[63.4] cōnspectum . . . expetentēs: ‘craving a chance to see so great a man, as a sort of heaven-sent favor.’
[63.5] nē . . . gravārētur: the subjunctive is used here in indir. disc., as representing an imperative of the direct: H 642, 4 (523, III): M 1023: A 339: G 652: B 316.
[Text-only version] [XXII.] Tiberius Gracchus et Gāius Gracchus
Tiberius et Gāius Gracchī[6] Scīpiōnis Āfricānī[7] ex fīliā[8] nepōtēs
erant. Hōrum adulēscentia bonīs artibus et māgnā omnium spē
exācta est: ad ēgregiam enim indolem optima accēdēbat ēducātiō.
Erant enim dīligentiā Cornēliae mātris ā[1] puerīs doctī et Graecīs
[5] lītterīs[2] ērudītī. Māximum mātrōnīs ōrnāmentum esse līberōs
bene īnstitūtōs meritō putābat māter illa sapientissima. Cum
Campāna mātrōna, apud illam hospita,[3] ōrnāmenta sua, illō
saeculō[4] pulcherrima, ostentāret eī muliebriter,[5] Cornēlia trāxit
eam sermōne quoūsque[6] ē scholā redīrent līberī. Quōs reversōs
[10] hospitae ostendēns, “Haec” inquit “mea ōrnāmenta sunt.” Nihil[7]
quidem hīs adulēscentibus neque[7] ā nātūrā neque[7] ā doctrīnā
dēfuit; sed[8] ambō rem pūblicam, quam tuērī poterant, perturbāre
māluērunt.
Tiberius Gracchus, tribūnus plēbis creātus, ā senātū dēscīvit:
[15] populī favōrem profūsīs largītiōnibus sibi conciliāvit;
agrōs[9] plēbī dīvidēbat; prōvinciās novīs colōniīs[10]
replēbat. Cum autem tribūnīciam potestātem sibi prōrogārī[11] vellet
et palam dictitāsset,[1] interēmptō senātū omnia per plēbem agī
dēbēre, viam sibi ad rēgnum parāre vidēbātur. Quārē cum convocātī
[20] patrēs dēlīberārent quidnam faciendum esset, statim Tiberius
Capitōlium petit, manum ad caput referēns, quō sīgnō salūtem
suam populō commendābat. Hōc[2] nōbilitās ita accēpit, quasi
diadēma pōsceret, sēgniterque cessante cōnsule, Scīpiō Nāsīca,
cum[3] esset cōnsōbrīnus Tiberiī Gracchī, patriam cōgnātiōnī
[25] praeferēns sublātā dextrā prōclāmāvit: “Quī rem pūblicam salvam
esse volunt, mē sequantur!” Dein optimātēs, senātus atque
equestris[4] ōrdinis pars māior in Gracchum inruunt, quī fugiēns
dēcurrēnsque Clīvō Capitōlīnō frāgmentō subselliī īctus vītam,
quam glōriōsissimē dēgere[5] potuerat, immātūrā morte fīnīvit.
[30] Mortuī Tiberiī corpus in flūmen prōiectum est.
Gāium Gracchum īdem furor, quī frātrem, Tiberium, occupāvit.
Tribūnātum enim adeptus,[6] seu vindicandae frāternae necis,
seu comparandae rēgiae potentiae causā, pessima coepit inīre
cōnsilia: māximās largītiōnēs fēcit; aerārium[7] effūdit: lēgem dē
[35] frūmentō plēbī dīvidendō tulit: cīvitātem[8] omnibus Ītalicīs dabat.[9]
Hīs Gracchī cōnsiliīs quantā[10] poterant contentiōne obsistēbant
omnēs[1] bonī, in quibus māximē Pīsō,[2] vir cōnsulāris. Is
cum multa contrā lēgem frūmentāriam dīxisset, lēge tamen lātā
ad frūmentum cum cēterīs accipiendum vēnit. Gracchus ubi
[40] animadvertit in cōntiōne Pīsōnem stantem, eum sīc compellāvit
audiente populō Rōmānō: “Quī[3] tibi cōnstās, Pīsō, cum eā lēge
frūmentum petās, quam dissuāsistī?” Cuī Pīsō “Nōlim[4] quidem,
Gracche” inquit, “mea bona tibi[5] virītim dīvidere liceat;
sed sī faciēs, partem petam.” Quō respōnsō apertē dēclārāvit vir
[45] gravis et sapiēns lēge, quam tulerat Gracchus, patrimōnium pūblicum
dissipārī.
Dēcrētum ā senātū est ut[6] vidēret cōnsul Opīmius nē quid
dētrīmentī rēs pūblica caperet: quod nisi in māximō
discrīmine dēcernī nōn solēbat. Gāius Gracchus, armātā
[50] familiā,[7] Aventīnum occupāvit. Cōnsul, vocātō ad arma populō,
Gāium aggressus est, quī pulsus profūgit et, cum iam[8]
comprehenderētur, iugulum servō praebuit, quī dominum et mox sēmet
ipsum super dominī corpus interēmit. Ut Tiberiī Gracchī anteā
corpus, ita Gāiī mīrā crūdēlitāte victōrum in Tiberim dēiectum
[55] est. Caput autem ā Septimulēiō, amīcō Gracchī, ad Opīmium
relātum aurō[9] repēnsum fertur. Sunt[10] quī trādunt īnfūsō[11]
plumbō eum partem capitis, quō gravius efficerētur, explēsse.[12]
Occīsō Tiberiō Gracchō cum senātus cōnsulibus mandāsset, ut
in[1] eōs, quī cum Gracchō cōnsēnserant, animadverterētur, Blosius
[60] quīdam, Tiberiī amīcus, prō sē dēprecātum[2] vēnit, hanc, ut[3] sibi
īgnōscerētur, causam adferēns, quod tantī[4] Gracchum fēcisset,
ut, quidquid ille vellet, sibi faciendum putāret. Tum cōnsul
“Quid?” inquit “sī tē Gracchus templō Iovis in Capitōliō facēs
subdere iussisset,[5] obsecūtūrusne voluntātī illīus fuissēs[5]
[65] propter istam, quam iactās, familiāritātem?” “Numquam” inquit
Blosius “voluisset[5] id quidem,[6] sed sī voluisset,[5] pāruissem.[5]”
Nefāria est ea vōx, nūlla enim est excūsātiō peccātī, sī amīcī
causā peccāveris.
Exstat Gāiī Gracchī ē Sardiniā Rōmam reversī ōrātiō, in quā
[70] cum[7] alia tum[7] haec dē sē nārrat: “Versātus sum in prōvinciā,
quōmodo ex[8] ūsū vestrō exīstimābam esse, nōn quōmodo ambitiōnī
meae condūcere arbitrābar. Nēmō possit vērē dīcere assem[9]
