BOOK Proposals Drusus. ness, and told them that it would be an intolerable wrong to allow multitudes of Italians to invade Rome, to fill the streets, and to oust the genuine citizens from the places which by immemorial right belonged to them. C. Fannius was a moderate politician, and actually owed his election to the consulship to the warm recommendation of C. Gracchus. Nevertheless he vehemently opposed his bill, and went even so far that before it was put to the vote, he ordered all non-citizens to leave the city, lest their presence should exercise an undue pressure on the decision of the comitia. Even one of the colleagues of C. Gracchus, Livius Drusus, joined in the opposition, and threatened to prevent the voting by his tribunician intercession. The situation of C. Gracchus was so critical that he shrank from the extreme measure which his brother Tiberius had employed of threatening his colleague with deposition from his office by a popular vote. His motion was either withdrawn or negatived. It was an ominous warning for him that his popularity was waning. He might have seen that the popular government which he attempted to realise was wanting in that foundation which was its essential condition, an enlightened and independent Roman people, wise and generous enough to undertake those duties of government which the nobility had, however imperfectly, discharged hitherto with firmness and dignity. The short-sightedness and waywardness of the Roman people were, immediately after the failure of C. Gracchus, made still more apparent by a new stratagem adopted by the nobility. Their plan was to supplant C. Gracchus by outbidding him in popular measures. The tribune Livius Drusus, one of the colleagues of Gracchus, lent himself to this insidious manoeuvre.3 He came forward with a 1 Plutarch, C. Gracchus, 12 Appian, Bell. Civ. i. 23. 2 Flutarch, C. Gracchus, 8: ἡ δὲ βουλὴ δείσασα μὴ παντάπασιν ἄμαχος γένηται καινὴν καὶ ἀσυνήθη πεῖραν ἐπῆγε τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀποτροπῆς ἀντιδημαγωγοῦσα καὶ χαριζομένη παρὰ τὸ βέλτιστον. 3 C. Gracchus, 9 : ἐπιδοὺς οὖν ὁ Λίβιος εἰς ταῦτα τῇ βουλῇ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δημαρ far more comprehensive plan of colonisation, by which the whole mass of the impoverished population was to be supplied with the means of rising to an easy competence. Twelve new colonies were to be established, not in a distant province, like the colony of Gracchus in Africa, but in Italy, each to consist of three thousand settlers. The lands to be given to these were to be free from two restrictions which made the assignments of Gracchus distasteful. They were to enjoy an immunity of taxation, and the new owners were to be at liberty to dispose of them by sale or transfer. In order to make at the same time some concession to the Latins, which should cost the Roman citizens nothing, Drusus proposed that in future Latins serving in the legions should no longer be subject to be beaten with rods by Roman officers. CHAP. VI. the senate for coun teracting the popularity of It was evident to all who were not blinded by cupidity Scheme of that the plan of Drusus was intended only to serve the tactics of the moment, and could not be carried into execution. There was no land in Italy at the disposal of the government for twelve colonies of three thousand settlers Gracchus. each. But the prospect was so alluring that it suddenly cast into the shade all that C. Gracchus proposed to do for the people, and brought about an immediate change in the disposition of the fickle multitude. C. Gracchus happened just at that time to be in Africa, occupied with the organization of the colony of Junonia, on the site of Carthage, when the magnificent scheme of Drusus was brought out. On his return, after an absence of only sixty days, he found his popularity so much reduced that he deemed it necessary to make new efforts for securing his hold on the people. He left his dwelling-house on the Palatine, the quarter inhabited chiefly by the nobles, and took up his abode in the neighbourhood of the forum, where he was in proximity to the poorer citizens. On one occasion, when public games were about to be exhibited, and stands were being erected, which according to the usual practice χίαν νόμους ἔγραψεν οὔτε τῶν καλῶν τινος οὔτε τῶν λυσιτελῶν ἐχομένους, ἀλλὰ ἓν μόνον, ὑπερβαλέσθαι τὸν Γάϊον ἡδονῇ καὶ χάριτι τῶν πολλῶν. BOOK were to be let for money to those who could afford to pay, he requested the ædiles to desist from these preparations, which were calculated to take up a great deal of space, and to prevent a number of poor people from seeing the games. Upon the refusal of the ædiles he employed workmen to remove the stands on the evening before the festival, levelled the whole ground, and thus by a sort of coup de main enforced an equality of rights between the rich and the poor. By such a violent stretch of his tribunician authority Gracchus may have gained the applause of the populace, but he evidently did not carry with him the majority of the people, or the nobility succeeded by the means of direct and indirect corruption in alienating the people from him, for he failed in obtaining his re-election for a third year of the tribuneship (121 B.C.), whilst the consuls elect for that year were leading men of the aristocratic party, Q. Fabius Maximus and Lucius Opimius, the destroyer of Fregellæ,' who had been successfully opposed by C. Gracchus the year before in his attempt to obtain the consular office.2 Opposition The reaction against C. Gracchus and his reforms set to the new in with full force, and it soon became apparent how uncolony of Carthage. stable was that popular will which C. Gracchus had wished to make the supreme arbiter of the government. One of the first measures of the new administration was a law proposed by the tribune Minucius for stopping proceedings in the organization of the colony of Junonia or Carthage, which was then going on. On the pretext that after the destruction of Carthage the soil had been cursed for all times, that therefore it would be an act of impiety 1 Above, p. 422. 2 According to Plutarch, C. Gracchus, 12, the tribune presiding at the elections, assisted by his colleagues, falsified the returns to the prejudice of C. Gracchus: ψήφων μὲν αὐτῷ πλείστων γενομένων, ἀδίκως δὲ καὶ κακούργως τῶν συναρχόντων ποιησαμένων τὴν ἀναγόρευσιν καὶ ἀνάδειξιν. Yet Plutarch adds: ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἀμφισβήτησιν ἔχει. It is not probable that if there had been a decisive majority in favour of C. Gracchus, his opponents would have dared to put forth, or his friends submitted to, a forgery. to establish on it a community of Roman citizens, and on the reports coming from Africa that the new-set boundary stones and the measuring poles of the surveyors were torn out of the ground by wild beasts and carried away, the silly populace in Rome was expected to repeal the law which it had passed the year before. It is possible that religious scruples may have had some share in alarming weak minds, but a far more solid arguiment for giving up the colonisation of Africa was no doubt to be found in the prospect held out by the plan of Drusus to establish colonies in Italy. The enemies of Gracchus had accordingly a fair prospect of success. CHAP. VI. the death of Antil The sending out of a colony to Africa was not one of Tumult on the fundamental or essential parts of his scheme of reform. It had not even been proposed by Gracchus him- lius. self, but by his colleague Rubrius. Nevertheless it was clear that if this outwork of the democratic party were successfully attacked, the whole stronghold would be carried by successive assaults. C. Gracchus, therefore, and his friends were determined to offer the stoutest resistance. On the morning of the day fixed for taking the vote of the tribes, Flaccus harangued the people assembled on the Capitol, and C. Gracchus awaiting the issue of events was walking up and down along one side of the open place, when Antillius, a servant of the consul, advanced towards him from the direction of the temple of Jupiter, where the consul had just been sacrificing. He was carrying in his hands the entrails of the slaughtered animal, and imperiously called upon the people to make room for him. In his insolence he threatened, or seemed to threaten, C. Gracchus himself. A cry was raised that the latter was in danger. Some of his partisans rushed upon Antillius and killed him with daggers, or, according to another report, with writing-stiles. C. Gracchus 1 The reports of Plutarch (C. Gracchus, 13), and of Appian (Bell. Civ. i. 25), vary so much in detail that they cannot be brought into harmony. But in the end it makes very little difference whether Antillius was one of the consul's servants (according to Plutarch), or a common plebeian (Appian); whether he behaved with insolence to the people (Plutarch), or implored C. BOOK Seizure of the Aventine. could neither prevent the rash deed nor pacify the excited multitude. He attempted to address the people, and, in doing so, interrupted unintentionally one of his colleagues who was already speaking. Great altercation ensued. The enemies of C. Gracchus charged him with violating the sacred rights of the tribunician office. The disorder and confusion were so great that the election could not be proceeded with, and as, soon after, it began to rain, the people dispersed to their homes. C. Gracchus, accompanied by his friends, retired to his dwelling near the forum, where a body of his adherents kept watch all night, to beat off, if necessary, any sudden attack. Flaccus and a band of roughs spent the night in wild revelry, and when morning dawned he had fallen into such a profound sleep that it was difficult to rouse him. The consul Opimius was on the alert during the night in the temple of Castor and Pollux, adjoining the forum. He caused a body of armed men to take possession of the Capitol, and, when the morning had come, called a meeting of the senate. By his orders the body of the murdered Antillius was brought before the assembled senators, and amidst the general indignation produced by this sight it was resolved that the consul should take the necessary measures for the safety of the republic.1 Meanwhile Fulvius Flaccus had slept off the fumes of wine and had marched off with a body of his followers to take possession of the Aventine hill, the original plebeian quarter of the old city, and the locality to which the plebs had retired in the second secession. He had armed his Gracchus to have pity upon his country (Appian); whether he was killed with writing-stiles (Plutarch), or a dagger (Appian). Both writers agree in the main points, that the popular assembly convened on the Capitol was disturbed by the adherents of Gracchus, that a man was murdered by them, and that thereupon the people dispersed. 1 Cicero, Philipp. viii. 4, 13: uti L. Opimius consul rem publicam defenderet. Catil. i. 2, 4: decrevit quondam senatus, ut L. Opimius consul videret, ne quid res publica detrimenti caperet. It seems that the former of the two formulæ is the older. 2 Cic. de. Rep. ii. 37. It is probable that Fulvius was prevented from occupying the Capitol by the consul's previous occupation of that hill. |