Editing Gracchi brothers (section)

=== Ancient reception ===

There was a positive and a negative tradition related to the Gracchi brothers. Many of the ancient sources are late – there is a lack of contemporary sources – and are coloured by the positive tradition: many scholars believe that Plutarch's biographies of the two men, along with Appian's ''Civil wars'', are largely based on Gaius Gracchus and his supporters' narratives; in this, most of what is known of Tiberius is filtered through his brother's self-presentation. Plutarch's narrative, guided by his literary agenda, "drastically simplifies the [complex] history of this period". On the whole, Appian's narrative is more reliable, but is still marred with significant anachronisms,{{sfn|Santangelo|2007|p=486}} clear inaccuracies, and schematic features – that the agrarian reform eventually fails and that Tiberius and Gaius pursued the same objectives – which emerge from Appian's historiographical agenda.<ref>{{harvnb|Santangelo|2007|p=486}}, citing {{harvnb|Gargola|1997}}.</ref>

Some modern scholars speculate that these Gracchan narratives were transmitted through the centuries to the imperial authors by plays which dramatised the tragedy of their deaths. Two major themes stand out. First, the specifics of Gaius' death are "a dog's breakfast" of varying details and involve a Lucius Vitellius, which was a common name during the republic for traitors (according to legend, the Vitellii were the first to betray the republic to the Tarquins shortly after the [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|expulsion of the kings]]).{{sfn|Beness|Hillard|2001|pp=136–37}} Second, the stress on friendship and betrayal in these last hours is seen as replacing a more anodyne political drama for heightened pathos.{{sfn|Beness|Hillard|2001|pp=137–38}} Other scholars, however, disagree, arguing that the hypothesis of lost tragedies is too speculative and instead credit Plutarch or his sources with the dramatisation of the narrative.{{sfn|Santangelo|2007|p=486}} Regardless, in later generations, the death of the Gracchi became a common rhetorical ''topos'' in Roman oratorical schools.{{sfn|Santangelo|2007|p=488}}

The negative tradition, however, is transmitted through other sources, such as [[Cicero]] and [[Valerius Maximus]]. In these narratives, the Gracchi are painted as seditious tribunes who inaugurated the use of force and intimidation which then required the Roman state to use violence to re-establish order.{{sfn|Pina Polo|2017|p=5}} The confluence of these traditions was common in late republican politics. For example, Cicero modulated his opinions on the Gracchi brothers to meet his audience. Before the senate, he spoke of them negatively and focused on their alleged attempts to take over the republic; before the people, he instead praised their good faith, moral virtues, and quality as orators (especially in comparison to the {{lang|la|popularis}} tribunes of his day).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Robert J |date=1966 |title=Cicero and the Gracchi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936013 |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=97 |pages=291–298 |doi=10.2307/2936013 |jstor=2936013 |issn=0065-9711}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yakobson |first=Alexander |date=2010 |title=Traditional political culture and the people's role in the Roman republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25758311 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=282–302 |doi=10.25162/historia-2010-0017 |jstor=25758311 |s2cid=160215553 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref>