Salvete omnes


The Reform Movement associated with the Gracchi really began a generation or two earlier. At that time it was Scipio Africanus the Elder, grandfather of the Gracchi, who proposed reforms to the Senate. But he was opposed by Cato the Elder and then tribunus plebis Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the Elder, father of the Gracchi brothers. In spite of their political differences, or perhaps because of them, Scipio offered Sempronius his daughter in marriage. The senior Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus went on to become consul in 177 and 163 BCE. In the years in between he had also served as censor in 169. While an elderly man, he married the young Cornelia, the daughter of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Elder. The marriage resulted in several children, but only three reached maturity, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (163-133 BCE) and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (154-122 BCE) and their sister Sempronia. At the death of the elder Tiberius, Cornelia, still a young woman, took charge of the education of her three remaining children. Part of the boys education was in the circle of Publius Cornelius Aemilianus Scipio Africanus the Younger (184-129 BCE). Scipio Africanus the Younger was the son of L. Aemilius Paullus (consul 182, 168 BCE; censor of 164 BCE), who was the victor over Perseus at Pydna in the Third Macedonian War. Scipio Africanus the Elder was married to Aemilia, sister of Paullus. His son, also P. Cornelius Scipio, adopted Paullus' son, who thereafter became P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, known in history as Scipio Africanus the Younger. Scipio Africanus was thus the adopted nephew of Cornelia, and later married her daughter Sempronia. When Scipio Aemilianus Africanus served as consul in 146 and besieged Carthage in the final Punic War, a junior officer under his command was his 18 year old nephew, the younger Tiberius Gracchus. It was in fact the younger Tiberius who first scaled the walls of Carthage in the final assault. In later years the Optimates posed that the hero of the final assault was Fannius, but Fannius himself wrote that it was Tiberius Gracchus who led the assault, and that he merely climbed beside Tiberius "to share in the achievement." Scipio Aemilianus Africanus first looked after his nephew Tiberius Gracchus as a surrogate father, then as his commanding officer, later to become Tiberius' brother-in-law and his political mentor. In 134 Scipio Africanus was again elected consul. Tiberius, as a family member and protege, was a member of the consul's consilium. He ran for tribunus plebis, taking office 10 Dec 134, with the approval and support of Scipio Africanus and others in the Scipio circle; they also lending support for the proposed land reform. At that time a peace treaty made in 137 by Mancinus and the city of Numatia in Spain, a treaty primarily negotiated by Tiberius Gracchus, had been rejected by the Senate, and Scipio Africanus was being sent to continue the Numatian war. He defeated Numatia in 133, but did not return to Rome until after the murder of Tiberius Gracchus.

Aemilianus Scipio Africanus served as consul in 146, censor in 142, and again as consul in 134. As consul in 146 he proposed a distribution of the ager publici. His colleague, Quintus Caecilius Metellus, who defeated Philip Andriscus in the Fourth Macedonian War (149-6 BCE), held similar views. Scipio Africanus however withdrew his proposal when it met resistance in the Senate. What he needed to move the measure forward was a consensus among the whole Senate, not simply a majority. The fact that he could gain a consensus does not mean, however, that he did not have the support of a majority in the Senate. Most outspoken for the land reform in Scipio's circle of friends was Appius Claudius (consul of 143, later censor in 139 BCE), who, according to Plutarch, also "was now the head of the Roman Senate," the principes senatus. Appius Claudius was very much opposed to withdrawal of the proposal simply for the lack of a consensus, indicating that Aemilianus probably had the support of the majority opinion of the Senate. Appius Claudius was also the father-in-law of Tiberius Gracchus. He would later serve on the commission that oversaw the Gracchan land distribution. Others in Scipio's circle of friends, his amicitas, were Publius Mucius Scaevola (consul 133), known as "the Jurist" (father of Q. Mucius Scaevola the Priest) and his brother Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus (consul 131), later to become Pontifex Maximus. Both brothers likewise strongly supported the Gracchi in the events that followed. Mucianus later became Gaius Gracchus' father-in-law. Both Mucius Scaevola and his brother Mucianus pressed Scipio Aemilianus Africanus to push forward the land reform. Scipio Africanus' political mentor was Gaius Laelius, who as praetor in 143 opposed the bill put forward by G. Crassus for the election of pontiffs. (That reform did not come in until the Lex Domitia of 104.) Laelius became consul in 140 and again proposed the distribution of the ager publici that the amicitas of Aemilianus strongly supported. Again the proposal met resistance in the Senate and was withdrawn, earning Laelius the honorific of Sapiens. While unsuccessful in the land reform, the support of these men gained approval of the Lex Gabinia in 139 that provided for the election of magistrates by secret ballot. And it was only through the support of Scipio Africanus that in 137 the Lex Cassia gained passage, providing for the use of secret ballots in public tribunals. Throughout the Gracchian years this amicitas continued to support reforms, including those of the Gracchi.

Besides their close political association as the reform wing of the Senate, Scipio's amicitas had other personal connections. Counted among Scipio Africanus' personal friends were Terence, Lucilius, Polybius, and the Stoic philosopher Panaetius of Rhodes. Gaius Laelius Sapiens had studied under Panaetius and Diogenes of Babylon. He was a distinguished orator, known for his pure Latin, and believed by some to have been the true author of Terence's comedies. Laelius is the subject of Cicero's On Friendship. Other pupils of Panaetius would be Scipio Aemilianus' nephew Quintus Aelius Tubero (consul 118), Lucius Furius Philus (consul in 138 who succeeded Mancinus and was defeated in Spain), Gaius Fannius (consul in 122 when Gaius Gracchus was murdered, and son-in-law of G. Laelius), and Publius Rutilius Rufus (consul 105 BCE). All of these pupils of Panaetius appear alongside Scipio Aemilius Africanus as characters in Cicero's De Re Publica. Another character in Cicero's dialogue is his teacher Quintus Mucius Scaevola the Augur (consul 117), first cousin to Mucius Scavola the Jurist and another son-in-law of Gaius Laelius. Cicero himself was familiar with the work of Panaetius and followed him closely in On Duties.

When we speak of Tiberius Gracchus the tribunus plebis of 134 and 133 his social connections should be born in mind. He was himself a nobilis, being the son of a consul. And he was a military hero, having achieved one of the highest honors for having scaled the walls of Carthage. Although a plebeian, his mother was a patrician, and not just any patrician but the daughter of Scipio Aficanus, and he himself was married to the patrician Claudia, daughter of the leading man of Rome at the time. As a member of the amicitas of Aemilianus he would naturally have sought their advice on whether to run for the office of tribunus plebis and their advice on any legislation he might propose. As tribunus plebis he would have his own consilium, including members of his family. In that it is important to recall that Tiberius Gracchus had for his consilium not just any politicians in Rome, but the very leaders of the Roman Senate, beginning with the principes senatus as his father-in-law and a good portion of the nobiles of his time. It is also important to recall that his proposals were the very same as these nobiles had previously posed in the Senate. Thwarted in the Senate, the amicitas of Aemilianus must therefore have urged Tiberius Gracchus to take the measures directly to the people. The origin of the Gracchan reform movement cannot, therefore, be seen as some historians have tried to paint it as a movement from the lower reaches of Roman society, but rather one that originated in the very highest ranks of Roman society. In the final analysis, too, the Gracchan reforms cannot be seen as intended to benefit the lowest reaches of Roman society, or even the aedui who provided the legions with its manpower. If a revolution as some modern historians have characterized it, the Gracchan reform movement was one instigated by, directed by, and implemented by the very elite of Roman society. That leaves open for now who were the intended beneficiaries of the reforms, who actually benefited by them, and who then opposed the Gracchan reforms?