Plutarch, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, Tiberius.1

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[1] ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν πρώτην ἱστορίαν ἀποδεδωκότες ἔχομεν οὐκ ἐλάττονα πάθη τούτων ἐν τῇ Ῥωμαϊκῇ συζυγίᾳ θεωρῆσαι, τὸν Τιβερίου καὶ Γαΐου βίον ἀντιπαραβάλλοντες. οὗτοι Τιβερίου Γράγχου παῖδες ἦσαν, ᾧ τιμητῇ τε Ῥωμαίων γενομένῳ καὶ δὶς ὑπατεύσαντι καὶ θριάμβους δύο καταγαγόντι λαμπρότερον ἦν τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀξίωμα·

[2] διὸ καὶ τὴν Σκηπίωνος τοῦ καταπολεμήσαντος Ἀννίβαν θυγατέρα Κορνηλίαν, οὐκ ὢν φίλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ διάφορος τῷ ἀνδρὶ γεγονώς, λαβεῖν ἠξιώθη μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτήν. λέγεται δέ ποτε συλλαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης ζεῦγος δρακόντων, τοὺς δὲ μάντεις σκεψαμένους τὸ τέρας ἄμφω μὲν οὐκ ἐᾶν ἀνελεῖν οὐδὲ ἀφεῖναι, περὶ δὲ θατέρου διαιρεῖν, ὡς ὁ μὲν ἄρρην τῷ Τιβερίῳ φέροι θάνατον ἀναιρεθείς, ἡ δὲ θήλεια τῇ Κορνηλίᾳ.

[3] τὸν οὖν Τιβέριον καὶ φιλοῦντα τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῷ προσήκειν ὄντι πρεσβυτέρῳ τελευτᾶν ἡγούμενον ἔτι νέας οὔσης ἐκείνης, τὸν μὲν ἄρρενα κτεῖναι τῶν δρακόντων, ἀφεῖναι δὲ τὴν θήλειαν εἶτα ὕστερον οὐ πολλῷ χρόνῳ τελευτῆσαι, δεκαδύο παῖδας ἐκ τῆς Κορνηλίας αὐτῷ γεγονότας καταλιπόντα.

[4]
Κορνηλία δὲ ἀναλαβοῦσα τοὺς παῖδας καὶ τὸν οἶκον, οὕτω σώφρονα καὶ φιλότεκνον καὶ μεγαλόψυχον αὑτὴν παρέσχεν ὥστε μὴ κακῶς δόξαι βεβουλεῦθαι τὸν Τιβέριον ἀντὶ τοιαύτης γυναικὸς ἀποθανεῖν ἑλόμενον, ἥ γε καὶ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ βασιλέως κοινουμένου τὸ διάδημα καὶ μνωμένου τὸν γάμον αὐτῆς ἠρνήσατο,

[5] καὶ χηρεύουσα τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀπέβαλε παῖδας, μίαν δέ τῶν θυγατέρων, ἢ Σκηπίωνι τῷ νεωτέρῳ συνῴκησε, καὶ δύο υἱοὺς, περὶ ὧν τάδε γέγραπται, Τιβέριον καὶ Γάϊον, διαγενομένους οὕτω φιλοτίμως ἐξέθρεψεν ὥστε πάντων εὐφυεστάτους Ῥωμαίων ὁμολογουμένως γεγονότας πεπαιδεῦσθαι δοκεῖν βέλτιον ἢ πεφυκέναι πρὸς ἀρετήν.

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

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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.1 focus

[1] Now that we have duly finished the first part of our story, we have to contemplate fates no less tragic than those of Agis and Cleomenes in the lives of the Roman couple, Tiberius and Caius, which we set in parallel. They were sons of Tiberius Gracchus, who, although he had been censor at Rome, twice consul, and had celebrated two triumphs, derived his more illustrious dignity from his virtue.

[2] Therefore, after the death¹ of the Scipio who conquered Hannibal, although Tiberius had not been his friend, but actually at variance with him, he was judged worthy to take Scipio’s daughter Cornelia in marriage. We are told, moreover, that he once caught a pair of serpents on his bed, and that the soothsayers, after considering the prodigy, forbade him to kill both serpents or to let both go, but to decide the fate of one or the other of them, declaring also that the male serpent, if killed, would bring death to Tiberius, and the female, to Cornelia.

[3] Tiberius, accordingly, who loved his wife, and thought that since she was still young and he was older it was more fitting that he should die, killed the male serpent, but let the female go. A short time afterwards, as the story goes, he died,² leaving Cornelia with twelve children by him.

[4]
Cornelia took charge of the children and of the estate, and showed herself so discreet, so good a mother, and so magnanimous, that Tiberius was thought to have made no bad decision when he elected to die instead of such a woman. For when Ptolemy³ the king offered to share his crown with her and sought her hand in marriage, she refused him, and remained a widow.

[5] In this state she lost most of her children, but three survived; one daughter, who married Scipio the Younger, and two sons, Tiberius and Caius, whose lives I now write. These sons Cornelia reared with such scrupulous care that although confessedly no other Romans were so well endowed by nature, they were thought to owe their virtues more to education than to nature.

[1] Caius Gracchus, at first, either because he feared his enemies, or because he wished to bring odium upon them, withdrew from the forum and lived quietly by himself, like one who was humbled for the present and for the future intended to live the same inactive life, so that some were actually led to denounce him for disliking and repudiating his brother’s political measures.

[2] And he was also quite a stripling, for he was nine years younger than his brother, and Tiberius was not yet thirty when he died. But as time went on he gradually showed a disposition that was averse to idleness, effeminacy, wine-bibbing, and money-making; and by preparing his oratory to waft him as on swift pinions to public life, he made it clear that he was not going to remain quiet;

[3] and in defending Vettius, a friend of his who was under prosecution, he had the people about him inspired and frantic with sympathetic delight, and made the other orators appear to be no better than children. Once more, therefore, the nobles began to be alarmed, and there was much talk among them about not permitting Caius to be made tribune.

[4]
By accident, however, it happened that the lot fell on him to go to Sardinia as quaestor for Orestes the consul.⁴ This gave pleasure to his enemies, and did not annoy Caius. For he was fond of war, and quite as well trained for military service as for pleading in the courts. Moreover, he still shrank from public life and the rostra, but was unable to resist the calls to this career which came from the people and his friends. He was therefore altogether satisfied with this opportunity of leaving the city.

[5] And yet a strong opinion prevails that he was a demagogue pure and simple, and far more eager than Tiberius to win the favour of the multitude. But this is not the truth; nay, it would appear that he was led by a certain necessity rather than by his own choice to engage in public matters.

[6] And Cicero the orator also relates⁵ that Caius declined all office and had chosen to live a quiet life, but that his brother appeared to him in a dream and addressed him, saying: Why, pray, dost thou hesitate, Caius? There is no escape; one life is fated for us both, and one death as champions of the people.

Plutarch Tiberius and Caius Gracchus Tiberius.1

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