History
9/18/17
RPC (Ron Paul Curriculum)
CB
Lesson 45 - Week 9 Review
xx This essay has some violence that might be scary for younger readers
Writing assignment:
Answer one of the following questions.
1. What specific changes occurred in Roman society as a result of the Struggle of the Orders?
2. Why did Tiberius Gracchus attract so much suspicion from the Roman Senate?
(Question 2) Tiberius Gracchus ended up attracting a lot of attention to himself from the Roman Senate because of his “radical” way of doing things. Such as undermining the Senate’s role, being above the usual norms, and laws, to pursue his own purposes. Whether his motives were good or bad, Gracchus' main goal was his land reform bill. He thought if more people were landowners, more people could serve in the military, and this would solve the problem of homeless vets. What he wanted to do in his bill was distribute the land to these landless veterans, taking care of them. They had come back to their land and it was ruined after many years of being untended (they were at war so the land was abandoned for a long time). And so, after selling the land they had no jobs. The soldiers flocked to the city for jobs, but the slaves had all the jobs there. Even if one of the veterans were to be employed in the city, they'd be paid low. (Slaves get paid nothing so they wouldn't want to have to pay someone to work). They could not simply be soldiers again because they didn't own land, leaving them unemployed and homeless.
Gracchus tried to bring back an old principle. Excess land held by citizens must be returned. (Excess as in more than they really needed.) At first, he had some support in the Senate but not all the support. This is why he decides to violate tradition. (And he later continues on this pattern). People had different ways of viewing him. Some, saw him as a popular reformer seeking good for the impoverished. Others, saw him as a radical with a disrespect for Roman tradition. A man who just wanted to build up his name and, in turn, make people resent the Senate so he could build up his political agenda. They were right (at least) about him not regarding the Roman tradition as important. I say this because he decided to bypass the Senate completely and took his proposal straight to the Concilium Plebis (The Popular Assembly). The bill ended up passing but the Roman Senate refused to fund Gracchus’ land commission. Tiberius was obviously trying to follow his own path without the government and this strikes a nerve. They dislike Gracchus more so than disliking bill. The King of Pergamum has no heirs so he bequeaths his kingdom to Rome. That's lucky for Tiberius. Now the tax revenues from this new land Rome has will fund his project. But this action steps on the Senates’ power as well. They have control of finances and foreign affairs. Senate doesn't like this.
Drama then ensues, Marcus Octavius is swayed by the Senate to veto Tiberius’s bill. Tiberius (once again) takes action and urges for Octavius's resignation. And then he furthers this motion by holding a vote with the Assembly of Tribes on getting Octavius out. This is a rebellion on them, working together with your coworkers as a consul is tradition. If you're a tribute you work with the other tributes. He needs 18 votes, 17 are cast in favor of taking him out. Tiberius halts the proceedings for the last moment and pleads with Octavius to just resign on his own terms so he won’t have to go through with this. Octavius didn’t comply so they voted him out. Some freedmen had to drag him away from his post. It was a sad sight, Pluchard describes (not a direct quote).
He takes yet another blow at tradition and decides to run for re-election as tribune. This further raises the Senates emotions about Gracchus. He does this to ensure the success of his bill (the Land Reform) he has real dedication to it. At this point, the Senate believes that he treats Roman tradition with contempt and disrespect. And this has further led them to the conclusion that Tiberius cannot be trusted. All of his backward ways, turning people against the Senate and such, they thought. And so they end up doing something drastic about all this.
At a political rally, Tiberius senses he isn't safe. He makes a signal of putting his hand on his head to silently tell his supporters he senses danger. (A stress signal). The Senate takes this sign the wrong way and thinks he’s asking for a crown. The Senate was affronted. They had had enough! In a fit of rage, they grab the legs of some broken benches and rush to Tiberius. They begin to smite his supporters. It was a bloodbath. Tiberius turned to run off but someone caught hold of his robes. So he let his toga go and ran in his tunic. Unfortunately, he tripped and fell on some bodies in front of him. His efforts were in vain. As he was getting up, he got his first blow from a colleague with the snapped leg of a bench. The second blow was by Lucius R. (another colleague). Over 300 more supporters were beaten down with sticks and stones. Obviously, democracy was not very civil back then (in Rome at least) and political corruptness was out in the open much more. In this particular case, anarchy won. Tiberius went along with a reckless abandonment to the laws and social structure. This led to his inevitable death. Whether the accusing motives were true or not we can’t be sure. We can be sure it left a mess. The bill did end up getting passed and doing good for the vets, a successful fight in that respect. The Roman Senate ultimately wanted to be in charge. They didn’t want “vagabonds”(as they deemed Gracchus) messing up their system, and interfering with their power. Politics is not often an easy game and not everyone will end up happy with the end result.
Politicians against the grain and you get suspicion from the government. Go figure.
xx Essays up on Fridays
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