2801. ] 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
t¢(YEE,” faid the Mother-of the Grac- 
chi, to a Roman lady—fhe happentd 
to be a lady of high diftinétion, of a pa- 
¢rician-family: fo indeed was Cornelia, 
‘but fhe had married a plebeian—The lady 
had called on Cornelia for the fingle pur- 
pofe of dazzling her eyes, with the difplay 
of a diamond-necklace, which the had that 
amorniug received from her hufband.—~She 
was the childlefs wife of the Edile Lucre- 
tius Vefpillo. Cornelia, at that time, had 
' two boys. The necklace was now dif- 
clofed. Cornelia requefted her gueft to 
wait a while. The boys were fent 
for, They entered without bowing their 
heads—they ran to their mother—T tberius 
took her by the hand ; Caius ciafped his 
arms around her neck. She prefled him 
to her heart: and, ** See! (faid the mo- 
ther of the Gracchi) Thefe are my jewels ; 
this isamy necklace.*” The lady put her’s 
in the cafket, and, with a fort of {mile, 
hhaftily todk leave. Cornelia remained at 
home. 
Happy, or haplefs, mother! which fhall 
Tcall thee? Daughter of Scipio the firft 
Africanus, and -mother-in-law of Scipio 
- the fecona Africanus, and better than both, 
as the fiyft wifh of thy heart is to be called 
mother of the Gracchi! © But, of thy 
twelve children, nine have died in in- 
fancy, or early youth; and of thofe re- 
maining, Tiberius fhall be the buckler 
of the people, and thy Caius, now care(- 
fing thee, fnall be the fword of the people 
——in vain—for the people will, in the laft 
extremity, defert them. They fhall be 
murdered by Romans——their mangled bo- 
dies fijali float upon the Tiber. Hiaplefs 
mother! I was about to fay—but thy aw- 
ful magnanimity, thy matron dignity, re- 
prefs me. I ftill fee thee happy ;. and 
when thou heareft of the fanétuaries in 
which thy darling fons were flain, I fee 
thee exclaiming, with elevated arms— 
*¢ They were tombs worthy of the Grac- 
etn” 
For what were thefe men flain? They 
were flain for attempting to preferve the 
genuine fpirit of the conftitution, and for 
avifhing to make the happinefs of the mafs 
of the people a foundatron for the fafety 
of the ftate. Rome was fplit into two 
parties; parties which divide the world at 
this moment—the rich and the poor. All 
other diftinSions are nominal: this alone 
is real. Strange as it ought to found, the 
people were obliged to a&t as a party, and 
the commonwealih was a monopoly. The 
‘rich, by various means, got poffeffion of 
The Diamonds of Cornelia. 
Qe 
the lands deftined by the conftitution and 
the law for the fupport of the poor, and 
purchafed by the {weat of blood. They 
were not only difpoffeffed of their property, 
but they were not even fuffered to culti- 
vate as labourers the ground they had 
held as proprietors. Slaves were preferred 
to citizens—aliens to natives. 
_ Tiberius, one of the jewels of Coinelia, 
had then attained comanhood: anda man he 
was moft pure in private life ; ripe in the 
powers of his mind ; fixed in the purpofes 
of his heart; adorned with every virtue 
which nature in her bounty, and education 
in her care, could pour down on the head 
of humanity. ‘¢ Antiftia ({aid the prefi- 
dent of the fenate, on entering his houfe) 
I have juft now promifed our daughter 
Claudia in marriage.”"-—‘* Why in fuch 
hafte (faid the alarmed mother) have you 
promifed her to Tiberius Gracchus !” 
This young man had juft returned from 
the fiege of Numantia, where the great _ 
Scipio (accurfed be fuch greatnefs!) had, 
with the help of 60,000 men, cooped-up 
and ftarved 4000 brave men, only for re- 
fufing to be flaves ; for fighting in defence 
of their wives, their children, and their 
liberty ; which in defpair of maintaining, 
they fet fire to their own houles, and every 
living creature dying by famine, fire,’ or 
the {word, left the victor of Numantia no- 
thing to triumph ever but aname. Scipio 
felt as a Roman—Tiberius as a man 
*¢Joylefs triumph,” faid he to himfeif,**that 
can boaft only of battles. He has acquir- 
ed a name for deftroying men who would 
die rather than be flaves. Beit my better 
ambition to emancipate flaves who with to 
be men!” 
He had croffed Hetruria. He had 
feen the fields without other hufbandmen 
and labourers than aliens and flaves ; with 
no affection for the republic ; with no in- 
tereft in iis prefervation ; with no encou- 
ragement to have children ; without means 
of educating them. He returned to Rome. 
He afcended the roftrum. 
“The wild beafts of Italy,’ faid he 
(he began inthe high tone of ftrenuous li- 
berty) ‘* the wild beafts have, at leaft, the 
thelier of the den and thecave. The people 
who have expofed their lives in your de- 
fence are allowed nothing but the light 
andair. Thefe are the gifts of the gods; 
on earth they have nothing. They wan- 
‘der up-and-down with their wives and 
little ones, without the comfort and confo- 
lation of ahome. Ourgenerals mock the 
foldiery. They exhort them before battle 
to fight for their fepulchres, and houfhold- 
gods. Where are they? among all this 
Pp.2x number 
ae 
