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Plutarch
75 A.C.E. Tiberius
Gracchus : The land which the Roman’s
conquered was partly sold and partly turned into common land. Laws were made to
prevent the rich driving out the poor. This law restricted the amount of land
someone could own to 500 iugera.
The wealthy disregarded these laws and the poor were no longer able to go to war
or educate their children. This resulted in a significant decrease in the
population of freemen. When Tiberius was elected as tribune he immediately
intended to right this wrong. He may have done this because some learned friends
inspired him, or because his mother wished for him to achieve something great,
or perhaps because he wished to surpass Spurius in fame and influence, by
attempting “a popular enterprise of this difficulty and of such great
consequence.” It may have been Tiberius himself who first thought of what
needed to be done when he saw the situation that existed in the country. However
it was more likely that the people themselves inspired him to do so. He drew up
the law with citizens that were eminent for their virtue and authority. His
support was great, but the rich tried to diminish this by saying that Tiberius
was trying to overthrow the government through his reforms. Octavius disagreed
strongly with Tiberius bill and both were aware that one of them needed to leave
their office. Octavius is almost voted to be disposed, but Tiberius stops the
voting before he can be voted off, saying that he did not want to harm Octavius’
honor and Octavius hesitates swayed but Tiberius to let the bill pass but he
cares more about the rich men and proprietors of the estates and refuses.
Tiberius has him dragged from the rostra and the bill is passed. The great men
of the city were utterly offended. Tiberius then decides to run for a second
term, but does not heed the warning signals of his impending doom and is killed
by the senate, along with the people who try to defend him. Once dead, his body
is disrespected and thrown in the river and his friends exiled and murdered. There is much conflict between sources
over the life of Tiberius, though the general consensus makes up the structure
of his actions. That is Tiberius recognized a need for change to the structure
of Roman socioeconomic system. Then, whether it be for personal reasons or for
the plight of the people, Tiberius went all out in order to achieve the reforms.
Tiberius got his bill passed by bypassing the senate; this is a little hazy in
some of the accounts but all stress strongly that he was elected into the
tribune where he could now pass his bill un obstructed. That was except for Octavius
who vetoed the bill after pressure from the senate. Tiberius decided to run for
tribune for a second year, an act that had never been done before and was deeply
frowned upon by the senators. The senators then assassinated him or he was
killed in a riot. |
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