Book two, Letter eleven

Part 1 of 2

To Cicero, on Gaius Gracchus

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Dear Cicero,

Before I get started with the letter, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday (for yesterday).  When I told my kids about it, they ran to get party poppers and we all sang a few bars of 'Happy Birthday'.  I wonder if there was a popular birthday song in your time, Cicero...

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Everything in history is connected. The books on my bedside table prove to me that the thoughts and actions of the long dead continue to press their influence upon the future, and that through those of us who study them, their influence is somehow magnified, concentrated. I am not the only one with these books well thumbed and with notes scribbled in the margins. Generations have studied these works, schools have been founded upon the principles of learning described by writers such as yourself, Cicero.

Your success against the Catiline conspiracy was not an isolated event in the history of Rome. The conditions that preceded his rise to power and the societal pressures that made his rebellion possible have their roots reaching generations back before your birth. So I will continue to explore the lives of the Gracchus brothers in an effort to understand what your Consular triumph over Catiline really means.

As I so frequently do, I will draw much of my story from Plutarch's biographies.

Gaius Gracchus was twenty years old when his brother Tiberius was murdered, and it seems as if Gaius had spent his youth in preparation for the moment of his calling. 'He was not inclined to idleness, nor amusements, or pleasures of the table, or in making money, but by developing his powers of oratory' he meant to make himself a force in public life. After the death of his brother, however, he hid himself away for a time, perhaps wishing to avoid the ire of the senate. However, Plutarch mentions you, Cicero, in his biography of Gaius Gracchus. Plutarch-claims-that-you-said-that-Gaius-had-a-dream in which his brother Tiberius appeared to him and said, “Why do you hesitate Gaius? There is no escape. Fate has decreed the same destiny for us both, to live and die in the service of the people.”

It sounds a bit like a joke really - Plutarch said that Cicero said that Tiberius said something to his brother Gaius in a dream....it's not exactly what we'd call verifiable history these days, but between us, Cicero, it'll have to do.

The convoluted political struggles Gaius engaged in are fascinating, but difficult to summarise, so I will mention only a few things. Gaius tried to introduce a law his brother had died trying to introduce. Namely, the inclusion of equal numbers of the Equestrian Order (the land owning, business class) on the juries, on which presently only members of the Senatorial class were permitted. This time, the law was passed, and not only that, but the Senate voted to have Gaius personally select these new jurors for the lists. Gaius also passed laws concerning the founding of new colonies, (which took pressure off the poor, by granting them land in foreign territories), the building of new roads, and the establishment of public granaries. Gaius personally managed each of these projects, and people were generally amazed at the speed and efficiency with which he handled everything.

It seems that for a time Gaius was very popular, and in his dealings with the contractors, business men, workmen, magistrates, soldiers and men of letters he was kind and dignified, courteous and considerate, giving every man that which was his due. Those who slandered Gaius as a tyrant, or a violent man, were silenced by the greatness of his true character as a leader.

It seems that his roads, in particular, were praised for their beauty and usefulness. The roads were planned to run in straight lines across the country, bridging rivers and streams, and wherever the land was sloped, embankments would be built up, and the hillside levelled out on both sides of the road, making the symmetry of the whole project wondrous in appearance. He measured every road in miles, marking the distances with stone pillars, and also set up extra stones on either side of the road, to assist riders in mounting their horses without strain.

Enjoying his popularity with the people, Gaius tried to introduce two new proposals. Firstly, the founding of two new colonies to relieve the pressure of the unemployed urban poor in Rome, and secondly, the granting of citizenship rights to the Italian allies of Rome.

At this time in Rome, only Roman landowners could be soldiers in a Roman legion, and so, the greatest proportion of soldiers serving the military needs of the Roman Republic, came from the allies, both in Italy and further abroad. These subject nations bore the brunt of the military burden of the growing empire, but enjoyed none of the rights of Roman citizens. The Senate knew full well that granting citizenship to the Italian allies would result in significant changes to the established power they enjoyed over their empire, and so opposed this measure. However they had learned from their struggle against Tiberius, and used more cynical, insidious tactics to defeat his younger brother Gaius.

Livius Drusus, a fellow Tribune (a people's representative), was selected by the Senate to oppose Gaius, but instead of outright opposition, Drusus simply outbid Gaius in his efforts to please the people. When Gaius proposed the founding of two colonies, the Senate denied him, but when Drusus proposed the founding of twelve colonies, the Senate approved. When Gaius proposed the granting of lands to the poorest citizens, in return for a modest rent, the Senate accused Gaius of currying favour with the people and playing politics, yet when Drusus proposed the same land grant, but without asking the poor to pay any rent at all, the Senate wholeheartedly approved the proposal. In this way, the Senate made Gaius look like a shabby and ineffectual politician, while Drusus seemed to be the people's champion.

Some time later, the Senate voted in a new Consul, Lucius Opimius, an extreme oligarch (a member of the rich boy's club and opponent of the plebeian mob), who set about immediately repealing many of the laws Gaius had put through, and generally undoing all the good Gaius had achieved for the people.

I think, Cicero, that you might by now see where I am headed with all this talk of the people and their struggles against the senate. The more I read about the world you lived in, about Rome and Italy and the Republic you so fervently defended until your final breath, the more it tars you with the same black stain of corruption and greed that the oligarchy and senate are accused of.

Is this the Republic you so proudly defended? Is this what you fought for? You write of truth and honour and dignity and virtue, but the more I read, the more it seems that those virtues you defended, those dignities you so proudly claimed were your honour to defend, were nothing more than illusions. They were the double-speak (to use Orwell's term) of the establishment, used to confuse, confound and ultimately defeat the efforts of the poor and disenfranchised to gain ground in a civil rights movement and to establish democratic reform.

But the story of Gaius doesn't end there. Things got worse, didn't they?

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