The Gracchi Brothers

Reform in the Roman Republic: The Lives of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

"Remember, Roman, that it is for thee to rule the nations. This shall be thy task, to impose the ways of peace, to spare the vanquished, and to tame the proud by war."

You have been introduced to Roman conquest and some of the problems it led to. In the end, Rome ruled over an empire that lasted 500 years. Yet the costs of expansion were great. Below is a biography of two men who lived during the beginning stages of Rome's expansion. They both served in the Roman military, aiding Rome in its conquests. They also served in politics, witnessing firsthand the effects of those conquests on Rome's people. As you read, think about how each man tried to help the people of Rome as they experienced the results of conquest.

Tiberius Gracchus was born in 163 B.C.E. into a well-to-do plebeian family. Growing up, he enjoyed a traditional Greek education-which included the study of philosophy, mathematics, and the Greek language. This gave him an open-minded view of the world. As a young man in the Roman army, he distinguished himself during the last Punic War in Carthage and later in Spain. During his service in the army, Tiberius traveled throughout the Italian peninsula. He noted that many of the people who worked the land were foreign slaves, because small property owners had to serve in the army. When he returned to Rome, he discovered many people in the city living in poverty. Tiberius felt that these two situations could lead to the end of the Republic. To find solutions to these problems, he decided to enter politics.

In 133 B.C.E. he was elected tribune. He immediately began to campaign for land reform. He wanted to pass a law that would divide huge estates belonging to the rich into smaller farms and distribute them among the poor. Many small farm owners had been drafted to fight in the Roman army. Some never returned to their farms. Those who did discovered that the constant warfare had severely damaged the Italian farmland. These small farmers lacked the money to repair the damage. So, they were forced to sell their land to rich landlords. These new larger farms owned by the rich were called latifundias. The latifundia used slave labor, and the few remaining small farmers found they could not produce crops as cheaply as the larger farms. Eventually these small farmers also sold their property to the rich and moved to the cities in search of work.

Tiberius's idea proved quite popular with the common people but was strongly opposed by large landowners. Tiberius wanted to ensure the passage of land-reform laws. So, he announced that he would run for a second term as tribune, an unusual action at the time. This enraged the members of the Senate, and they organized a plot against him. His enemies stirred up a mob of rioters who seized Tiberius and many of his followers and killed them.

Tiberius's dreams of reform were left to his younger brother, Gaius. Gaius Gracchus was born around 153 B.C.E. Like his older brother, Gaius received a traditional Greek education and distinguished himself in military service. Gaius was a flamboyant person, and a passionate and skilled speaker. After his brother was murdered in 133 B.C.E., he took up his brother's cause of helping the poor. Committed to political reform, he proved to be an even stronger opponent to the wealthy than his brother had been.

Gaius was elected tribune in 124 B.C.E. and was reelected the following year. As tribune, he passed programs that benefited many groups in Roman society. For example, he supported a measure that divided state lands from conquests into smaller holdings and redistributed them to the lower classes. Another law he passed created grain allowances, or subsidies, for the poor living in the city. Under the law, the government provided produce and money for food to guarantee that these people would not starve. This reform was important to many people in Rome. After the years of conquest, very few people could afford to continue operating farms. Farmers who lost or sold their property left the land and drifted toward the cities, particularly Rome. Unemployment was high. Rome did not have many factories, and slaves held most of the few available jobs.

Gaius developed programs that built better roads and harbors, thus helping the business community. He also reformed the system for taxing the provinces and administering the law. All of Gaius’s reforms weakened the power of the Senate. Although Gaius became popular with many citizens, most senators hated and feared him. Therefore, when Gaius ran for a third term as tribune in 121 B.C.E., the Senate supported its own candidate. Gaius lost the election, and his enemies in the Senate went after him. A mob of soldiers and citizens attacked Gaius and his supporters, claiming they threatened the stability of the Republic. Recognizing that resistance was hopeless, Gaius ordered his personal slave to kill him.

The Gracchi are tragic figures: genuine reformers who made fatal mistakes in political judgment. Together they mark the introduction of violence into Roman politics and the circumvention of the constitution, trends that will become more and more extreme in the next century.

They also raised the specter of class warfare -- populares against optimates, a specter that had not threatened Rome since the end of the Struggle of the Orders. The populares were those who advocated radical reform, and the optimates were those who opposed it, or who preferred to go slowly. In general, the wealthy and the Senate were in the optimate camp, while the common people supported the populares. What was most insidious was that the people of Rome could be bribed or bullied into voting for either at whim.

Finally, the crisis with the Gracchus brothers revealed the weakness of the patriciate (noble class) and of the constitution. The Senate could be circumvented; not without price, but it appeared that there were those willing to pay the price. What was circumvented once would later be trampled repeatedly.

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