Late Roman Republic, Gracchan Reforms (133-121 BC): Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus

Tiberius ¹²Sempronius Gracchus (c.33; fl.137-133 BC)

Tiberius was the son of ¹¹Sempronius Gracchus and Cornelia (1), daughter of ¹⁶Cornelius Africanus. As quaestor in Spain he negotiated peace in 137 BC, which the Senate rejected. Travelling through Italy he was struck by the extent of large estates being worked by slaves, while innumerable peasant farmers had lost their holdings. The insurrection in Sicily in 135 BC must have added to his conviction that something should be done. 

He married Claudia Pulchra and when he was elected tribune in 133 BC he was backed by her father ¹⁸Claudius Pulcher (cos.143 BC), the jurist ⁰²Mucius Scaevola (cos.133 BC), ⁰⁶Licinius Crassus (fl.50; fl.132-130 BC), ¹⁴Fulvius Flaccus (fl.130-121 BC), ⁰⁵Papirius Carbo (fl.131-120 BC) and ⁰⁵Porcius Cato (cos.114 BC).

Without consulting the Senate, Tiberius introduced in the assembly his lex Sempronia agraria, directing the state to repossess any ager publicus in excess of the ancient but long-ignored statutory limit of 500 iugera (≈320 acres) per person (lex Licinia Sextia: 367 BC) and to redistribute the illegally held surplus as small farms to landless citizens; at one stroke reducing the number of slave-worked estates and restoring the pool of peasant farmers for the army. The new holders could not alienate their land and were to pay a small rent.

The majority of the large landowners, who had most to lose by the proposal, were of course the senators and many of them opposed the measure. On the day of the vote the anti-Gracchan faction directed another tribune, Marcus Octavius (1), to veto the motion. 

After failing to persuade his colleague to give up his obstruction, Tiberius called for the assembly to remove Octavius from office as a betrayer of the will of the people. The people voted for the deposition, elected another tribune in his place and the land bill was carried into law. But the deposition of Octavius had cost Tiberius much of his senatorial support, mainly because the veto of the tribunate had previously given the nobility a useful device with which to check the assembly.