Editing Gracchi brothers (section)

=== Tiberius ===
{{further|Tiberius Gracchus}}

Views on Gracchus' motives differ. Favourable ancient sources attribute his reforms to spirited advocacy for the poor. Less favourable ancient sources, such as [[Cicero]], instead attribute his actions to an attempt to win back {{lang|la|dignitas}} and standing after the embarrassing treaty he was forced to negotiate after defeat in Spain.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=61}} It cannot be doubted that, even if he was a true believer in the need for reform, Tiberius hoped to further his fame and political standing among the elite.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=65}}

==== Agrarian reforms ====
[[File:Gracchan land distributions.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Map of Gracchan land distributions. In red, distributions are attested to by archaeological finds of the boundary stones ({{lang|la|cippi}}). In yellow, {{lang|la|cippi}} are very likely.]]
[[File:Gracchan land commission inscriptions, CIL vol 1 (2nd edn, 1918) p 514.png|thumb|right|upright=1.25|This page in the revised edition of the ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]]'' describes a number of columns documenting the work of Tiberius' land commission and its membership at various times. His brother Gaius and father-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher appear multiple times. ]]
[[File:C. Minucius Augurinus, denarius, 135 BC, RRC 242-1.jpg|thumb|right|Denarius of Gaius Minucius Augurinus, 135&nbsp;BC, depicting the ''columna Minucia'', which itself showed a grain distribution by [[Lucius Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus|Lucius Minucius Augurinus]]. It shows that grain distribution was already a hot topic several years before Tiberius' tribunate. He or his brother Tiberius probably replaced Octavius as tribune in 133.{{sfn|Crawford|1974|pp=273–76}} ]]

The main goal of Tiberius' agrarian proposal was three-fold:
* establish a commission to investigate, survey, and catalogue the land owned by the state,
* limit the amount of public land any one possessor could hold to about 500 {{lang|la|[[Jugerum|jugera]]}}, possibly up to 1,000 {{lang|la|jugera}} for those with two children,{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=230}} and
* privatise all remaining land by distributing it to poor Roman citizens (Italians were excluded).{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=230}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mackay|2009|p=39|ps=. "These clauses apparently make it clear that land was distributed only to Roman citizens and not to the Italian allies", also dismissing Appian's claims to the contrary. }}</ref>

The purpose of the reform was to stimulate population growth and expand the number of people who would meet the property qualifications for service in the Roman army.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|pp=227, 231}} The inclusion of the limit of 500 {{lang|la|jugera}} was for the purpose of painting the law as a return to {{lang|la|[[mos maiorum]]}} and the [[Sextian-Licinian rogations]] so to avoid any charges of novelty.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=231}} Whether the Sextian-Licinian rogations in fact had such a clause is unclear; what mattered to Tiberius and his allies was that they believed it did.<ref>{{harvnb|Roselaar|2010|p=100}} documents scholarly disagreement as to when a 500 jugera maximum was in fact implemented. Suggested dates range from 300–133&nbsp;BC, with the last date implying that no such prior law existed.</ref>

Land distributed was likely done so with a prohibition on alienation and a {{lang|la|vectigal}} (rent). Alienation was prohibited to prevent recipients from simply reselling the land. The {{lang|la|vectigal}} served to allow the land to revert to the state if a citizen walked away from the allotment; reversion would then allow the state to settle someone else on the land.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=235}} The {{lang|la|veteres possessores}} (old possessors) also would receive security of tenure over their lands, up to the 500 or 1,000 {{lang|la|jugera}} limit.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=236}}

Tiberius was supported in his endeavour by likeminded aristocrats who also viewed the perceived problem of rural depopulation seriously – among those in support of the proposal were the consul of 133&nbsp;BC, [[Publius Mucius Scaevola (pontifex maximus)|Publius Mucius Scaevola]], and Scaevola's brother, [[Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus]], – he may have been put up to pass the proposals by those allied statesmen.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=38}} He was also successful in rallying large numbers of rural plebs to Rome to vote in favour of the plan.{{sfnm|Roselaar|2010|1p=224|Lintott|1994b|2p=66|ps=, "Gracchus' proposal brought him enormous public support. A contemporary historian... claimed that he was escorted by not less than 3,000—4,000 men".}} The proposals were likely not appealing to the urban plebs, who would not have had the agricultural skills necessary to capitalise on the programme.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=224}}

He was opposed in the assembly by one of the other tribunes, [[Marcus Octavius]]. There were largely three grounds for opposition: first, the dispossession would harm the ruling classes of both Rome and the Italian allies; second, the law unfairly dispossessed people who had put money into the improvement of the land; third, that dispossession also would unsettle dowries pledged against the land and inheritances made under the assumption tenure was secure.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=40–41}} When the vote arrived and Octavius interposed his tribunician veto, the matter was brought before the senate, but no settlement was reached. Unwilling to back down, Tiberius – unprecedentedly – had the assembly depose Octavius from office and vote the legislation through.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=41–43}}

==== Death ====
Violent opposition to Tiberius' agrarian policy did not come to a head until he moved legislation to use the inheritance of [[Attalus III]] of [[Pergamon]] for the land commission. The ancient sources differ on the question of what Attalus' bequest was to be dedicated: Plutarch claims it was to be used to help land recipients purchase farm equipment; Livy, via epitome, claims that it was to be used to purchase more land for distribution after there turned out to be little land available.<ref>{{harnvb|Roselaar|2010|p=239|ps=, siding, in this instance, with Plutarch's account.}}</ref>

This second proposal infringed on senatorial prerogatives over foreign policy and public finances. Senators also feared that these financial handouts would give Tiberius substantial personal political power.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=240}} Tiberius then announced his intention to stand for re-election; according to Livy, this was illegal, due to a law which forbade holding the same magistracy within ten years.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=68}} The sources allege that Tiberius also announced plans for a significantly more broad set of reforms, but these may be retrojections of his brother Gaius' later-consummated proposals.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=69}} On the day of the election, Tiberius seized the [[Capitoline Hill]], possibly to intimidate the voters; Tiberius' opponents accused him of having kingly aspirations and attempted to induce the consul in the senate to use force to stop his re-election.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=48–49}} The consul refused to act extralegally, but one of the other senators, [[Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio]], found this reply unacceptable and led an impromptu military levy of senators, which included one of Tiberius' colleagues in the plebeian tribunate; with Nasica, who was ''[[pontifex maximus]]'', reenacting an archaic sacrificial ritual, they then stormed the Capitoline and bludgeoned Tiberius and a number of his supporters to death.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=50}}

It was largely constitutional issues which impelled the violent reaction, not the agrarian laws. The reaction was motivated in part by Greek constitutional thought which created a narrative of popular mobilisation leading inexorably to popular tyranny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boren |first=Henry C |date=1961 |title=Tiberius Gracchus: the opposition view |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/292017 |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=358–69 |doi=10.2307/292017 |jstor=292017 |issn=0002-9475 |quote=It appears extremely likely that Nasica and the rest were actually convinced [Tiberius] was aiming at demagogic tyranny. These nobles feared that the deterioration predicted by Polybius was upon them ... the murderers genuinely thought they had saved the state by killing a would-be tyrant ... whose actions were bound to result in the ruin of the republic. }}</ref> Such beliefs were compounded by the recent example of tyranny in Sparta, led by [[Nabis of Sparta|Nabis]], which had come to power with a reform programme of cancelling debts and redistributing lands.{{sfn|Lintott|1994b|p=66}}

==== Effects ====
Tiberius' {{lang|la|lex agraria}} and the commission survived his death. Opposition was to Tiberius' methods rather than his policies; it is likely that most senators agreed with the reform programme in principle.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1p=55|Lintott|1994b|2p=73}} Archaeologists have recovered the commission's boundary stones ({{lang|la|cippi}}), which documenting the three commissioners' activities from 133 to 130&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roselaar |first=Saskia T |date=2009 |title=References to Gracchan activity in the ''liber coloniarum'' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25598462 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=198–214 |doi=10.25162/historia-2009-0009 |jstor=25598462 |s2cid=160264713 |issn=0018-2311}} See also {{CIL|1|642}}; {{CIL|10|289}}.</ref> The boundary locations and descriptions imply the distribution over just a few years of some 3,268 square kilometres of land to Roman citizens, concentrated in southern Italy and benefitting some 15,000 households.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|pp=252–54}}

The {{lang|la|cippi}} largely name Tiberius' younger brother Gaius, [[Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 143 BC)|Appius Claudius Pulcher]], and [[Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus|Publius Licinius Crassus]].{{sfnm|Roselaar|2010|1pp=240–41|Broughton|1951|2p=495}} Tiberius appointed himself to the commission, but after his death, Crassus was elected in his place.{{sfn|Broughton|1951|p=495}} After the natural deaths of Appius Claudius and Crassus by 130&nbsp;BC, [[Marcus Fulvius Flaccus (consul 125 BC)|Marcus Fulvius Flaccus]] and [[Gaius Papirius Carbo (consul 120 BC)|Gaius Papirius Carbo]] were elected in their place.{{sfn|Broughton|1951|p=503}}

Because one of the commission's goals was in reasserting Roman claims to land which by that time had long been occupied by the Italian allies, the allies started to complain of unfairness and inaccurate rushed surveying.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|pp=240–41}} In 129, those complaints were heard by the senate, who also took the opportunity to limit the agrarian commission's powers.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=240}} [[Scipio Aemilianus]] proposed and received from the senate a decree which assigned the power to determine contested ownership to the consuls. By 129&nbsp;BC, the commission had over some three years already distributed all the available uncontested land. Archaeological finds of Gracchan {{lang|la|cippi}} largely stop after 129&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Roselaar|2010|p=241}}