Empires: Rome -Winners and Losers Part Four

Twelve years after Tiberius was clubbed to death in a violent brawl, Gaius in 121 BC, was also killed by assassins allied with the aristocracy. His corpse was decapitated and lead was poured into his skull. Shortly after his brutal murder, three thousand of his followers were executed without a trial. These explosions of civil unrest were the first to see bloodletting on Roman streets since the expulsion of the kings. The grotesque and obscene overreaction showed how great the ruling classes suspicions and fears ran of any would be reformers, who would also help the 'mob'. The Gracchi brothers had raised more concerns than tyranny in the minds of their peers. By taking refuge at the location most sacred to the plebian cause, the Aventine, Gaius's attempt to provoke a class struggle, even though it failed, evoked strong negative reactions in the minds of the nobility. Indeed it was thought by many of them to be a terrifying act of irresponsibility. However, the lead-weighted skull of Gaius Gracchus also provoked a sense of foreboding.

Many in the aristocracy had felt the reprisals against Gaius Gracchus and his followers had gone too far. It didn't take much imagination to see what could be the future if the social norms and conventions of the Republic were trespassed and its foundations crumbled. Perhaps this was a warning more suited to Roman temperments to pay attention to. What was the Republic after all, if not a community bound together by its culture, traditions, precedents and glorious past? To deny this inheritance was to gaze down a chasm that led into Hades. Tyranny or barbarism-these would be the only two outcomes if the Republic were to fall.

A few more things need to be said about the horrific fate of the Gracchi brothers and Rome herself. The tragedy of the brothers has to be looked at through the ideals of the system and society they came from. Roman society bred into its citizens, a hunger for wealth and status. This laid the foundations for a society where competition was so aggressive that it overwhelmed all who had come up against it. However, along with this same hard-driving and cut-throat dynamism, this also provoked paralysis. The brothers had been concerned about their own fame and fortune--they were Romans after all. But they had also had a very genuine desire to improve the lives of their fellow citizens, especially the poor. The fate of the Gracchi had proved, without a doubt, that any attempt to propose or impose very serious and new reforms on the Republic would always be interpreted as tyranny--whether this really was the case or not. Any policy of radical change-no matter how idealistic its origin and inspiration would always disintegrate into internecine rivalries. The idealistic and unfortunate Gracchi brothers put an effective stop to the very reforms which they had died for. The tribunes who came after them would be much more careful in the causes and proposals they championed. Social revolution and real reform in the Republic would be put on permanent hold. I hope to have the next post here either tonight or Thursday, after my 'offline' day to get caught up on research and other things. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!