Plutarch, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, Caius.13

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[1] ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν Ὀπίμιον καταστήσαντες ὕπατον τῶν νόμων πολλοὺς διέγραφον καὶ τὴν Καρχηδόνος ἐκίνουν διάταξιν, ἐρεθίζοντες τὸν Γάϊον, ὡς ἂν αἰτίαν ὀργῆς παρασχὼν ἀναιρεθείη, τὸν μὲν πρῶτον χρόνον ἐκαρτέρει, τῶν δὲ φίλων καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ Φουλβίου παροξύνοντος ὥρμησε πάλιν συνάγειν τοὺς ἀντιταξομένους πρὸς τὸν ὕπατον.

[2] ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὴν μητέρα λέγουσιν αὐτῷ συστασιάσαι, μισθουμένην ἀπὸ τῆς ξένης κρύφα καὶ πέμπουσαν εἰς ʼ Ῥώμην ἄνδρας, ὡς δὴ θεριστάς ταῦτα γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιστολίοις αὐτῆς ᾐνιγμένα γεγράφθαι πρὸς τὸν υἱόν. ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ πάνυ τῆς Κορνηλίας δυσχεραινούσης ταῦτα πράττεσθαι λέγουσιν.

[3]
ἧι δʼ οὖν ἔμελλον ἡμέρᾳ τοὺς νόμους λύσειν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ὀπίμιον, κατείληπτο μὲν ὑπὸ ἀμφοτέρων ἕωθεν εὐθὺς τὸ Καπετώλιον, θύσαντος δὲ τοῦ ὑπάτου τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τις αὐτοῦ Κόιντος Ἀντύλλιος διαφέρων ἑτέρωσε τὰ σπλάγχνα πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Φούλβιον εἶπε· δότε τόπον ἀγαθοῖς, κακοὶ πολῖται. τινὲς δέ φασιν ἅμα τῇ φωνῇ ταύτῃ καὶ τὸν βραχίονα γυμνὸν οἷον ἐφʼ ὕβρει σχηματίζοντα παρενεγκεῖν.

[4] ἀποθνῄσκει γοῦν εὐθὺς ὁ Ἀντύλλιος ἐκεῖ μεγάλοις γραφείοις κεντούμενος, ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τούτῳ πεποιῆσθαι λεγομένοις. καὶ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος διεταράχθη πρὸς τὸν φόνον, ἐναντία δὲ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἔσχε διάθεσις. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Γάιος ἤχθετο καὶ κακῶς ἔλεγε τοὺς περὶ αὑτόν ὡς αἰτίαν δεομένοις πάλαι καθʼ ἑαυτῶν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δεδωκότας, ὁ . δὲ Ὀπίμιος ὥσπερ ἐνδόσιμον λαβὼν ἐπῆρτο καὶ παρώξυνε τὸν δῆμον ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμυναν.

Tiberius and Caius Gracchus. Plutarch. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

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Current edition Perseus

Tιβέριος καὶ Γάιος Γράκχοι (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. X. Perrin, Bernadotte, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921.)

Translations (1)

Tiberius and Caius Gracchus Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. X. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1921.) — Tiberius.13 focus

[1] After this the agrarian law was passed, and three men were chosen or he survey and distribution of the public land, Tiberius himself, Appius Claudius his father-in-law, and Caius Gracchus his brother, who was not at Rome, but was serving under Scipio in the expedition against Numantia.

[2] These measures were carried out by Tiberius quietly and without opposition, and, besides, he procured the election of a tribune in the place of Octavius. The new tribune was not a man of rank or note, but a certain Mucius, a client of Tiberius. The aristocrats, however, who were vexed at these proceedings and feared the growing power of Tiberius, heaped insult upon him in the senate. When he asked for the customary tent at public expense, for his use when dividing up the public land, they would not give it,

[3] although other men had often obtained one or less important purposes; and they fixed his daily allowance for expenses at nine obols.¹ These things were done on motion of Publius Nasica, who surrendered completely to his hatred of Tiberius. For he was a very large holder of public land, and bitterly resented his being forced to give it up.

[4]
But the people were all the more inflamed; and when a friend of Tiberius died suddenly and his body broke out all over with evil spots, they ran in throngs to the man’s funeral, crying out that he had been poisoned to death, and they carried the bier themselves, and stood by at the last ceremonies. And their suspicions of poison were thought to be not without reason.

[5] For the dead body burst open and a great quantity of corrupt humours gushed forth, so that the flame of the funeral pyre was extinguished. And when fresh fire was brought, again the body would not burn, until it was carried to another place, where, after much trouble, the fire at last took hold of it. Upon this, Tiberius, that he might exasperate the multitude still more, put on a garb of mourning, brought his children before the assembly, and begged the people to care for them and their mother, saying that he despaired of his own life.

[1] The enemies of Caius also effected the election of Opimius as consul, and then proceeded to revoke many of the laws which Caius had secured and to meddle with the organization of the colony at Carthage. This was by way of irritating Caius, that he might furnish ground for resentment, and so be got rid of. At first he endured all this patiently, but at last, under the instigations of his friends, and especially of Fulvius, he set out to gather a fresh body of partisans for opposition to the consul.

[2] Here, we are told, his mother also took active part in his seditious measures, by secretly hiring from foreign parts and sending to Rome men who were ostensibly reapers; for to this matter there are said to have been obscure allusions in her letters² to her son. Others, however, say that Cornelia was very much displeased with these activities of her son.

[3]
Be that as it may, on the day when Opimius and his supporters were going to annul the laws, the Capitol had been occupied by both factions since earliest morning, and after the consul had offered sacrifice, one of his servants, Quintus Antyllius, as he was carrying from one place to another the entrails of the victims, said to the partisans of Fulvius: Make way for honest citizens, ye rascals! Some say, too, that along with this speech Antyllius bared his arm and waved it with an insulting gesture.

[4] At any rate he was killed at once and on the spot, stabbed with large writing styles said to have been made for just such a purpose. The multitude were completely confused by the murder, but it produced an opposite state of mind in the leaders of the two factions. Caius was distressed, and upbraided his followers for having given their enemies ground for accusing them which had long been desired; but Opimius, as though he had got something for which he was waiting, was elated, and urged the people on to vengeance.

Plutarch Tiberius and Caius Gracchus Caius.13

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