In 133 B.C., a year otherwise made memorable by the final
subjugation of Spain and the acquisition of Asia, efforts began Rome to remedy
some of the disorders which were now seen to be sapping the strength of Roman
society. The first persons to undertake the work of reform were the two
brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The Gracchi belonged to the highest
nobility of Rome. Their father had filled a consulship and a censorship and had
celebrated triumphs. Cornelia, their mother, was a daughter of Scipio
Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. A fine type of the Roman matron, she
called her boys her "jewels," more precious than gold, and brought
them up to love their country better than their own lives. Tiberius, the elder
brother, was only thirty years of age when he became a tribune and began his
career in Roman politics.
AGRARIAN LAW OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
Tiberius signalized his election to the tribunate by
bringing forward his celebrated agrarian law. He proposed that the public lands
of Rome, then largely occupied by wealthy men who alone had the money necessary
to work them with cattle and slaves, should be reclaimed by the state, divided
into small tracts, and given to the poorer citizens. By getting the people back
again on the soil, Tiberius hoped to revive the declining agriculture of Italy.
