A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

294 GRACCHUS. GRACCIIUS.
Dion Cass. Franma. Peir. 86-88; Oros. v. 8, the enemy, just towards his inferiors, punctual in
&c.; Aur. Vict. de Vir. Illustr. 57; and the pas- the discharge of his duties, and in temperance and
sages of Cicero which are collected in Orelli's Ono- frugality he excelled even his elders. His popumasticon, vol. ii. p. 531, &c.; comp. F. D. Gerlach, larity in the province is attested by two occurrences.
Tib. und C. Gracchus, pp. 1-30; Meyer, Fragm. As the winter in Sardinia had been very severe
Orat. Rom. p. 215, &c. 2d edit.; Ahrens, Die drei and unhealthy, and as the soldiers were suffering
Volkstribunen Tib. Gracchus, Drusus und Sulpicilus; in consequence, the consul demanded clothing for
Niebuhr, Lectures on Rom. Hist. vol. i. p. 223, &c., his men from the allied towns of the island. The
ed. Schmitz.) towns sent a petition against this demand to the
8. C. SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, the brother of senate at Rome, which thereupon directed the conNo. 7, and son of No. 6, was, according to Pln- sul to get what he wanted by other means. But
tarch, nine years younger than his brother Tiberius, as he was unable to do this, Caius went round to
but he enjoyed the same careful education. He the towns, and prevailed upon them voluntarily to
was unquestionably a man of greater power and supply the army with clothing and other necessatalent than his brother, and had also more oppor- ries. About the same time ambassadors of king
tunity for displaying his abilities; for, while the Micipsa arrived at Rome to inform the senate, that
career of Tiberius lasted scarcely seven months, out of regard for C. Gracchus, the king would send
that of Caius extends over a series of years. a supply of corn for the Roman army in Sardinia.
At the time of his brother's murder, in B. c. 133, These proofs of the great popularity and reputation
Caius was in Spain, where he received his first of Caius were the cause of fresh fear and uneasiness
military training in the army of P. Scipio Africa- to the optimates. He had now been absent in
nus, who, although his wife was the sister of the Sardinia for two years, and his return was dreaded.
Gracchi, exclaimed, on receiving the intelligence of In order to prevent this, fresh troops were sent to
the murder of Tiberius, " So perish all who do the Sardinia to replace the old ones; and Orestes was
like again! " It was probably in the year after his ordered to remain in the island, it being intended
brother's murder, B. C. 132, that Caius returned by this measure to keep Caius there also, on acwith Scipio from Spain. The calamity which had count of his office. But he saw through their
befallen his brother had unnerved him, and an scheme, and thwarted it. It appears thatduringthe
inner voice dissuaded him from taking any part in latter period of his stay in Sardinia he had altered
public affairs. The first time that he spoke in his mind, and that his vocation had become clear
public was on behalf of his friend Vettius, who was to him. It is reported that the shade of his brother
under persecution, and whom he defended. On appeared to him in his dreams, and said, "Caius,
that occasion he is said to have surpassed all the why dost thou linger? There is no escape, thou
other Roman orators. The people looked forward must die, like myself, in defending the rights of the
with great anticipations to his future career, but people." It is attested by Cicero and Plutarch
the aristocracy watched him with jealousy, seeing that Caius was not a demagogue, and that he was
that he promised greater talent, energy, and passion drawn into his political career by a sort of fatality
than his brother, in whose footsteps it was pre- or necessity rather than by his own free will, and
sumed that he would follow. In B. c. 13], C. Pa- that had it not been for the exhortation of his
pirius Carbo, a friend of the Gracchi, brought brother's shade, he would never have sought any
forward a bill to enable a person to hold the office public office. But when he heard the call of
of tribune for two or more consecutive years. C. Tiberius, and was at the same time informed of
Gracchus supported the bill, but it was rejected. the command issued by the senate respecting AuThe speech he delivered on that occasion appears relius Orestes, he at once embarked, and appeared
again to have made a deep impression upon both at Rome, to the surprise of all parties. The optiparties; but after this time Caius obeyed the mates were enraged at this conduct, and even his
calling of his inner voice, and for a number of years friends thought it a strange thing for a quaestor to
kept altogether aloof from public affairs. During quit the camp without a special leave of absence.
that period it was even rumoured that he disapproved He was taken to account before the censors, but he
of his brother's measures. Some circumstance or defended himself so ably, and proved so clearly
other, of which, however, we have no distinct that he had not violated any law or custom, that
record, seems again to have excited the fears of the he was declared perfectly innocent. But his eneoptimates, and plans were devised for preventing mies, bent as they were upon destroying all his inCaius from obtaining the tribuneship. It is not fluence, annoyed him with various other accusations,
impossible that this fear of the aristocracy may one of which was, that he had participated in the
have been excited by Caius's speech against M. recent revolt of Fregellae. These prosecutions,
Pennus, which at any rate must have been de- however, were nothing but foul and ill-devised
livered shortly before his quaestorship, B. c. 126. schemes to deprive Gracchus of the popular favour:
(Cic. Brut. 28; Fest. s. v. respublicas.) Chance none of the charges was substantiated by evidence,
seemed to favour the schemes of the optimates, for and all of them only served to place his innocence
in B. c. 126 the lot fell upon C. Gracchus to go in a more conspicuouslight. C. Gracchus, who was
as quaestor to Sardinia, under the consul L.Aurelius thus irritated and provoked by acts of glaring inOrestes; and since he was fond of military life, for justice, encouraged by the desire of the people to
which he was as well qualified and disciplined as come forward as their patron,. filled with confidence
for speaking in public, he was pleased with the in his own powers and in the justice of the people's
opportunity of leaving Rome. demands, and, above all, stimulated by the manes
For a time Caius was thus removed from the of his murdered brother, at once determined to bejealous and envious eyes of the nobles, but in his come a candidate for the tribuneship, and to carry
province he soon attracted the greatest attention; out the. plans of his brother. When his mother
he gained. the approbation of his superiors and the heard of this. resolution, she implored him in the
attachment of the soldiers. He was brave against most moving terms to desist from his scheme, and