Part 35 (1/2)

We must not imagine, however, that all the changes in Roman life worked for evil. If the Romans were becoming more luxurious, they were likewise gaining in culture. The conquests which brought Rome in touch, first with Magna Graecia and Sicily, then with Greece itself and the h.e.l.lenic East, prepared the way for the entrance of h.e.l.lenism. Roman soldiers and traders carried back to Italy an acquaintance with Greek customs and ideas.

Thousands of cultivated Greeks, some as slaves, others as freemen, settled in the capital as actors, physicians, artists, and writers. There they introduced the Greek language, as well as the religion, literature, and art of their native land. Roman n.o.bles of the better type began to take an interest in other things than simply farming, commerce, or war. They imitated Greek fas.h.i.+ons in dress and manners, collected Greek books, and filled their homes with the productions of Greek artists. Henceforth every aspect of Roman society felt the quickening influence of the older, richer culture of the h.e.l.lenic world. It was a Roman poet who wrote, ”Captive Greece captured her conqueror rude.” [17]

60. THE GRACCHI

TIBERIUS AND GAIUS GRACCHUS

In 133 B.C., a year otherwise made memorable by the final subjugation of Spain and the acquisition of Asia, efforts began Rome to remedy some of the disorders which were now seen to be sapping the strength of Roman society. The first persons to undertake the work of reform were the two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The Gracchi belonged to the highest n.o.bility of Rome. Their father had filled a consuls.h.i.+p and a censors.h.i.+p and had celebrated triumphs. Cornelia, their mother, was a daughter of Scipio Africa.n.u.s, the conqueror of Hannibal. A fine type of the Roman matron, she called her boys her ”jewels,” more precious than gold, and brought them up to love their country better than their own lives.

Tiberius, the elder brother, was only thirty years of age when he became a tribune and began his career in Roman politics.

AGRARIAN LAW OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS

Tiberius signalized his election to the tribunate by bringing forward his celebrated agrarian law. He proposed that the public lands of Rome, then largely occupied by wealthy men who alone had the money necessary to work them with cattle and slaves, should be reclaimed by the state, divided into small tracts, and given to the poorer citizens. By getting the people back again on the soil, Tiberius hoped to revive the declining agriculture of Italy.

DEFECTS OF THE AGRARIAN LAW

This agrarian law, though well intentioned, did not go to the root of the real difficulty--foreign compet.i.tion. No legislation could have helped the farming cla.s.s, except import duties to keep out the cheap grain from abroad. But the idle mob at Rome, controlling the a.s.semblies, would never have voted in favor of taxing their food, thus making it more expensive.

At the same time the proposal to take away part of the public domains from its possessors roused a hornet's nest about the reformer's ears. Rich people had occupied the public land for so long that they had come to look upon it as really their own. They would be very sure to oppose such a measure. Poor people, of course, welcomed a scheme which promised to give them farms for nothing. Tiberius even wished to use the public funds to stock the farms of his new peasantry. This would have been a mischievous act of state philanthropy.

FAILURE AND DEATH OF TIBERIUS, 133 B.C.

In spite of these defects in his measure, Tiberius urged its pa.s.sage with fiery eloquence. But the great landowners in the Senate got another tribune, devoted to their interests, to place his veto [18] on the proposed legislation. The impatient Tiberius at once took a revolutionary step. Though a magistrate could not legally be removed from office, Tiberius had the offending tribune deposed and dragged from his seat. The law was then pa.s.sed without further opposition. This action of Tiberius placed him clearly in the wrong. The aristocrats threatened to punish him as soon as his term of office was over. To avoid impeachment Tiberius sought reelection to the tribunate for the following year. This, again, was contrary to custom, since no one might hold office for two successive terms. On the day appointed for the election, while voting was in progress, a crowd of angry senators burst into the Forum and killed Tiberius, together with three hundred of his followers. Both sides had now begun to display an utter disregard for law. Force and bloodshed, henceforth, were to help decide political disputes.

GAIUS GRACCHUS BECOMES TRIBUNE, 123 B.C.

Tiberius Gracchus, in his efforts to secure economic reform, had unwittingly provoked a conflict between the Senate and the a.s.semblies. Ten years after his death, his brother, Gaius Gracchus, came to the front.

Gaius quickly made himself a popular leader with the set purpose of remodeling the government of Rome. He found in the tribunate an office from which to work against the Senate. After the death of Tiberius a law had been pa.s.sed permitting a man to hold the position of tribune year after year. Gaius intended to be a sort of perpetual tribune, and to rule the Roman a.s.semblies very much as Pericles had ruled the people at Athens.

[19] One of his first measures was a law permitting the sale of grain from the public storehouses to Roman citizens at about half the market price.

This measure, of course, won over the city mob, but it must be regarded as very unwise. It saddled the treasury with a heavy burden, and later the government had to furnish the grain for nothing. Indiscriminate charity of this sort increased, rather than lessened, the number of paupers.

MEASURES OF GAIUS TO RELIEVE THE POOR

Having won popular support, Gaius was able to secure the additional legislation which he deemed necessary to carry out his brother's work. He reenacted the land laws for the benefit of the peasantry and furnished work for the unemployed by building roads throughout Italy. He also began to establish colonies of poor citizens, both in Italy and in the provinces. This was a wise policy. Had it been allowed to continue, such state-a.s.sisted emigration, by providing the landless poor of Italy with farms abroad, would have relieved the economic distress of the peninsula.

AN EFFORT TO EXTEND ROMAN CITIZENs.h.i.+P

Gaius now came forward with another measure which marked him as an able and prudent statesman. He proposed to bestow the right of voting in the Roman a.s.semblies upon the inhabitants of the Latin colonies. [20] He thought, also, that the Italian allies should be allowed to intermarry with Romans and hold property under the protection of the Roman law. No doubt Gaius believed that the time might come when all the Italian peoples would be citizens of Rome. This time did come, thirty years later, but only after a terrible war that nearly ruined Rome.

FAILURE AND DEATH OF GAIUS, 121 B.C.

The effort by Gaius to extend Roman citizens.h.i.+p cost the reformer all his hard-won popularity. It aroused the jealousy of the selfish city mob, which believed that the entrance of so many new citizens would mean the loss of its privileges. There would not be so many free shows and so much cheap grain. So the people rejected the measure and, turning from their former favorite, failed to reelect him to the tribunate. When Gaius was no longer protected by the sanct.i.ty of the tribune's office, [21] he fell an easy victim to senatorial hatred. Another b.l.o.o.d.y tumult broke out, in which Gaius and three thousand of his followers perished. The consul who quelled the disturbance erected at the head of the Forum a temple to Harmony (_Concordia_).

THE GRACCHI BEGIN THE REVOLUTION

The pathetic career of the Gracchi had much significance in Roman history.

They were the unconscious sponsors of a revolutionary movement which did not end until the republic had come under the rule of one man. They failed because they put their trust in the support of the Roman mob. Future agitators were to appear with the legionaries at their heels.

61. MARIUS AND SULLA