🏛️ Senatus vs. Populusque Romanus ✊🏼
December 30, 2024 1:44 PM Subscribe
After a series of foreign wars, a dysfunctional republic finds itself wracked by economic inequality, with property and wealth increasingly monopolized by greedy elites. A leading politician, newly elected on a platform of redistribution, social welfare, and political reform, bypasses Senate obstruction with a legislative loophole -- only to find his ambitious agenda blocked by a former ally on behalf of special interests. The leader: Tiberius Gracchus, tribune of the plebs. The year: 133 BC. What happened next would shatter longstanding norms, introduce political violence to the Roman forum, and lay the groundwork for the bloody collapse of the Republic, more than a generation before the birth of Julius Caesar and the rise of the Empire. [So much more inside]
I. What's Past is Prologue ⌛
The fabled Res Publica began with the popular overthrow of the tyrannical Tarquin the Proud (who had gained power after murdering the beloved and benevolent king Servius Tullius -- shout out to my boy), but establishing representative government did not resolve Rome's core socio-political problem: The Conflict of the Orders, i.e., the struggle for power between the Optimates (aristocratic patrician nobility) and the Populares (plebeian commoners). While the patrician class found power in the Roman Senate (originally an advisory council to the king), the disenfranchised and debt-ridden plebeians struck back with a series of secessions: massive general strikes which saw the entire population decamp for a commune on a sacred hill outside Rome.
The Senate, unwilling to live out the ending of Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later, agreed to a number of key reforms: debt relief, political and legal equality, class intermarriage, and the public display of Roman law in the form of the Twelve Tables. Most consequential to our story, however, was the creation of a new elected office: the Tribune of the Plebs. Charged with protecting the common man from abuse by the elite, the plebeian tribunes had the power to convene the Senate and popular assemblies, propose new laws, intercede on behalf of plebeian legal cases, and unilaterally veto all government actions (including from the Senate, the ruling consuls, or even each other). Tribunes were also considered legally and religiously sacrosanct -- harming a tribune or otherwise interfering with their duties was strictly forbidden and punishable by death, a blood oath whose enforcement was gladly sworn to by the returning plebs.
II. Carthago Delenda Est 🔥
After consolidating the tribes of the Italian peninsula, the forces of the Republic faced off against its greatest enemy: Carthage, a prosperous Phoenician trading city on the coast of northern Africa. The three Punic Wars between the two Mediterranean powers saw some of the most storied naval and land campaigns in Western military history, from the Roman conquest of Sicily to Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca's audacious crossing of the Alps with an army of war elephants to ravage the Italian heartland. Following a catastrophic defeat at Cannae, though, Rome regrouped, counterattacking Iberia and ultimately taking Carthage under the legendary command of Scipio Africanus.
Some fifty years later, Rome finished the fight against Carthage, launching a punitive invasion on a pretext and utterly destroying the city, killing many and selling the rest into slavery (though salting the earth was a later invention, small mercies). And the first Roman soldier to breach the city's walls? Scipio Africanus's young grandson: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who served with honor and distinction as a (military) tribune to his brother-in-law, Scipio Aemilianus. Raised by his influential mother Cornelia and the Stoic tutor Blossius in the liberal tradition of the Greek enlightenment, he was that rare combination of aristocratic prestige, moral integrity, and concern for the poor, all borne with a sober and rational disposition.
III. The Campaign in Spain ⚔️
As a reward for the bravery shown at Carthage, Tiberius was appointed quaestor (financial administrator) to one of Rome's two consuls, Gaius Hostilius Mancinus, during his effort to conquer the northern Hispanian province of Numantia. Mancinus led a hapless campaign, suffering many defeats and eventually finding his forces surrounded during a desperate midnight retreat.
The victorious Numantines insisted on speaking not with the consul's diplomats, but with the young Tiberius, whose father had negotiated with them honorably in a previous war. Calling on the memory of the elder Gracchus, Tiberius secured a peace treaty that spared the lives of thousands of Roman soldiers. The Numantines left holding him in such high regard that they invited him to a banquet in their city, returned his lost ledgers, and gave him special permission to take anything he wanted from the Roman spoils. Tiberius, ever disciplined, took only sacrificial incense.
IV. No home in Rome đźŹ
This peaceful resolution, though highly popular with both veterans' families and the broader public, incensed the Senate, who saw peace as a political loser that disgraced Rome's reputation for military dominance. They not only refused to ratify the treaty, but threatened to send Tiberius back to Numantia in chains for his impertinence. A popular vote (backed by Aemilianus) spared him from this fate, though it couldn't save consul Mancinus (who the Numantines ended up rejecting in humiliating fashion).
This unhappy homecoming left Tiberius embittered against the ruling class, a sentiment that was further stoked by his journey home through the Italian countryside. Years of conquest and plunder had ironically left the heartland impoverished: the yeoman farmers, called away from their homes for increasingly lengthy foreign campaigns, had left their farms fallow and unprofitable. While they were gone, wealthy landowners (typically senators) swept in to buy up their land for just assēs on the denarius, forming vast commercial estates called latifundia that further enriched largely absentee owners.
Veterans returned to find their families working their former land for a pittance -- or more and more often, replaced with slaves from the wars they just won (a population that gave rise to increasingly violent uprisings). The landless, dispossessed poor flooded into Rome in search of work to support themselves, only to find their political power gerrymandered into irrelevance, electoral college-style. Meanwhile, the depopulation of the free citizen-farmer class contributed to a recruiting crisis, as only landholders qualified for military service. Roman society was rotting internally, and threatening its ability to maintain strength abroad.
V. The Lex Agraria đź“ś
This state of affairs was naturally abhorrent to a man of Tiberius's military and philosophical bearing, and he soon embarked on a mission of reform, starting by using his war hero popularity to win election as one of the ten plebeian tribunes for 133 BC. Once in office, the legal question was simple enough: prior law, hard-won by plebeians centuries earlier, limited ownership of the ager publicus (public land) to 500 iugera (~300 acres). Over time, unscrupulous patricians had weakened the law through false identities, bribery, and senatorial immunity until it was ignored altogether. Tiberius' reform measure, the Lex Agraria, was ambitious, simple, and fair: pay violators market rate for illegally held properties (even allowing for additional holdings per child), allow them to retain the legal maximum (rent-free!), and then use the land to settle the homeless veterans of Rome. He made his case with appropriate moral suasion, saying:
Not merely a starry-eyed idealist, Tiberius was also a savvy political operator, crafting his bill to accommodate the patricians and involving a number of influential politicians in its drafting, including consul Publius Mucius Scaevola, chief priest Crassus, and his father-in-law, the prestigious senator Appius Claudius Pulcher. The plan was reasonable, popular, aimed to revitalize the Roman economy and military, and had the backing of key players. But the Senate was, at heart, a club of wealthy landowners, and not even this dream team could overcome their steadfast opposition.
So Tiberius bypassed the Senate's obstruction with a technically legal but unorthodox maneuver: he took the Lex Agraria directly to the Plebeian Assembly to be enacted by popular vote.
VII. Veto-rama đź‘Ž
On the fateful day, eager plebeians packed into the Comitium in the Forum Romanum to vote for a better future. So one can scarcely imagine the uproar that occurred when the legislation was abruptly halted -- not by a hostile senator, but by one of Tiberius's fellow tribunes and close friends: Marcus Octavius. Despite his responsibility to the welfare of the plebs, the Senate had successfully swayed him against the reform bill, a veto that could not be overturned.
Infuriated at the betrayal, Tiberius went back to the drawing board, dropping all conciliatory elements from the bill and turning his compromise measure into a populist hacksaw. Under the new Lex Agraria, wealthy violators would have their ill-gotten gains confiscated, period, with hefty fines besides. Tiberius hoped popular zeal for the move would pressure Octavius into relenting. But still he refused.
Tiberius then countered Octavius and the Senate with the power of his own veto, using it to shut down the temples, the markets, the treasury, the law courts. The economic and political life of the capital ground to a halt. Technically legal but intended for major holidays and disasters, this defiant exercise of justitium against the Senate was deeply provocative -- but still Octavius was unmoved. (Though some accounts contend he was moved -- literally -- when Tiberius called on supporters to physically carry him out of the Forum, a shocking breach of tribunal sacrosanctity.)
After a last-ditch appeal to Senate moderation ended in heckling, an exasperated Tiberius deployed the nuclear option: arguing that Octavius had violated his sacred oath and broken faith with the people, he called on the Assembly to remove him from office -- an unheard-of gambit. As one constituency after another voted to depose, Octavius held firm; Tiberius beseeched him before the final ballot needed, to no avail. Once stripped of his powers, Octavius fled, and the Lex Agraria was finally voted into law.
VIII. A contest of wills 🤴
Unfortunately for the populists, passing legislation and enforcing it are two very different things. The new law was to be administered by a land commission tasked with surveying and dividing up reclaimed land. Not trusting anyone else with this vital work, Tiberius nominated himself, his father-in-law Claudius, and his younger brother Gaius, which the Assembly duly approved. The Senate, in turn, obstructed the commission by denying it enough funding to operate.
The bureaucratic stalemate was unexpectedly broken by the death of King Attalus II of Pergamum, a wealthy Greek kingdom in coastal Turkey. The king, lacking an heir and not wanting his prosperous subjects to fall victim to internal strife or invasion from abroad, entrusted the entire kingdom to Rome in his will. Sensing an opening, Tiberius claimed the gift for the people of Rome, using the Assembly to appropriate funding for his commission from Pergamum's vast treasury.
This aggressive intrusion on the Senate's financial and foreign policy prerogatives outraged the conservative elite, who began spreading rumors that the upstart tribune sought to make himself king. Tiberius hardly helped his case when, fearful of prosecution after leaving office, he declared he was running for an unprecedented second term. As tensions rose and intrigue swirled, he trumpeted an increasingly populist platform, promising the urban poor popular yet controversial reforms, including reductions in military service, the right of judicial appeal, and the extension of jury eligibility from the senators to the middle class equites.
IX. Rome-bo: First Blood 🩸
As election day dawned (with ominous portent), Tiberius approached a Forum that thronged with his supporters. His enemies in the Senate, however, had a plan. They had spent months whispering the threat of kingship -- a word so reviled in Roman memory that even the suggestion of it could spark a panic. When Tiberius signaled worry to his followers by touching his head, his enemies seized on it, claiming he was asking for a crown.
Leading the charge was Scipio Nasica, the Pontifex Maximus and one of Tiberius's fiercest opponents. Declaring that the Republic was under threat, Nasica and a band of senators and clients stormed the Forum, armed with slats of wooden benches they ripped from the ground. What followed was a bloody fracas: Tiberius, unarmed and vastly outnumbered, tried to flee... but was cornered and beaten to death along with nearly 300 of his supporters, their bodies were tossed into the Tiber. This was a deliberate desecration, and a message: not even death could guarantee him the dignity of Roman custom.
This was no ordinary political assassination. Not only was it a flagrant violation of tribunal sacrosanctity, it was the first time in centuries that mob violence had been used to resolve a political dispute within the city of Rome. The Rubicon had not yet been crossed, but the Forum was now awash in blood.
X. Gracchus the Younger 👦
Young Gaius Gracchus, ten years his brother's junior, had watched Tiberius's murder from the sidelines, helpless. A decade later, he finally stepped into the political arena as a storm of righteous fury. Elected tribune in 123 BC, Gaius was even more of a populist firebrand than his brother -- where Tiberius had narrowly focused on land redistribution, Gaius went further, proposing sweeping measures that would reshape Roman society: a grain dole for the urban poor, judicial reforms to strip power from the Senate, new colonies abroad to relieve overcrowding in Rome (and boost his political constituency). He even dared to suggest extending Roman citizenship to loyal Italian allies, a move that even his fellow tribunes opposed (via xenophobic appeals).
Gaius had the crowds at his back politically (and the Senate at his back literally). He used his passionate oratory like a weapon, lashing out at the elite with blistering, toga-rending speeches that decried their corruption and greed. He was so popular that despite *not* standing for a second term like his brother, the public re-elected him by acclamation anyway. The patricians, stricken by the ferocity of his appeal, struggled to contain him at first. But if history had taught them anything, it was that the people's passions could be turned against them.
The Senate adopted a new strategy: divide and conquer. They induced one of Gaius's fellow tribunes, Livius Drusus, to propose reforms even more extravagant than Gaius's, knowing they would never really come to pass. The gambit worked: the plebs, dazzled by false promises, began to waver, and Gaius lost his bid for a third term.
XI. A Work of Mad Discord 🤬
Sensing weakness (and perhaps emboldened by their earlier taste of populist blood), the Senate went for the kill, declaring a senatus consultum ultimum and giving consul Lucius Opimius absolute authority to eliminate Gaius as a threat to the Republic.
Beseiged with his supporters on the Aventine Hill, Gaius prepared a last stand. The consul's forces stormed their temple; Gaius fled, dying soon after by suicide. His head, declared to be worth its weight in gold by his pursuers, was returned filled with lead by a greedy friend of his -- a thematically appropriate end for this betrayed enemy of corrupt wealth. His remaining followers were harrowed by a mass purge.
XII. Fallout đź“…
With the deaths of the Gracchi and their supporters, the Republic crossed some fateful lines. The law, once considered sacred, had become a pawn of the powerful, bent by populist zeal and broken to destroy it. The Senate's willingness to bludgeon its way out of reform was grim proof that the ruling elite cared more for their wealth and power than for the health and stability of the Republic. And after centuries of settling political disputes with debates and votes, violence was now clearly an option.
Improbably, the Lex Agraria survived the bloodshed; though the patricians endeavored to obstruct, it did distribute millions of iugera to landless farmers. Gaius's broader reforms, though, were unwound or unfulfilled; the Senate, triumphant, returned to business as usual. But the Republic was not the same.
The Gracchi exposed the fault line in Roman society: the yawning gulf between rich and poor. The plebeians, disillusioned with reform through peaceful means, would soon turn to charismatic strongmen who promised them bread and vengeance. First populist rabble-rousers like Saturninus and Clodius Pulcher and ambitious generals like Gaius Marius, Cornelius Sulla, and eventually Julius Caesar would violently exploit these divisions, leading to a series of civil wars that would ultimately destroy the Republic.
In the end, the Gracchi were not just reformers; they were the opening act in a sociopolitical tragedy that would play out over the next two centuries, a story of idealism and betrayal, courage and bloodshed, and an ailing republic that could not save itself from its own corruption. The Roman Forum would never again be the same -- nor would Rome.
BONUS (that's Latin, doncha know)
Tiberius Gracchus: A Study - a remarkably in-depth analysis of his political career and context
The 2006 BBC series Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire featured an entire hour-long episode aptly called "Revolution" dramatizing the life and death of Tiberius Gracchus (played by James D'Arcy)
YouTube channel Extra History produced a multi-part illustrated series on "The Brothers Gracchi":
For more ancient sources, the fabulously old-school Attalus.org Index of Names provides an exhaustive list of historical references for both Gracchi (#7 and #8 on that page), with all references linking straight to the original text.
I. What's Past is Prologue ⌛
The fabled Res Publica began with the popular overthrow of the tyrannical Tarquin the Proud (who had gained power after murdering the beloved and benevolent king Servius Tullius -- shout out to my boy), but establishing representative government did not resolve Rome's core socio-political problem: The Conflict of the Orders, i.e., the struggle for power between the Optimates (aristocratic patrician nobility) and the Populares (plebeian commoners). While the patrician class found power in the Roman Senate (originally an advisory council to the king), the disenfranchised and debt-ridden plebeians struck back with a series of secessions: massive general strikes which saw the entire population decamp for a commune on a sacred hill outside Rome.
The Senate, unwilling to live out the ending of Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later, agreed to a number of key reforms: debt relief, political and legal equality, class intermarriage, and the public display of Roman law in the form of the Twelve Tables. Most consequential to our story, however, was the creation of a new elected office: the Tribune of the Plebs. Charged with protecting the common man from abuse by the elite, the plebeian tribunes had the power to convene the Senate and popular assemblies, propose new laws, intercede on behalf of plebeian legal cases, and unilaterally veto all government actions (including from the Senate, the ruling consuls, or even each other). Tribunes were also considered legally and religiously sacrosanct -- harming a tribune or otherwise interfering with their duties was strictly forbidden and punishable by death, a blood oath whose enforcement was gladly sworn to by the returning plebs.
II. Carthago Delenda Est 🔥
After consolidating the tribes of the Italian peninsula, the forces of the Republic faced off against its greatest enemy: Carthage, a prosperous Phoenician trading city on the coast of northern Africa. The three Punic Wars between the two Mediterranean powers saw some of the most storied naval and land campaigns in Western military history, from the Roman conquest of Sicily to Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca's audacious crossing of the Alps with an army of war elephants to ravage the Italian heartland. Following a catastrophic defeat at Cannae, though, Rome regrouped, counterattacking Iberia and ultimately taking Carthage under the legendary command of Scipio Africanus.
Some fifty years later, Rome finished the fight against Carthage, launching a punitive invasion on a pretext and utterly destroying the city, killing many and selling the rest into slavery (though salting the earth was a later invention, small mercies). And the first Roman soldier to breach the city's walls? Scipio Africanus's young grandson: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who served with honor and distinction as a (military) tribune to his brother-in-law, Scipio Aemilianus. Raised by his influential mother Cornelia and the Stoic tutor Blossius in the liberal tradition of the Greek enlightenment, he was that rare combination of aristocratic prestige, moral integrity, and concern for the poor, all borne with a sober and rational disposition.
III. The Campaign in Spain ⚔️
As a reward for the bravery shown at Carthage, Tiberius was appointed quaestor (financial administrator) to one of Rome's two consuls, Gaius Hostilius Mancinus, during his effort to conquer the northern Hispanian province of Numantia. Mancinus led a hapless campaign, suffering many defeats and eventually finding his forces surrounded during a desperate midnight retreat.
The victorious Numantines insisted on speaking not with the consul's diplomats, but with the young Tiberius, whose father had negotiated with them honorably in a previous war. Calling on the memory of the elder Gracchus, Tiberius secured a peace treaty that spared the lives of thousands of Roman soldiers. The Numantines left holding him in such high regard that they invited him to a banquet in their city, returned his lost ledgers, and gave him special permission to take anything he wanted from the Roman spoils. Tiberius, ever disciplined, took only sacrificial incense.
IV. No home in Rome đźŹ
This peaceful resolution, though highly popular with both veterans' families and the broader public, incensed the Senate, who saw peace as a political loser that disgraced Rome's reputation for military dominance. They not only refused to ratify the treaty, but threatened to send Tiberius back to Numantia in chains for his impertinence. A popular vote (backed by Aemilianus) spared him from this fate, though it couldn't save consul Mancinus (who the Numantines ended up rejecting in humiliating fashion).
This unhappy homecoming left Tiberius embittered against the ruling class, a sentiment that was further stoked by his journey home through the Italian countryside. Years of conquest and plunder had ironically left the heartland impoverished: the yeoman farmers, called away from their homes for increasingly lengthy foreign campaigns, had left their farms fallow and unprofitable. While they were gone, wealthy landowners (typically senators) swept in to buy up their land for just assēs on the denarius, forming vast commercial estates called latifundia that further enriched largely absentee owners.
Veterans returned to find their families working their former land for a pittance -- or more and more often, replaced with slaves from the wars they just won (a population that gave rise to increasingly violent uprisings). The landless, dispossessed poor flooded into Rome in search of work to support themselves, only to find their political power gerrymandered into irrelevance, electoral college-style. Meanwhile, the depopulation of the free citizen-farmer class contributed to a recruiting crisis, as only landholders qualified for military service. Roman society was rotting internally, and threatening its ability to maintain strength abroad.
V. The Lex Agraria đź“ś
This state of affairs was naturally abhorrent to a man of Tiberius's military and philosophical bearing, and he soon embarked on a mission of reform, starting by using his war hero popularity to win election as one of the ten plebeian tribunes for 133 BC. Once in office, the legal question was simple enough: prior law, hard-won by plebeians centuries earlier, limited ownership of the ager publicus (public land) to 500 iugera (~300 acres). Over time, unscrupulous patricians had weakened the law through false identities, bribery, and senatorial immunity until it was ignored altogether. Tiberius' reform measure, the Lex Agraria, was ambitious, simple, and fair: pay violators market rate for illegally held properties (even allowing for additional holdings per child), allow them to retain the legal maximum (rent-free!), and then use the land to settle the homeless veterans of Rome. He made his case with appropriate moral suasion, saying:
"The savage beasts that roam over Italy have their dens, every one of them a cave or lair to lurk in; but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy nothing in it but the common air and light. Houseless and homeless they wander about with their wives and children. And the generals do but mock them with lying lips when, at the head of their armies, they exhort the soldiers in their battles to defend sepulchres and shrines from the enemy, to fight for their temples and their altars. For not a man of them has an hereditary altar, not one of all these many Romans an ancestral tomb, none has a house of his own, nor seat of his ancestors to defend. They fight and die to support others in wealth and luxury, and though they are, insultingly, called masters of the world, they have not a single clod of earth that is their own."VI. Reconciliation (or not) 🤼
Not merely a starry-eyed idealist, Tiberius was also a savvy political operator, crafting his bill to accommodate the patricians and involving a number of influential politicians in its drafting, including consul Publius Mucius Scaevola, chief priest Crassus, and his father-in-law, the prestigious senator Appius Claudius Pulcher. The plan was reasonable, popular, aimed to revitalize the Roman economy and military, and had the backing of key players. But the Senate was, at heart, a club of wealthy landowners, and not even this dream team could overcome their steadfast opposition.
So Tiberius bypassed the Senate's obstruction with a technically legal but unorthodox maneuver: he took the Lex Agraria directly to the Plebeian Assembly to be enacted by popular vote.
VII. Veto-rama đź‘Ž
On the fateful day, eager plebeians packed into the Comitium in the Forum Romanum to vote for a better future. So one can scarcely imagine the uproar that occurred when the legislation was abruptly halted -- not by a hostile senator, but by one of Tiberius's fellow tribunes and close friends: Marcus Octavius. Despite his responsibility to the welfare of the plebs, the Senate had successfully swayed him against the reform bill, a veto that could not be overturned.
Infuriated at the betrayal, Tiberius went back to the drawing board, dropping all conciliatory elements from the bill and turning his compromise measure into a populist hacksaw. Under the new Lex Agraria, wealthy violators would have their ill-gotten gains confiscated, period, with hefty fines besides. Tiberius hoped popular zeal for the move would pressure Octavius into relenting. But still he refused.
Tiberius then countered Octavius and the Senate with the power of his own veto, using it to shut down the temples, the markets, the treasury, the law courts. The economic and political life of the capital ground to a halt. Technically legal but intended for major holidays and disasters, this defiant exercise of justitium against the Senate was deeply provocative -- but still Octavius was unmoved. (Though some accounts contend he was moved -- literally -- when Tiberius called on supporters to physically carry him out of the Forum, a shocking breach of tribunal sacrosanctity.)
After a last-ditch appeal to Senate moderation ended in heckling, an exasperated Tiberius deployed the nuclear option: arguing that Octavius had violated his sacred oath and broken faith with the people, he called on the Assembly to remove him from office -- an unheard-of gambit. As one constituency after another voted to depose, Octavius held firm; Tiberius beseeched him before the final ballot needed, to no avail. Once stripped of his powers, Octavius fled, and the Lex Agraria was finally voted into law.
VIII. A contest of wills 🤴
Unfortunately for the populists, passing legislation and enforcing it are two very different things. The new law was to be administered by a land commission tasked with surveying and dividing up reclaimed land. Not trusting anyone else with this vital work, Tiberius nominated himself, his father-in-law Claudius, and his younger brother Gaius, which the Assembly duly approved. The Senate, in turn, obstructed the commission by denying it enough funding to operate.
The bureaucratic stalemate was unexpectedly broken by the death of King Attalus II of Pergamum, a wealthy Greek kingdom in coastal Turkey. The king, lacking an heir and not wanting his prosperous subjects to fall victim to internal strife or invasion from abroad, entrusted the entire kingdom to Rome in his will. Sensing an opening, Tiberius claimed the gift for the people of Rome, using the Assembly to appropriate funding for his commission from Pergamum's vast treasury.
This aggressive intrusion on the Senate's financial and foreign policy prerogatives outraged the conservative elite, who began spreading rumors that the upstart tribune sought to make himself king. Tiberius hardly helped his case when, fearful of prosecution after leaving office, he declared he was running for an unprecedented second term. As tensions rose and intrigue swirled, he trumpeted an increasingly populist platform, promising the urban poor popular yet controversial reforms, including reductions in military service, the right of judicial appeal, and the extension of jury eligibility from the senators to the middle class equites.
IX. Rome-bo: First Blood 🩸
As election day dawned (with ominous portent), Tiberius approached a Forum that thronged with his supporters. His enemies in the Senate, however, had a plan. They had spent months whispering the threat of kingship -- a word so reviled in Roman memory that even the suggestion of it could spark a panic. When Tiberius signaled worry to his followers by touching his head, his enemies seized on it, claiming he was asking for a crown.
Leading the charge was Scipio Nasica, the Pontifex Maximus and one of Tiberius's fiercest opponents. Declaring that the Republic was under threat, Nasica and a band of senators and clients stormed the Forum, armed with slats of wooden benches they ripped from the ground. What followed was a bloody fracas: Tiberius, unarmed and vastly outnumbered, tried to flee... but was cornered and beaten to death along with nearly 300 of his supporters, their bodies were tossed into the Tiber. This was a deliberate desecration, and a message: not even death could guarantee him the dignity of Roman custom.
This was no ordinary political assassination. Not only was it a flagrant violation of tribunal sacrosanctity, it was the first time in centuries that mob violence had been used to resolve a political dispute within the city of Rome. The Rubicon had not yet been crossed, but the Forum was now awash in blood.
X. Gracchus the Younger 👦
Young Gaius Gracchus, ten years his brother's junior, had watched Tiberius's murder from the sidelines, helpless. A decade later, he finally stepped into the political arena as a storm of righteous fury. Elected tribune in 123 BC, Gaius was even more of a populist firebrand than his brother -- where Tiberius had narrowly focused on land redistribution, Gaius went further, proposing sweeping measures that would reshape Roman society: a grain dole for the urban poor, judicial reforms to strip power from the Senate, new colonies abroad to relieve overcrowding in Rome (and boost his political constituency). He even dared to suggest extending Roman citizenship to loyal Italian allies, a move that even his fellow tribunes opposed (via xenophobic appeals).
Gaius had the crowds at his back politically (and the Senate at his back literally). He used his passionate oratory like a weapon, lashing out at the elite with blistering, toga-rending speeches that decried their corruption and greed. He was so popular that despite *not* standing for a second term like his brother, the public re-elected him by acclamation anyway. The patricians, stricken by the ferocity of his appeal, struggled to contain him at first. But if history had taught them anything, it was that the people's passions could be turned against them.
The Senate adopted a new strategy: divide and conquer. They induced one of Gaius's fellow tribunes, Livius Drusus, to propose reforms even more extravagant than Gaius's, knowing they would never really come to pass. The gambit worked: the plebs, dazzled by false promises, began to waver, and Gaius lost his bid for a third term.
XI. A Work of Mad Discord 🤬
Sensing weakness (and perhaps emboldened by their earlier taste of populist blood), the Senate went for the kill, declaring a senatus consultum ultimum and giving consul Lucius Opimius absolute authority to eliminate Gaius as a threat to the Republic.
Beseiged with his supporters on the Aventine Hill, Gaius prepared a last stand. The consul's forces stormed their temple; Gaius fled, dying soon after by suicide. His head, declared to be worth its weight in gold by his pursuers, was returned filled with lead by a greedy friend of his -- a thematically appropriate end for this betrayed enemy of corrupt wealth. His remaining followers were harrowed by a mass purge.
XII. Fallout đź“…
With the deaths of the Gracchi and their supporters, the Republic crossed some fateful lines. The law, once considered sacred, had become a pawn of the powerful, bent by populist zeal and broken to destroy it. The Senate's willingness to bludgeon its way out of reform was grim proof that the ruling elite cared more for their wealth and power than for the health and stability of the Republic. And after centuries of settling political disputes with debates and votes, violence was now clearly an option.
Improbably, the Lex Agraria survived the bloodshed; though the patricians endeavored to obstruct, it did distribute millions of iugera to landless farmers. Gaius's broader reforms, though, were unwound or unfulfilled; the Senate, triumphant, returned to business as usual. But the Republic was not the same.
The Gracchi exposed the fault line in Roman society: the yawning gulf between rich and poor. The plebeians, disillusioned with reform through peaceful means, would soon turn to charismatic strongmen who promised them bread and vengeance. First populist rabble-rousers like Saturninus and Clodius Pulcher and ambitious generals like Gaius Marius, Cornelius Sulla, and eventually Julius Caesar would violently exploit these divisions, leading to a series of civil wars that would ultimately destroy the Republic.
In the end, the Gracchi were not just reformers; they were the opening act in a sociopolitical tragedy that would play out over the next two centuries, a story of idealism and betrayal, courage and bloodshed, and an ailing republic that could not save itself from its own corruption. The Roman Forum would never again be the same -- nor would Rome.
BONUS (that's Latin, doncha know)
Tiberius Gracchus: A Study - a remarkably in-depth analysis of his political career and context
The 2006 BBC series Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire featured an entire hour-long episode aptly called "Revolution" dramatizing the life and death of Tiberius Gracchus (played by James D'Arcy)
YouTube channel Extra History produced a multi-part illustrated series on "The Brothers Gracchi":
How Republics Fall - Tiberius's early life through NumantiaMike Duncan, host of the acclaimed History of Rome podcast, wrote an entire book about the fascinating Late Republic period: The Storm Before the Storm:
Populares - Reform attempts, vetoes, and the removal of Octavius
Ochlocracy - Pergamum, re-election, and death
Enter Gaius - The rise of Gaius Gracchus
The Final Fall - Gaius's downfall
Lies - An addendum with more details, historical context, and what the story tells us about democracy and violence
In 146 BC, Rome finally emerged as the strongest power in the Mediterranean. But the very success of the Republic proved to be its undoing. The republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled: rising economic inequality disrupted traditional ways of life, endemic social and ethnic prejudice led to clashes over citizenship and voting rights, and rampant corruption and ruthless ambition sparked violent political clashes that cracked the once indestructible foundations of the Republic. Chronicling the years 146-78 BC, The Storm Before the Storm dives headlong into the first generation to face this treacherous new political environment. Abandoning the ancient principles of their forbearers, men like Marius, Sulla, and the Gracchi brothers set dangerous new precedents that would start the Republic on the road to destruction and provide a stark warning about what can happen to a civilization that has lost its way.Credit where it's due: most of this narrative is ultimately drawn from the chapter of Plutarch's Parallel Lives dedicated to the Gracchi, which you can read in full here: The Life of Tiberius Gracchus - The Life of Gaius Gracchus
For more ancient sources, the fabulously old-school Attalus.org Index of Names provides an exhaustive list of historical references for both Gracchi (#7 and #8 on that page), with all references linking straight to the original text.
Holy Roman Empire!
and I'm stuck at the laundromat for 45 minutes and 13% battery, damn.
fabulous.
posted by clavdivs at 1:46 PM on December 30 [10 favorites]
and I'm stuck at the laundromat for 45 minutes and 13% battery, damn.
fabulous.
posted by clavdivs at 1:46 PM on December 30 [10 favorites]
OK, this is a monster of a post... I guess that's my new year's eve sorted :-)
posted by Pendragon at 1:54 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 1:54 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
This is a bit thin.
posted by Lemkin at 2:20 PM on December 30 [17 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 2:20 PM on December 30 [17 favorites]
The "que" in the title is bugging me. Otherwise, wow!
posted by bigschmoove at 2:34 PM on December 30 [6 favorites]
posted by bigschmoove at 2:34 PM on December 30 [6 favorites]
OMMFG!!!! I have not clicked a single link yet but OMG!!! wow. I look forward to sinking my teeth in over the next few days when I don't have to work. shwing!!!! (long-term big fan of Tiberius Gracchus. the ignominy of being beaten to death by furniture.)
posted by supermedusa at 2:42 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 2:42 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
Wow! Amazing post! H. H. Scullard's From the Gracchi to Nero is an excellent modern complement to Plutarch. For those who are interested in the cultural and social phenomena of the time, Carlin Barton's Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (don't be deceived by the cheesy title and cover) addresses the weirdly outer-driven aspects of the Roman character (TL;DR: their primary social inhibitors were shame-driven rather than guilt-driven), and Shadi Bartsch's brilliant Actors in the Audience makes a compelling demonstration of how theatricality functioned in Roman public life after the fall of the Republic.
The Dialogus de Oratoribus by Tacitus (to which Bartsch devotes a chapter) has considerable relevance for our political rhetoric today, particularly with the situation of the delatores, professional accusers who were entitled to a portion of the estates of those who were put to death by the emperor upon being convicted of the (real or more often imagined or amplified) offenses laid out by the delatores.
posted by vitia at 2:46 PM on December 30 [5 favorites]
The Dialogus de Oratoribus by Tacitus (to which Bartsch devotes a chapter) has considerable relevance for our political rhetoric today, particularly with the situation of the delatores, professional accusers who were entitled to a portion of the estates of those who were put to death by the emperor upon being convicted of the (real or more often imagined or amplified) offenses laid out by the delatores.
posted by vitia at 2:46 PM on December 30 [5 favorites]
When I was a Latin student years ago, it was popular to compare the Gracchi to the Kennedys, JFK and RFK. Both a bit left of center, but upper-class and pro-establishment...and both assassinated.
posted by gimonca at 2:59 PM on December 30 [9 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 2:59 PM on December 30 [9 favorites]
Oh my god, this will take me forever to read, so I can’t even imagine how long it took you to put together. It’s incredible! I don’t know very much about Roman history, really, I never have been much of a fan. So outside of things like the HBO series Rome or the I, Claudius series and the movie Gladiator, that’s my Roman history sorted out. So this is wonderful!
posted by kitten kaboodle at 3:05 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
posted by kitten kaboodle at 3:05 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
Where should I start? I've no clue.
posted by Czjewel at 3:09 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Czjewel at 3:09 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
Where should I start? I've no clue.
Once upon a time, there were two brothers raised by wolves…
posted by notoriety public at 3:13 PM on December 30 [17 favorites]
Once upon a time, there were two brothers raised by wolves…
posted by notoriety public at 3:13 PM on December 30 [17 favorites]
What the fuck, Rhaomi? Now we know what you’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks.
posted by ashbury at 3:23 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
posted by ashbury at 3:23 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
I inhaled The Storm Before The Storm since it filled in so much missing knowledge for me, and was so darn useful to see today’s political dysfunction so present in these “primitive” if not primordial political associations.
The main takeaway for me was once basic civitas is lost, it’s hard to get it back.
Japan’s murderous fall into a military police state in the 1930s was another example from history.
posted by torokunai2 at 3:25 PM on December 30 [4 favorites]
The main takeaway for me was once basic civitas is lost, it’s hard to get it back.
Japan’s murderous fall into a military police state in the 1930s was another example from history.
posted by torokunai2 at 3:25 PM on December 30 [4 favorites]
Yeah, I don't think about the Roman Empire very often, unless I am playing a game about the Roman Empire. Hannibal. Time of Crisis, C&C Ancients, or The Republic of Rome, or Hands in the Sea...
An amazing post
posted by Windopaene at 3:28 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
An amazing post
posted by Windopaene at 3:28 PM on December 30 [3 favorites]
Tangentially related: the Tom Hiddleston version of Coriolanus was really good.
posted by Lemkin at 3:31 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Lemkin at 3:31 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
Holy. Cow.
I guess I'll start with the little toe of the elephant because this is going to take a while.
posted by BlueHorse at 3:58 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
I guess I'll start with the little toe of the elephant because this is going to take a while.
posted by BlueHorse at 3:58 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
Dammit, Rhaomi. I saw the FPP, I know your handle origin, came in to make the "eponysterical" comment and you'd even included THAT in the post. :)
This is amazing, a period of history I wish I knew better, and now I have a road map. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 4:05 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
This is amazing, a period of history I wish I knew better, and now I have a road map. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 4:05 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
Truly epic post. Way to go Rhaomi. Bravo! Bravo!
When I went back to college late in my 20's, one of the things I was most interested in was ancient history. I was fortunate enough to be assigned Plutarch's Lives. From the Gracchi to Marius and Sulla is quite the ride. This is a wonderful treatment of the (sadly) most hopeful parts of that arc.
Some years later I read Tacitus' Annals of Imperial Rome for my own enjoyment, and much recommend it to anyone interested in where the story goes from here -- that dude could really write.
It really is amazing how relevant Roman history and politics feels to our own time.
posted by Smedly, Butlerian jihadi at 4:45 PM on December 30 [8 favorites]
When I went back to college late in my 20's, one of the things I was most interested in was ancient history. I was fortunate enough to be assigned Plutarch's Lives. From the Gracchi to Marius and Sulla is quite the ride. This is a wonderful treatment of the (sadly) most hopeful parts of that arc.
Some years later I read Tacitus' Annals of Imperial Rome for my own enjoyment, and much recommend it to anyone interested in where the story goes from here -- that dude could really write.
It really is amazing how relevant Roman history and politics feels to our own time.
posted by Smedly, Butlerian jihadi at 4:45 PM on December 30 [8 favorites]
Tabellariae Leges
lex Gabinia tabellaria.
"The first ballot law (the lex Gabinia tabellaria) was introduced in 139 BC for the election of magistrates by the tribune Aulus Gabinius,[ whom Cicero called "an unknown and sordid agitator". The law mandated a secret ballot for the election of magistrates in all assemblies."
Lex Cassia Tabellaria (137 c.e.)
"The second law was introduced by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla in 137 BC. It extended the secret ballot for trials in the popular assembly. It mandated the secret ballot for judicial votes, with the exception of cases on treason." (Ibid)
posted by clavdivs at 4:56 PM on December 30
lex Gabinia tabellaria.
"The first ballot law (the lex Gabinia tabellaria) was introduced in 139 BC for the election of magistrates by the tribune Aulus Gabinius,[ whom Cicero called "an unknown and sordid agitator". The law mandated a secret ballot for the election of magistrates in all assemblies."
Lex Cassia Tabellaria (137 c.e.)
"The second law was introduced by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla in 137 BC. It extended the secret ballot for trials in the popular assembly. It mandated the secret ballot for judicial votes, with the exception of cases on treason." (Ibid)
posted by clavdivs at 4:56 PM on December 30
clavdivs: "Holy Roman Empire!"
I figured you'd like this, lol. I am honored to have you leave the first comment (and favorite)!
bigschmoove: "The "que" in the title is bugging me"
DAMNATIO. My old Latin teacher would be so disappointed.
Czjewel: "Where should I start? I've no clue."
I took a different approach to this FPP than usual -- started by writing out the narrative, then filled it out with links afterward. So in a sense the story itself is the main draw, and you can click any linked phrase as you go to get an article or a video expanding on the topic. If you're pressed for time, the single link above the fold is the best general overview of the man, and conveniently available as a video or as a text transcript.
ashbury: "What the fuck, Rhaomi? Now we know what you’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks."
Ha, no -- I've generally been occupied with holidays and MFC stuff. This has been mostly-complete but languishing in my drafts folder for a few years at this point -- just needed the last section and a pass to update+add more links.
Smedly, Butlerian jihadi: "When I went back to college late in my 20's, one of the things I was most interested in was ancient history. I was fortunate enough to be assigned Plutarch's Lives. From the Gracchi to Marius and Sulla is quite the ride. This is a wonderful treatment of the (sadly) most hopeful parts of that arc."
It's tragic that there was a whole section of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita about the Gracchi that remains lost.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:33 PM on December 30 [10 favorites]
I figured you'd like this, lol. I am honored to have you leave the first comment (and favorite)!
bigschmoove: "The "que" in the title is bugging me"
DAMNATIO. My old Latin teacher would be so disappointed.
Czjewel: "Where should I start? I've no clue."
I took a different approach to this FPP than usual -- started by writing out the narrative, then filled it out with links afterward. So in a sense the story itself is the main draw, and you can click any linked phrase as you go to get an article or a video expanding on the topic. If you're pressed for time, the single link above the fold is the best general overview of the man, and conveniently available as a video or as a text transcript.
ashbury: "What the fuck, Rhaomi? Now we know what you’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks."
Ha, no -- I've generally been occupied with holidays and MFC stuff. This has been mostly-complete but languishing in my drafts folder for a few years at this point -- just needed the last section and a pass to update+add more links.
Smedly, Butlerian jihadi: "When I went back to college late in my 20's, one of the things I was most interested in was ancient history. I was fortunate enough to be assigned Plutarch's Lives. From the Gracchi to Marius and Sulla is quite the ride. This is a wonderful treatment of the (sadly) most hopeful parts of that arc."
It's tragic that there was a whole section of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita about the Gracchi that remains lost.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:33 PM on December 30 [10 favorites]
Wow. I’d love to do the same with a post about how “democracy” in Ancient Greece starts with Solon and then Cleisthenes recognizing that Athens could not survive if the rich continued to drive poor people into debt and slavery.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 8:04 PM on December 30 [6 favorites]
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 8:04 PM on December 30 [6 favorites]
Outstanding post.
History has always been a pet subject of mine, and Roman history in particular was a favorite. That first History class in college was so eye-opening. I distinctly remember the train of thought leading to thinking that the Romans weren't all that different than us.
They went from statues and busts and incredible stories to people. People I could sympathize with, whose methods I could visualize, whose logic I could follow. I was all of nineteen at the time, but history class in my high school wasn't very good. Maybe it's trite, but that feeling was the beginning of my love for history. Thanks for this.
soooo many tags... mmmmmm... tags...
posted by Sphinx at 9:31 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
History has always been a pet subject of mine, and Roman history in particular was a favorite. That first History class in college was so eye-opening. I distinctly remember the train of thought leading to thinking that the Romans weren't all that different than us.
They went from statues and busts and incredible stories to people. People I could sympathize with, whose methods I could visualize, whose logic I could follow. I was all of nineteen at the time, but history class in my high school wasn't very good. Maybe it's trite, but that feeling was the beginning of my love for history. Thanks for this.
soooo many tags... mmmmmm... tags...
posted by Sphinx at 9:31 PM on December 30 [2 favorites]
This is so great. Also, yes, I immediately thought about "How much do you think about Rome?" ha! (I asked my husband this question, and he was like, pretty much not at all, because I'm Greek, and think about ancient Greece. lol! Kind of what I figured ... and we live amid ancient ruins and see them every day ... but I figured I'd ask, just in case!)
posted by taz at 11:57 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
posted by taz at 11:57 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]
Only a few days later, on that cold Roman morning, a violent mob rallied to take Tiberius Gracchus life. In the chaos of the riot, there was nowhere for Tiberius Gracchus to run. He was struck dead by the very people he had lived to protect. The next morning, Tiberius Gracchus’ lifeless body floated down the Tiber, a casualty of mob violence.No good deed goes unpunished.
posted by flabdablet at 1:07 AM on December 31 [3 favorites]
Mod note: [Salve, friends! Naturally, we've added this to the sidebar and Best Of blog. Respect, Rhaomi!]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:42 AM on December 31 [6 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:42 AM on December 31 [6 favorites]
Wikipedia has a fairly decent write-up on optimates and populares, covering both the political tendencies of the time, and the ways that more recent historians have interpreted the Roman situation or projected their own ideas onto the past.
posted by gimonca at 5:49 AM on December 31 [1 favorite]
posted by gimonca at 5:49 AM on December 31 [1 favorite]
"This all sounds depressingly familiar," as Derek Jacobi's Claudius said to the Sibyl.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:51 PM on December 31 [3 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:51 PM on December 31 [3 favorites]
As a Roman rhetoric geek, I enjoyed the narrative and am still digging into the links, and I continue to be fascinated by slides into autocracy (although I understand such slides are much nicer when viewed from a distance). The Romans, with their fear of kings, were generally more worried than the Greeks about rhetoric's capacity "to make the worse case/cause appear the better"—and/yet the court rhetorician Quintilian, tutor to the despot's nephews during Domitian's reign of terror, famously declared that the public speaker must be a vir bonus dicendi peritus or "good man speaking well," a phrase he borrowed from Cato the Elder, the advocate for genocide mentioned above. And with a shame-driven patriarchal military conservative agrarian republic/empire, there are plenty of reasons US historians and pundits love to reference, interpret, and project onto Rome, as gimonca mentions—the Ancients were weird, but in some really familiar ways.
For USians seeking some pre-1/20/25 imperial horrorshow reading, the Annals and Histories by Tacitus are worth a look—that's some sharp, smart, critique disguised as history.
posted by vitia at 4:36 PM on December 31 [2 favorites]
For USians seeking some pre-1/20/25 imperial horrorshow reading, the Annals and Histories by Tacitus are worth a look—that's some sharp, smart, critique disguised as history.
posted by vitia at 4:36 PM on December 31 [2 favorites]
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posted by Rhaomi at 1:44 PM on December 30 [36 favorites]