Tiberius Gracchus - Tiberius' Death

Tiberius' Death

Tiberius Gracchus' overruling of the tribunician veto was considered illegal, and his opponents were determined to prosecute him at the end of his one year term, since he was regarded as having violated the constitution and having used force against a tribune. In one standoff between Tiberius and Titus Annius, a renowned orator, Annius argued that if a colleague of Tiberius stood to defend him and Tiberius disapproved, he would simply in a passion physically remove the man. Tiberius realized that his actions against Octavius had won him ill repute among the Senate and even among the People.

After the death of a friend of Tiberius, rumors circulated that the man had been poisoned. Seizing the opportunity to win sympathy with the People, Tiberius dressed in mourning clothes and paraded his children in front of the Assembly, pleading for the protection of him and his kin. He sought to repair the perception of his error against Octavius by arguing that the office of the tribune, a sacrosanct position, could be acted upon if the holder violated his oath. To support this he posited that other sacrosanct office holders were seized when they violated their duties, such as Vestal Virgins or the Roman kings, done so the state would benefit from their removal. To protect himself further, Tiberius Gracchus won re-election to the tribunate in 133 BC, promising to shorten the term of military service, abolish the exclusive right of senators to act as jurors and include other social classes, and admit allies to Roman citizenship, all moves popular with the Assembly. Tiberius continued to plead with the People, lamenting that he feared for his safety and that of his family, and moved them so much that many camped outside his house to ensure his protection.

When the People assembled on the Capitol, Tiberius set out, despite many inauspicious omens. While the tribes were being assembled, a skirmish broke out on the outskirts of the crowd as Tiberius' supporters were attempting to block a group of his opponents from entering into the area to mingle about. A sympathetic senator, Fulvius Flaccus, was able to make his way to Tiberius to warn him that the Senate was seated and plotting to kill him, having armed slaves and their men since they could not convince the consul to do the deed. Tiberius' men then armed themselves with clubs and staves, prepared to meet any violence in kind. Tiberius, trying to shout above the din, gestured to his head to signal his life was in danger, but his opponents took this as a sign requesting for a crown and ran back to the Senate to report the signal.

When the Senate heard this, outrage spread among them. Tiberius' cousin, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the newly-elected Pontifex Maximus, saying that Tiberius wished to make himself king, demanded that the consul take action. When he refused, Nasica girded his toga over his head, shouting "Now that the consul has betrayed the state, let every man who wishes to uphold the laws follow me!" and led the senators up towards Tiberius. In the resulting confrontation, Tiberius was beaten to death with clubs and staves made from benches which lay strewn about. His fellow tribune, Publius Satyreius, dealt the first blow to his head. More than 300 supporters, including Tiberius, were slain by stones and staves, but none by sword, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber. Such an act denied them a proper funeral. This, according to Plutarch, was the first outbreak of civil strife in Rome.

Following the massacre, many of Tiberius' supporters were sent into exile without a trial, while others were arrested and executed, including being sewn up in a bag with poisonous vipers. The Senate attempted to mollify the People by allowing the agrarian law to go into effect and a vote to replace Tiberius' place on the commission; the job fell to Publius Crassus, father-in-law of Tiberius' brother Gaius. When threatened with impeachment, Nasica was reassigned to Asia to remove him from the city. The People made no attempt to conceal their hatred of him, accosting him publicly, cursing him and calling him a tyrant. Nasica wandered, despised and outcast, until he died shortly later near Pergamum. Even Scipio Africanus the Younger, who had formerly enjoyed the love of the People, incurred their wrath when he said he disapproved of Tiberius' politics, and was thereafter frequently interrupted when giving speeches, causing him to only lash out more at them.

Later, following the murder of his brother, statues of both were placed throughout the city in prominent locations, where they were worshiped as heroes of the People, sometimes even being sacrificed to as if they were gods.