IV. EPOCH OF THE CIVIL WARS, 146-31 B. C.
IV. EPOCH OF THE CIVIL WARS, 146-31 B. C.—The fourth period extends from the capture of Carthage and Corinth to the establishment of the Imperial Government by the battle of Actium, B. C. 31. During this whole time the Roman history is a continued tale of domestic disturbances. From the fall of Carthage to the battle of Actium, it presents but a melancholy picture, a blood-stained record of sedition, conspiracy, and civil war.
A number of causes had resulted in the growth of an aristocracy founded purely on wealth; the old division of society into patricians and plebeians had ceased, and there arose a still worse division into classes,—the rich and the poor.
THE GRACCHI ESPOUSE THE
CAUSE OF THE POOR
The cause of the poor against the rich was taken up by a noble young tribune of the people named Tiberius Gracchus. Tiberius and his afterwards distinguished younger brother Caius (the two being known in history as the Gracchi) were sons of a noble Roman matron, Cornelia, daughter of the great Scipio Africanus.
Tiberius Gracchus proposed a land-law (agrarian law), which would limit the amount of public land that could be held by any one individual and provided for the distribution of the rest in small homesteads. The aristocracy immediately raised a storm, and induced another tribune to veto the measure. Now, according to the Roman code, no proposal could become law unless all the tribunes were unanimous. Gracchus then secured a popular vote expelling his colleague from the tribuneship, and the land-law was passed by the people, 133 B. C. In the meantime, however, Gracchus’s year of office expired, and he came up for re-election. The nobles resolved to prevent this by violence.
MURDER OF THE TRIBUNE,
TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
Gracchus, learning this, bade his friends arm themselves with staves; and when the people began to inquire the cause of this, he put his hand to his head, intimating that his life was in danger. Some of his enemies ran to the senate and reported that Tiberius openly demanded a crown. A body of the aristocrats with their clients and dependents then rushed among the unarmed crowd, and murdered Gracchus with three hundred of his adherents,—133 B. C.
Tiberius Gracchus was dead, but his work remained; that is to say, the measure which he had proposed was law, and the commissioners intrusted with the task of allotting the lands prosecuted their labors for two or three years. The nobles, however, obstructed the work as much as possible, so that between them and the champions of the people there was a continuous struggle.
THE STRUGGLES AND DEATH OF THE
YOUNGER GRACCHUS