestes, in order that Gaius might be obliged to remain there in his capacity of quaestor. But he returned to Rome without the permission of the senate, and, when called to See also:account by the censors, defended himself so successfully that he was acquitted of having acted illegally. The disappointed aristocrats then brought him to trial on the See also:charge of being implicated in the revolt of See also:Fregellae, and in other ways unsuccessfully endeavoured to undermine his influence. Gains then decided to See also:act; against the wishes of his mother he became a See also:candidate for the tribuneship, and, in spite of the determined opposition of the See also:aristocracy, he was elected for the year 123, although only See also:fourth on the See also:list. The legislative proposals' brought forward by him had for their See also:object:—the See also:punishment of his brother's enemies; the See also:relief of See also:distress and the See also:attachment to himself of the city populace; the diminution of the See also:power of the senate and the increase of that of the See also:equites; the amelioration of the political status of the Italians and provincials. A law was passed that no Roman See also:citizen should be tried in a See also:matter affecting his See also:life or political status unless the people had previously given its assent. This was specially aimed at Popilius See also:Laenas, who had taken an active See also:part in the See also:prosecution of the adherents of Tiberius. Another law enacted that any See also:magistrate who had been deprived of See also:office by See also:decree of the people should be incapacitated from holding office again. This was directed against M. Octavius, who had been illegally deprived of his tribunate through Tiberius. This unfair and vindictive measure was with-See also:drawn at the See also:earnest See also:request of Cornelia. He revived his brother's agrarian law, which, although it had not been repealed, had fallen into See also:abeyance. By his Lex Frumentaria every citizen See also:resident in Rome was entitled to a certain amount of See also:corn at about See also:half the usual See also:price; as the See also:distribution only applied to those living in the See also:capital, the natural result was that the poorer country citizens flocked into Rome and swelled the number of Gaius's supporters. No citizen was to be obliged to serve in the See also:army before the commencement of his eighteenth year, and his military outfit was to be supplied by the state, instead of being deducted from his pay. Gaius also proposed the See also:establishment of colonies in See also:Italy (at See also:Tarentum and Capua), and sent out to the site of See also:Carthage 6000 colonists to found the new city of Junonia, the inhabitants of which were to possess the rights of Roman citizens; this was the first See also:attempt at over-See also:sea colonization. A new See also:system of roads was constructed which afforded easier See also:access to Rome. Having thus gained over the city See also:proletariat, in order to secure a See also:majority in the comitia by its aid, Gaius did away with the system of voting in the comitia centuriata, whereby the five See also:property classes in each tribe gave their votes one after another, and introduced promiscuous voting in an order fixed by See also:lot. The judices in the See also:standing commissions for the trial of particular offences (the most important of which was that dealing with the trial of provincial magistrates for See also:extortion, de repetundis) were in future to be chosen from the equites (q.v.), not as hitherto from the senate. The taxes of the new See also:province of See also:Asia were to be let out by the censors to Roman publican (who belonged to the equestrian order), who paid down a lump sum for the right of See also:collecting them. It is obvious that this afforded the equites extensive opportunities for See also:money-making and extortion, while the alteration in the See also:appointment of the judices gave them the same See also:practical See also:immunity and perpetuated the old abuses, with the difference that it was no longer senators, but equites, who could look forward with confidence to being leniently dealt with by men belonging to their own order; Gaius also expected that this moneyed aristocracy, which had taken the part of the senate against Tiberius, would now support him against it. It was enacted that the provinces to be assigned to the consuls, should be determined before, ' These See also:measures cannot be arranged in any definite See also:chronological order, nor can it be decided which belong to his first, which to his second tribuneship. See W. Warde See also:Fowler in Eng. Hist. See also:Review, 1905, pp. 209 sqq., 417 sqq• See also:settle, by lot or other arrangement, which province each of them would take .2 These measures raised Gaius to the height of his popularity, and during the year of his first tribuneship he may be considered the See also:absolute ruler of Rome. He was chosen tribune for the second time for the year 122. To this See also:period is probably to be assigned his proposal that the See also:franchise should be given to all the Latin communities and that the status of the Latins should be conferred upon the Italian See also:allies. In 125 M. Fulvius See also:Flaccus had brought forward a similar measure, but he was got out of the way by the senate, who sent him to fight in See also:Gaul. This proposal, more statesmanlike than any of the others, was naturally opposed by the aristocratic party, and lessened Gaius's popularity amongst his own supporters, who viewed with disfavour the prospect of an increase in the number of Roman citizens. The senate put up M. Livius See also:Drusus to outbid him, and his See also:absence from Rome while superintending the organization of the newly-founded See also:colony, Junonia-Carthago, was taken See also:advantage of by his enemies to weaken his influence. On his return he found his popularity diminished. He failed to secure the tribuneship for the third time, and his See also:bitter enemy L. Opimius was elected consul. The latter at once decided to propose the See also:abandonment of the new colony, which was to occupy the site cursed by Scipio, while its See also:foundation had been attended by unmistakable manifestations of the wrath of the gods. On the See also:day when the matter was to be put to the See also:vote, a lictor named Antyllius, who had insulted the supporters of Gaius, was stabbed to death. This gave his opponents the desired opportunity. Gaius was declared a public enemy, and the consuls were invested with dictatorial See also:powers. The Gracchans, who had taken up their position in the See also:temple of See also:Diana on the Aventine, offered little resistance to the attack ordered by Opimius. Gaius managed to See also:escape across the See also:Tiber, where his dead body was found on the following day in the See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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