Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Gracchus (
Latin:
C·SEMPRONIVS·TI·F·P·N·GRACCVS) (
154 BC-
121 BC) was a
Roman politician of the
2nd century BC. He was the younger brother of
Tiberius Gracchus and, like him, pursued a popular political agenda that ultimatly ended in his death. Gauis was not killed by the Roman faction but however gave orders to his slave to kill him.
Gaius was born in
154 BC as the youngest son of Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus (who died in the same year) and
Cornelia Africana. The Gracchi, were of nobile descent and were one of the politically most important families of Rome, very rich and well connected. His mother,
Cornelia Africana, was daughter of
Scipio Africanus Major and his sister
Sempronia was the wife of
Scipio Aemilianus, another important general. Gaius was raised by his mother, a Roman
matrona of high moral standards and virtue.
Gaius' military career started in
Numantia, as a
military tribune appointed to the staff of his brother in law, Scipio Aemilianus. As a young man, he watched the political turmoil caused by his older brother
Tiberius Gracchus, as he tried to pass laws for agrarian reforms. Tiberius was killed in
132 BC near the
Capitol, during an armed confrontation with political enemies, led by
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, their cousin. With this death, Gaius inherited the estate of the Gracchii family. History would prove that he inherited his brother's ideals too.
Gaius started his political career in
126 BC, as
quaestor to consul Lucius Aurelius Orestes in
Sardinia. After a few years of political peace in Rome, in
123 BC, Gaius is elected for the
tribunate of the plebs, as every man in his family before him. The conservators soon understood that they might expect trouble from him. Gaius had similar ideals as Tiberius, but he had time to learn from his brother's mistakes. His program included not only agrarian laws, that stated that lands illegally acquired by the rich should be redistributed to the poor, but also laws that regulated the price of the grain. He also tried to limit the number of years and campaigns a man was obliged to serve in the army. Other measures included the reformation of the extortion court, which prosecuted illegal appropriations of money by members of the senate and a law concerned with the constitution of the jury, which was previously composed only of senators, subject to bribery, who would be judging their peers. His law changed the jury-draft pool to include
equites. He also proposed the extension of
Roman citizenship to several Italian allied nations. All of this displeased the senators.
In
122 BC, Gaius ran for another term as tribune of the plebs – a very unusual political procedure – and got it, with the overwhelming support of Rome's lower classes. During this year, he continued to pursue his reforms and to deal with increasing opposition of the senate. Gaius tried to run for a third time, with
Marcus Fulvius Flaccus as his colleague and partner. But in this year, they lost and could do nothing besides watching the removal of all their laws by the new conservative consuls (Quintus Fabius Maximus and
Lucius Opimius). In order to prevent the loss of all his work, Gaius and Fulvius Flaccus resorted to violent measures. The senate responded by tagging them as enemies of the Republic and they eventually had to run. Fulvius Flaccus was murdered with his sons, but Gaius managed to escape with Philocrates, his faithful slave. Gaius fell victim to murder suicide by his slave who was likely ordered by the senate to kill Gaius. Following his death, about 3,000 men suspected of supporting him were killed and their estates confiscated.
Gaius Gracchus left only one daughter from his marriage to Licinia Crassa. The girl Sempronia, heiress to the Gracchi estate, married Fulvius Flaccus. This wedding also resulted in only one daughter,
Fulvia, who became the wife of first of
Publius Clodius Pulcher and then of
Mark Antony.
See also:
Scipio-Paullus-Gracchus family treeReferences
*
Life of Gaius Gracchus and
Life of Tiberius Gracchus from
Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans by
Plutarch:
**
Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Life of Gaius Gracchus on the MIT classics website**
19th century translation of Plutarch's Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans on the Project Gutenberg website
