BOOK Mis chievous nature of the law. tice of men of great wealth to exhibit their liberality on festive occasions by distributions of corn, meat, oil, and the like on a large scale. This practice was fraught with far more danger to the public morality of the recipients, for it was not justified as a measure of relief in general distress. It was, in truth, a covert act of bribery, and intended to secure to the liberal donors the high offices of state to which they aspired. The proposal of C. Gracchus was a bribe on the largest scale, and a measure which could not fail to make paupers of the great mass of hitherto independent, self-supporting citizens. What had formerly been an occasional gratuity he proposed to make a regular periodical allowance. It was a measure in the spirit of Greek democracy, in which we may perhaps trace the effect of the doctrines instilled into the youthful Gracchus by his Greek teachers and by the study of Greek philosophers and historians. He wished to pay the Roman people for the labour they took upon themselves in the government and defence of the state by the proceeds which the conquests of the state yielded, just as the citizens of Athens had been paid for attending to their legislative and judicial duties. No doubt he thought it fair that the poor people should have a share in these profits from the provinces, which had hitherto gone to swell only the enormous wealth of the great families. Perhaps he thought to moderate the influence which these families possessed by making the common people to some extent independent of them. Of course he knew that they would become only the more dependent on their leaders. But he did not scruple to secure for himself by an apparent liberality the votes of the city population, as with their assistance only he could hope to carry equally liberal and, as he thought, beneficial measures for the relief of the impoverished peasantry and for the Latin and other Italian allies. We have no hesitation in calling the frumentarian law of C. Gracchus one of the worst measures ever proposed by a well-meaning statesman. It is needless to say that if it was intended to secure the economical and political independence of the town population, it entirely failed. On the contrary, it contributed to accelerate that process of deterioration which was making of the people of Rome an abject and contemptible mob, without self-respect, patriotism, and courage, bent only on procuring food and amusements without the trouble of working. In addition to the attractions which every large town offers, and which Rome in particular possessed as the seat of government, as the place of meeting for all legislative assemblies, the scene of innumerable shows, triumphs, games, the capital now acquired, for all the idlers in the Italian towns and villages who could boast of the Roman franchise, the new and potent charm that residence in it was a title to support by the state. The resources of the republic, vast as they were, could not supply the increasing demands on the public treasury, and the public finances, badly managed at the best of times and under the most favourable circumstances, were threatened with hopeless disorder. CHAP. VI. of the The objections to the frumentarian law of C. Gracchus Opposition were clearly seen and vehemently urged by the optimates, nobles. who moreover felt that the law was in the hands of Gracchus a powerful engine for his further schemes of reform.1 They did not fail to point out the weighty financial and other complications to which it would inevitably lead. But arguments are unavailing for snatching from a wild beast the prey which it has clutched. The sovereign people found it natural and equitable, as their leaders told them, to use their sovereign rights for 1 Calpurnius Piso, the author of the lex Calpurnia of 149 B.C., one of the most honourable and distinguished men of the time, opposed the frumentarian law with great determination, but in vain. When the law was passed, he tried to discredit it by claiming to participate in the distribution of cheap corn, though, of course, he was not one of the poor, for whom the measure was intended. Cicero, Tuscul. iii. 20, 48. 2 No answer could be made to such objections as Cicero urges (p. Sest. 48, 103) Frumentariam legem C. Gracchus ferebat. Iucunda res plebi Romanæ ; victus enim suppeditabatur large sine labore. Repugnabant boni, quod et ab industria plebem ad desidiam avocari putabant et ærarium exhauriri videbatur. The narrative of Diodorus (xxxv. 25) sums up in a few bitter words the scope of the law: τὸ κοινὸν ταμιεῖον εἰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἀκαίρους δαπάνας καὶ χάριτας ἀναλίσκων εἰς ἑαυτὸν πάντας ἀποβλέπειν ἐποίησε. BOOK Re-enactment of the agrarian law of Ti. Gracchus. their own material benefit, and to devote the public money for their own daily sustenance without distressing themselves about the ways and means necessary for covering the ruinous expense. C. Gracchus, whilst casting on the public treasury obligations such as had never before been dreamt of, proclaimed himself its special guardian.' He bore down all opposition, organized the distribution of corn, and caused large magazines (the Sempronia horrea) to be built, where the supplies of grain required for the capital could be stored. The frumentarian law of C. Gracchus was in a certain way the appendage or complement of the agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus. The latter was enacted for the benefit of the peasantry chiefly, or at least of those citizens who were fit and willing to follow a peasant's occupation. The former, on the other hand, provided for the improved position of the town population. From this point of view C. Gracchus could easily justify his law. But, whilst giving relief to the proletarians of the city, he did not lose sight of the country population. The agrarian law of his brother was still formally intact; it had never been repealed or suspended. Caius set to work to overcome the obstructions with which the nobility had hampered its execution. This he did in genuine Roman fashion, by obtaining from the people another formal vote by which the law was re-enacted along with such additional clauses and improvements as experience had shown to be necessary. He probably again invested the land commissioners (triumviri agris dandis, iudicandis) with full power of giving final judicial decisions in all contested questions as to what lands were to be treated as private property or public domain. Without the right of deciding this preliminary question, the land commissioners were unable to proceed to the real business of their office. On the motion 2 1 Cicero, Tusc. iii. 20, 48: C. Gracchus cum largitiones maximas fecisset et effudisset ærarium, verbis tamen defendebat ærarium. Quid verba audiam, quum facta videam? . . . Lege orationes Gracchi; patronum ærarii esse dices. 2 Liv. 60. Plutarch, C. Gracch. 5. Velleius, ii. 6. of P. Scipio Emilianus this right, as we have seen,' had been taken away. It was therefore absolutely necessary for C. Gracchus now to restore it. CHAP. VI. new roads. The improvement of agriculture in Italy was dependent Provisions for making on the improvement and extension of roads; for without the means of transporting the produce of their fields to remunerative markets the new peasantry would soon have languished and decayed. Perhaps the frumentarian law itself contained provisions for the making of a number of new roads, or possibly a special law was passed (a lex viaria) for the purpose. The Romans had, it is true, already excellent roads, radiating from the capital to the south, east, and north of Italy. But these roads had been made from a military point of view, and could therefore but partially serve the purposes of trade. They were intended to bind together the far-stretching dominion of the republic, and to facilitate the movement of troops. It was necessary to open up the fertile districts by convenient roads. This work was undertaken by Gracchus himself with his own peculiar zeal and energy. We are surprised to hear that he could spare time to superintend the work himself, and to give attention to many points of detail, suggesting improvements which are praised as exceedingly ingenious. In the course of these great public works he employed a host of skilled artisans and labourers, who of course looked to him as their employer, and were no inconsiderable addition to the mass of citizens dependent on him for their improved social position. out new colonies for pur The next step in the great scheme for the improvement Proposal for sending of agriculture and of the condition of the agricultural population was the proposal for the establishment of new colonies. Up to this time the main object of the Roman colonies had been the defence of newly acquired territory. In a subordinate degree they also served the purpose of drawing off the surplus population from Rome, and pro 1 Above, p. 415. 2 Comp. Lange, Röm. Alterth. ii. p. 642, and Corpus Inscript. Lat. p. 79. Lex Agrar. 11, 12, 13. poses of agricul ture. BOOK VII. Provincial colonies with full Roman citizenship. viding poor citizens with allotments of land. C. Gracchus left the former object altogether out of view, and indeed the need of colonies in Italy specially for military defence seemed to be a thing of the past. The district where he desired to plant his colonies had been fully pacified and safe for many years. In Campania and Apulia Roman settlers could look forward to an undisturbed life amid the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and trade. He proposed to send settlers to Capua and Tarentum, where the state had extensive domains. But he went a step further. The feeling in Rome hitherto had been that Roman colonies should not be established beyond the confines of Italy. The idea of Romanising the provinces in order to assimilate them to Italy and to convert the outlying dependencies into living members of the enlarged community of Rome, this grand imperial idea had never yet been clearly conceived by a Roman statesman. C. Gracchus was its first originator. It was At his suggestion his colleague the tribune Rubrius proposed a law for the foundation of a colony in the province of Africa on the very site of Carthage, which had lain in ruins now for more than twenty years. decided that in this and all the other colonies Roman citizens and Italian allies should form the body of settlers, but that the distinction between them should cease, and that they should all have the right of Roman citizens.' Whereas in the Latin colonies it had hitherto been the practice to allow Roman citizens to take part in them only on condition of losing their superior Roman franchise and descending to the level of the Latins, Gracchus adopted the opposite principle of allowing the Latins to rise to a higher level and to become Roman citizens by taking part in the new settlement. He thereby opened to the Latins and Italians at least one road by which they could obtain that equality with the older and privileged citizens which they had deserved by many years of faithful service and loyal attachment. Plutarch, C. Gracch. 8. |