396 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman 

 Empire. 



The Lici- 

 nian law 

 passed in 

 its worst 

 form. 



lands for more than 250 years. Tiberius proposed 

 that those who possessed more than 500 acres should 

 receive payment for the surplus out of the public trea- 

 sury, that every child might hold 250 acres in his own 

 name, independent of what was held by his father, and 

 that the lands thus released should be divided among 

 the poorer citizens. In these views Gracchus was sup- 

 ported by Mutius Scaevola, the ablest lawyer in 

 Rome, and also by his father-in-law, Appius Claudius, 

 and by P. Crassus, the Pontifex Maximus ; but the 

 wealthy Patricians, especially those of the senatorial and 

 equestrian orders, opposed it with the utmost vehe- 

 mence. The influence and the argument which they 

 brought against it, were powerfully exposed by the 

 eloquence of Gracchus ; and when they found them- 

 selves unable to make an impression upon the people, 

 they assailed the Tribune with every species of ca- 

 lumny, and are said even to have laid plans for his as- 

 sassination. 



When the people had assembled in the Comitium to 

 decide upon the new law, it was unexpectedly opposed 

 by the tribune Marcus Octavius Caecina, who had 

 been gained over by the Patricians, and who pro- 

 nounced against it his veto. 



At another meeting of the Comitium, the rich con- 

 tinued to put off the vote by carrying away the urns, 

 and a most violent altercation having ensued, two ve- 

 nerable senators, Manlius and Fulvius, threw themselves 

 at the feet of Gracchus, and prevailed upon him to 

 refer the question to the conscript fathers. 



This uproar, however, as might have been expected, 

 was vain. The Senate resisted the law, and Gracchus 

 was again obliged to appeal to the people. The obsti- 

 nacy of his colleague, Octavius, rendered this appeal 

 unavailing ; and Gracchus and the people had no other 

 resource than to depose Octavius from the tribuneship; 

 and when this was accomplised, the Licinian law was 

 passed in its original and unmodified condition, with- 

 out any of those clauses by which Gracchus had hoped 

 to render it palatable to the Patricians. 



In order to carry this law into effect, Tiberius 

 Gracchus, along with his brother Caius, and his father- 

 in-law, Appius Claudius, were appointed triumvirs. 

 They accordingly travelled through the Italian pro- 

 vinces, to inspect the state of property ; but finding 

 that their principal agent had been poisoned in their 

 absence, they caused to be added to the law the new 

 and more obnoxious clause, that the triumvirs should 

 take cognizance of the lands that had been usurped 

 from the republic. 



B. C. 133. About this time, Attalus, king of Pergamus, had be- 

 queathed to Rome his dominions and his treasures. 

 The treasures had actually arrived in Rome, and Grac- 

 chus availed himself of his private influence to pass a 

 law, in virtue of which they should be divided among 

 the Roman citizens, who were not likely to receive 

 any of the surplus lands taken from the Patricians. 

 This act of popularity gave him almost absolute com- 

 mand of the voice of the people ; and feeling the 

 strength of his influence, he laid a plan of making his 

 father-in-law consul, his brother tribune, and of being 

 himself continued another year in the tribuneship. 

 In order to secure the last of these objects, he gave 

 out that the mob intended to assassinate him, and 

 that his life could only be preserved by the protection 

 which the sacred nature of that office afforded him. 



This extraordinary request the people were willing 

 to grant, though the senators resisted it with all their 

 influence. The people watched the house of Gracchus 



5 



Roman 



Empire. 



by day and night, in order to save a life which they 

 deemed so valuable. The senators, however, conspired 

 against him, and had determined to get rid of so 

 turbulent an enemy. Mutius Scaevola, the consul, re 

 fused to arm his legions against the people, in conse- 

 quence of which Scipio Nasica exclaimed, ' Since we 

 are betrayed by our consul, let the friends of the re- 

 public follow us." Quitting the temple along with Tiberius 

 numbers of the senators, he was joined by the friends ^ racchus 



of the Patricians, armed with staves. Nasica at length l, a "^ 700 

 .,, .... . e . U. v loi> 



came up with Gracchus, who, in his anxiety to escape, 



made a false step and fell down ; but, in attempting 

 to rise, he received a blow upon his head, ami his 

 enemies taking advantage of the accident, rushed in and 

 put an end to his life. About 300 of his friends fell in 

 this ferment, and their bodies, along with that of the 

 tribune, were thrown into the Tiber. The rest of his 

 abettors were either slain or banished, and Caius Bil- 

 lius, one of his most staunch adherents, was enclosed in 

 a cask, along with snakes and vipers, where he was al- 

 lowed to perish. The Senate acquitted Nasica and his 

 assistants, and justified by a decree the cruelties which 

 had on this occasion been exercised. 



There is no page of history more deeply instructive 

 than that which records the life of Gracchus. That the 

 public measures which he endeavoured with so much 

 violence to carry, were, to a certain degree, wise and 

 just cannot be denied ; that the motives from which he 

 pursued them, and the objects at which he aimed were 

 selfish and detestable, may with equal truth be affirmed* 

 A good cause does not necessarily demand the support 

 of the disinterested patriot. What is in itself excellent, 

 may be rendered noxious by the motives and charac- 

 ter of those who pursue it. However devious be the 

 track of ambition, and however baneful its final object, 

 its closest associations are often with wisdom and vir- 

 tue, and its immediate purposes are often those of bene- 

 volence and public good. 



A revolt of the slaves in Italy suspended for a while Murder of 

 the animosities between the Plebeians and the Patrici- Scipio Afri- 

 ans. The Licinian, or the Sempronian law, as it was canus, the 

 now called, was soon brought forward by the people. ^ogT^C 

 Scipio Africanus, the younger, had not only opposed 

 this law with all his influence ; but he had gone so far 

 as to declare that the murder of his brother-in-law, 

 Tiberius Gracchus, was lawful. The popularity which 

 he had acquired by his valour was soon lost, and the 

 people even went so far as to insult him in public. 

 His election to the dictatorship was considered as ne- 

 cessary to the peace of Rome ; but, on the morning of 

 the day on which this honour would have been con- 

 ferred, he was found dead in his bed, with marks of 

 having been slaughtered ; and it has been supposed 

 that this flagrant act was committed by the triumvirs 

 Papirius Carbo, C. Gracchus, and Fulvius Flaccus, 

 whom his own wife, Sempronia, had admitted into his 

 apartment. The Roman people attended his funeral 

 with cries and lamentations, but no inquiries were in- 

 stituted concerning his death. 



Caius Gracchus was not content with reviving the c a ; us 

 Sempronian law ; he proposed the new one of granting Gracchus 

 the privileges of Roman citizens to all the Italian allies proposes to 

 to whom the grants of land could be given under the extend the 

 Sempronian law. The flame of discontent was thus S em P rcnian 

 spread through all Italy, and the enemies of Rome 

 availed themselves of the distractions which it excited, 

 The Senate, however, could not longer brook the 

 attempts which Gracchus had made against their 

 order. The Senate offered their weight in gold for 



law. 



