Republican Reformers and Imperial Idols: The Gracchi and Caesar Augustus

 Guest post by Nick Quaney

In the waning days of the Roman Republic, men or women who exhibited traits of benevolence, shrewdness, and humility were uncommon, if not impossible to find. However, three men come to mind, who oddly enough, were almost one hundred years apart, and yet show similar traits in how they affected people’s lives through their actions. These men are remembered for their impact on Roman society and history and their benefits to the people, though through their actions, they ultimately doomed the Republic and ushered in a new age. The brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, and Caesar Augustus, used their power for the people, to make life better for all Romans.

The brothers Gracchi begin their story with Tiberius, the elder brother. Tiberius began his adult life like many Roman citizens of his time: through the military. After proving himself in many battles, he gained the respect of his superiors as a capable commander and a brilliant negotiator. In one instance, through tactful negotiation, Tiberius saved the entire Roman army from destruction in Spain, securing terms for all Roman soldiers to go home, alive. He used this success to kickstart his political career.[1]

The elder Gracchus returned to Rome, but was reproached by the Senate, who thought it cowardly to negotiate instead of dying with honor.[2] But the lives he saved made him incredibly popular with the masses, who elected him Tribune of the Plebs soon after his return. He used this office to push reforms that benefited the people instead of the wealthy elites of Rome. One major reform was land redistribution. There were many problems and disparities when it came to the land of the Roman Republic. Due to Rome’s constant warring, much land had come under their control. That land was first put up for auction and then the remainder was distributed for public use. This gave an advantage to the wealthy in Rome, who used their riches to buy up land to make vast farms worked by slaves, rather than Romans. Due to long campaigns, citizen soldiers were away from their farms and often went bankrupt while serving the Republic in those wars. The rich capitalized on that bankruptcy, buying up even more land from the middle class.[3] These factors created a deep divide in Roman society, with the rich becoming richer, and the poor being forced out. This is what Tiberius aimed to remedy, to bridge the divide, and create a more equitable society for all Romans.

As tribune, Tiberius drafted the Lex Sempronia Agraria, a land reform that fined those individuals who held more than 500 acres of land and seized any holdings beyond that limit. He also wished to redistribute the seized land to the poor.[4] This redistribution would be carried out by a land commission, headed by himself, his brother Gaius, and his father-in-law.[5] Naturally, the wealthy Senators saw this agrarian proposal as a direct threat to their livelihoods.[6]

However, the proposals of a tribune could be vetoed by another tribune. Marcus Octavius, the other tribune serving with Tiberius, was an ally of the Senate, and he vetoed the reform.[7] Tiberius in turn called for Marcus Octavius’ removal for abusing his office by not listening to his constituency. A special election removed the senatorial sympathizer from power, leaving Tiberius to accomplish his goals. However, this sparked something more, something unexpected, as the Senate did not take kindly to Tiberius ousting a fellow tribune over politics.[8] The Senate called Tiberius’ actions illegal, but since a tribune could not be prosecuted while in office, planned to wait until the next election to charge him for his crimes.[9]

That election never came to pass.

On the day of the election, enemies of Tiberius had gathered in the capitol, ready to stop him at all costs. A friend of Tiberius came to him that day and told him the Senate was planning to kill him. To tell his supporters, Tiberius pointed to his head, gesturing that his enemies intended to take his life. However, the senatorial faction took the gesture as Tiberius calling for a crown, and ran to the Senate to spread the news.[10] When the senators heard this, they grabbed clubs and legs off benches, determined to “save the Republic.” The senatorial mob laid into the pro-Tiberius mob, killing hundreds, until they reached Tiberius.[11] The streets of Rome ran red with blood that day, a testament to how far the Senate would push in the face of opposition. The bodies of Tiberius Gracchus and his supporters were thrown into the Tiber River, without proper burial, the final sign of how the Senate looked upon this voice of the people.[12]

The second Gracchus, Gaius, had a very similar life to his brother. He came to prominence on the agrarian commission his brother created, but after Tiberius’s murder, he tried to slip into private life, away from the walls of Rome. He took an administrative position on the island of Sardinia, where he began to show qualities of his brother.[13] The winter that year was particularly harsh in Sardinia, and the Roman legions did not have enough supplies. Gaius went to the people, pleading for them to help him in this time of need, and give any supplies they could. The people of Sardinia agreed, and the Senate began to fear the rise of another Gracchus.[14]

They tried to keep him on the island, but Gaius returned to Rome, and was elected tribune soon after. He used his power to push for his brother’s goals: agrarian reform. Since Rome experienced famine that year, he instituted a form of grain distribution. The state bought grain and resold it to the people at a loss, so no one would go hungry. This made him extremely popular with the people, which led him down the same path as his brother.[15]

After his time as tribune ended, the Senate attempted to overturn almost everything that Gaius had done, which did not sit well with him, nor the people who overwhelmingly supported his reforms.[16] On the day the Senate was to overturn the legislation, Gaius and his supporters swarmed the streets of Rome, demonstrating on behalf of his political accomplishments.[17] A senatorial faction came to meet them, just as had been done with Tiberius so many years before.[18] This time, though, the Senate sent soldiers.[19] A messenger offered a peaceful negotiation to the Senate, but the Senate demanded that Gaius and his closest allies surrender themselves. When they refused, the soldiers were ordered to fire arrows into the crowd. Just like years before, hundreds were killed, and just like years before, the soldiers reached a Gracchus. The bodies of Gaius Gracchus and his supporters were thrown into the Tiber River, without proper burial, the final sign of how the Senate looked upon this voice of the people.[20]

The tragedy of the Gracchi Brothers showed how fragile the Roman state was when it came to reform, that staunch opposition would stifle any movement aiming to benefit the people in radical ways. But though the Senate had killed them both, one man would come along one hundred years after them, and he would finally bring their populist dreams to reality.

The year is 63 B.C.E., where a young boy by the name of Gaius Octavius, better known as Octavian, is sired by his father of the same name.[21] His early years were wrought with pain, as his father would die when the boy was only four, and his grandmother when he was only twelve.[22] He was then taken under the protection of one Gaius Julius Caesar, a name well known the world over.  He would learn from Caesar many things: how to wage war, how to lead, and how to inspire those around him. At age 18, he was taken on campaign with Caesar, who was astonished at his ability to speak, and his intelligence for a boy so young.[23] However, when the campaign ended, and the pair returned to Rome, tragedy once more followed the boy. In 44 B.C.E., Julius Caesar was assassinated by the Senate, which instilled in Octavian a fire that would stay with him the rest of his life.[24] He hunted the assassins, defeating them in a decisive battle, and split power with his allies.[25] When they turned against him, he defeated them as well, claiming the Republic for himself. This is when Octavian began to come into his own, and show signs of the Gracchi spirit within.[26]

What the Gracchi had died for, Octavian implemented with the wave of his hand.

First, he consolidated all his power by assuming multiple offices simultaneously to weaken senatorial power.[27] He also changed his name to Caesar Augustus, the undisputed ruler of Rome.[28] Secondly, he focused entirely on the populus. He forgave all debts and exonerated anyone of crimes charged before he rose to power, in order to prevent political blackmail.[29] When it came to finances, he was extremely generous, giving out loans with low interest, and even granting largess, or financial gift, to the people.[30] He repaired the aqueduct system, ensuring that no citizen, rich or poor, would ever be thirsty, and in times of famine, he regulated prices to specifically benefit the poor and hungry. He often simply gave out grain for free, so that no citizen would starve.[31] In all these, he remedied the broken system the Gracchi were born into, until his death in 14 C.E., when he was enshrined in history as Rome’s first emperor.[32]

These three men, arguably ahead of their time, undeniably changed Rome. Their characteristics and merit carried them through lives of perseverance, struggling through political opposition, stonewalling, violence, and war. Though the Gracchi met their end in the Tiber, their legacy rippled into that of Caesar Augustus, who carried it into fruition, with their reforms living on into the imperial age. The stories of the Gracchi and Augustus show that voices may be cut off and silenced, but their echoes will always be heard.

 

Written Sources

Plutarch. The Parallel Lives. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. London: Heinemann, 1921.

 https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/home.html.

Shuckburgh, E.S. Augustus Caesar. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1995.

Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. London: Arcturus Holdings, 2020.

Picture Sources

Gaius Gracchus Tribune of the People. Photograph. Wikipedia. Accessed 4 August 2021.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Gaius_Gracchus_Tribune_of_the   _People.jpg

Gracchi. Photograph. Wordpress. Accessed 4 August 2021.

https://pocketrome.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/gracchi.jpg

Statue-Augustus. Photograph. Wikipedia. Accessed 4 August 2021.               

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Statue-            

Augustus.jpg/800px-Statue-Augustus.jpg

Tiberius Gracchus. Photograph. History Cooperative. Accessed 4 August 2021.

https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/w_924+h_518+q_lossy+ret_img+to_webp/https://historycoo                perative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Tiberius-Gracchus.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

---

[1] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (London: Heinemann, 1921), 155-157.

 https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/home.html.

[2] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 159.

[3] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 161-163.

[4] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 161, 165.

[5] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 175.

[6] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives,165.

[7] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 167.

[8] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 171-175.

[9] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 183.

[10] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 189-191.

[11] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 191.

[12] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 193.

[13] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 201.

[14] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 203.

[15] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 209.

[16] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 227.

[17] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 229-231.

[18] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 235.

[19] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 231.

[20] Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, 235-237.

[21] Shuckburgh, E.S., Augustus Caesar, (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1995), 1.

[22] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, (London: Arcturus Holdings, 2020), 61.

[23] Shuckburgh, E.S., Augustus Caesar, 11-13.

[24] Shuckburgh, E.S., Augustus Caesar, 15.

[25] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 62, 64.

[26] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 66-67.

[27] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 72-74.

[28] Shuckburgh, E.S., Augustus Caesar, 149.

[29] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 78.

[30] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 83.

[31] Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 84.

[32] Shuckburgh, E.S., Augustus Caesar, 258.