Y.R. B.C. 621 rich objected that it was not lawful for the same man to 133 hold the office twice in succession. The tribune Rubrius, who had been chosen by lot to preside over the comitia, was in doubt about it, and Mummius, who had been chosen in place of Octavius, urged him to turn over the comitia to his charge. This he did, but the remaining tribunes. contended that the presidency should be decided by lot, saying that when Rubrius, who had been chosen in that way, resigned, the casting of lots ought to be done over again for all. As there was much strife over this question, Gracchus, who was getting the worst of it, adjourned the voting to the following day. In utter despair he clothed himself in black, while still in office, and led his son around the forum and introduced him to each man and committed him to their charge, as if he were about to perish at the hands of his enemies. 15. The poor were moved with deep sorrow, and rightly so, both on their own account (for they believed that they were no longer to live in a free state under equal laws, but were reduced to servitude by the rich), and on account of Gracchus himself, who had incurred such danger and suffering in their behalf. So they all accompanied him with. tears to his house in the evening, and bade him be of good courage for the morrow. Gracchus cheered up, assembled his partisans before daybreak, and communicated to them a signal to be displayed in case of a fight. He then took possession of the temple on the Capitoline hill, where the voting was to take place, and occupied the middle of the assembly. As he was obstructed by the other tribunes and by the rich, who would not allow the votes to be taken on this question, he gave the signal. There was a sudden shout from those who saw it, and a resort to violence in consequence. Some of the partisans of Gracchus took position around him like body-guards. Others, having girded themselves, seized the fasces and staves in the hands of the lictors and broke them in pieces. They drove the rich out of the assembly with such disorder and wounds that the tribunes fled from their places in terror, and the priests closed the doors of the temple. Many ran away pell-mell and scattered wild rumors. Some said that Gracchus had deposed all the other tribunes, and this was be Y.R. B.C. 621 lieved because none of them could be seen. Others said 133 that he had declared himself tribune for the ensuing year without an election. 16. Under these circumstances the Senate assembled at the temple of Fides. It is astonishing to me that they never thought of appointing a dictator in this emergency, although they had often been protected by the government of a single ruler in such times of peril. Although this resource had been found most useful in former times few people remembered it, either then or later. After reaching the decision that they did reach, they marched up to the Capitol, Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the pontifex maximus, leading the way and calling out with a loud voice, "Let those who would save the country follow me." He wound the border of his toga about his head either to induce a greater number to go with him by the singularity of his appearance, or to make for himself, as it were, a helmet as a sign of battle for those who looked on, or in order to conceal from the gods what he was about to do. When he arrived at the temple and advanced against the partisans of Gracchus they yielded to the reputation of a foremost citizen, for they saw the Senate following with him. The latter wrested clubs out of the hands of the Gracchans themselves, or with fragments of broken benches or other apparatus that had been brought for the use of the assembly, began beating them, and pursued them, and drove them over the precipice.2 In the tumult many of the Gracchans perished, and Gracchus himself was caught3 near the temple, and was slain at the door close by the statues of the kings. All the bodies were thrown by night into the Tiber. 17. So perished on the Capitol, and while still tribune, Gracchus, the son of the Gracchus who was twice consul, and of Cornelia, daughter of that Scipio who subjugated Carthage. He lost his life in consequence of a most excellent design, which, however, he pursued in too violent a manner. This shocking affair, the first that was perpe 1 The temple to the goddess of Public Faith was on the Capitoline hill. 2 The Capitoline hill was flanked by the Tarpeian Rock. 8 Reading ἁλώμενος, which Mendelssohn prefers instead of εἰλούμενος. Y.R. B. C. 621 trated in the public assembly, was seldom without parallels 133 thereafter from time to time. On the subject of the murder of Gracchus the city was divided between sorrow and joy. Some mourned for themselves and for him, and deplored the present condition of things, believing that the commonwealth no longer existed, but had been supplanted by force and violence. Others considered that everything had turned out for them exactly as they wished. These things took place at the time when Aristonicus was contending with the Romans for the government of Asia. 622 CHAPTER III Litigation under the Law of Gracchus - Scipio Æmilianus employed in it His Mysterious Death- Gaius Gracchus elected Tribune - He gives the Judicial Power to Knights-Demands Roman Citizenship for Italian Allies-Sails to Africa with Fulvius Flaccus - Rioting in Rome after his Return - Death of Gracchus and Flaccus 18. After Gracchus was slain Appius Claudius died, and 132 Fulvius Flaccus and Papirius Carbo were appointed, in conjunction with the younger Gracchus, to divide the land. As the persons in possession neglected to hand in lists of their holdings, a proclamation was issued that informers should furnish testimony against them. Immediately a great number of embarrassing lawsuits sprang up. Wherever a new field had been bought adjoining an old one, or wherever a division of land had been made with allies, the whole district had to be carefully inquired into on account of the measurement of this one field, to discover how it had been sold and how divided. Not all owners had preserved their contracts, or their allotment titles, and even those that were found were often ambiguous. When the land was resurveyed some owners were obliged to give up their fruit-trees and farm-buildings in exchange for naked ground. Others were transferred from cultivated to uncultivated lands, or to swamps, or pools. In fact, the measuring had not been carefully done when the land was first taken from the enemy. As the original proclamation authorized anybody to work the undistributed land who wished to do so, many had been prompted to cultivate the Y.R. 622 parts immediately adjoining their own, till the line of demarkation between them had faded from view. The progress of time also made many changes. Thus the injustice done by the rich, although great, was not easy of ascertainment. So there was nothing but a general turn-about, all parties being moved out of their own places and settled down in other people's. B.C. 132 625 19. The Italian allies who complained of these disturb- 129 ances, and especially of the lawsuits hastily brought against them, chose Cornelius Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, to defend them against these grievances. As he had availed himself of their very valiant services in war he was reluctant to disregard their request. So he came into the Senate, and although, out of regard for the plebeians, he did not openly find fault with the law of Gracchus, he expatiated on its difficulties and held that these causes ought not to be decided by the triumvirs, because they did not possess the confidence of the litigants, but should be turned over to others. As his view seemed reasonable, they yielded to his persuasion, and the consul Tuditanus was appointed to give judgment in these cases. But when he took hold of the work he saw the difficulties of it, and marched against the Illyrians as a pretext for not acting as judge, and since nobody brought cases for trial before the triumvirs they relapsed into idleness. From this cause hatred and indignation arose among the people against Scipio because they saw him, in whose favor they had often opposed the aristocracy and incurred their enmity, electing him consul twice contrary to law, now taking the side of the Italian allies against them. When Scipio's enemies observed this, they cried out that he was determined to abolish the law of Gracchus utterly and was about to inaugurate armed strife and bloodshed for that purpose. 20. When the people heard these charges they were in a state of alarm until Scipio, after placing near his couch at home one evening a tablet on which he intended to write during the night the speech he intended to deliver before the people, was found dead in his bed without a wound. Whether this was done by Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi (aided by her daughter, Sempronia, who was may ried to Scipio, and was unloved and unloving because sh Y.R. B. 625 was deformed and childless), lest the law of Gracchus 12 should be abolished, or whether, as some think, he committed suicide because he saw plainly that he could not accomplish what he had promised, is not known. Some say that slaves, who were subjected to torture, testified that unknown persons were introduced through the rear of the house by night who suffocated him, and that those who knew about it hesitated to tell because the people were angry with him still and rejoiced at his death. So died Scipio, and although he had been of immense service to the Roman power he was not honored with a public funeral; so much does the anger of the present moment outweigh gratitude for the past. And this event, sufficiently important in itself, took place as an incident of the sedition of Gracchus.1 21. Those who were in possession of the lands even after these events postponed the division on various pretexts for a very long time. Some thought that the Italian allies, who made the greatest resistance to it, ought to be admitted to Roman citizenship so that, out of gratitude for the greater favor, they should no longer quarrel about the 629 land. The Italians were glad to accept this, because they 125 preferred Roman citizenship to possession of the fields. Fulvius Flaccus, who was then both consul and triumvir, exerted himself to the utmost to bring it about, but the Senate was angry at the proposal to make their subjects 630 equal citizens with themselves. For this reason the attempt 124 was abandoned, and the people, who had been so long in the hope of acquiring land, became dishearten While they were in this mood Gaius Gracchus, who had made himself agreeable to them as a triumvir, offered himself for the tribuneship. He was the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus, the promoter of the law, and had been silent for some time on the subject of the fate of his brother, but since many of the senators treated him scornfully he an 1 It is uncertain whether Scipio was murdered or not. Cicero alludes to the event in one of his letters (Ad Fam. ix. 21), in which, speaking of one Gaius Carbo, he says that he was thought to have laid violent hands upon Africanus. Velleius says that marks of strangulation were found on his neck, yet adds in the same paragraph that most people thought he died a natural death. |