Philip Matyszak and Joanne Berry

OF THE ROMANS

With 217 illustrations, 135 in color

-<�;- Thames & Hudson HALF-TITLE Bronze bust of (1616). Decius Mus typified the Augustus, formerly Octavian, warrior aristocracy of the early 27-25 BC. Republic, when Roman leaders FRONTISPIECE Fourth-century were expected to command from mosaic of a house on a lake. the front. PREVIOUS PAGE Bust of Lucius OPPOSITE Romulus and Remus Cornelius Sulla, 138-78 BC. being suckled by the wolf, thought BELOW Decius Mus addressing the to be an Etruscan statue of the sth Legions, by Peter Paul Rubens century BC.

© 2008 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

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First published in 2008 in hardcover in the United States of America by Thames & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110 thamesandhudsonusa.com

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2008901001

ISBN 978-o-soo-25144-7

Printed and bound in Singapore by Tien Wah Press (Pte) Ltd 23 I CORN ELlA MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI

Cornelia was the epitome of a perfect Roman materfamilias. Noble by birth and character, she was respected by senators and kings, and adored by the common people of Rome. Her father was Scipio African us, the national hero who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War. For this reason alone she could expect to marry well, but the Cornelians were also one of t1:1e oldest

SPURIUS LIGUSTINUS I CORNELIA 73 clans in Rome, and currently in a period of political ascendancy. As a child

of the Roman aristocracy, her marriage reflected her father's political needs

more than her personal inclinations. Her older sister married a fellow Scipio

called Nasica, a rigid conservative, so Cornelia's marriage embraced a

different constituency in the person of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a pop­

ulares, or, as his enemies would have it, a demagogue. It is said that Scipio

made the betrothal without consulting his wife, who was furious until she

heard that Cornelia's spouse was to be Gracchus, the son-in-law she had been

hoping for. Although Scipio and Gracchus collaborated politically, some his­

torians relate that personal relations between the two were frosty. Gracchus,

however, was a dutiful and loving husband. He and Cornelia had 13 children,

and legend said that Gracchus died by sacrificing himself for Cornelia. The

story was that two snakes were discovered in the children's room. A sooth­

sayer told Gracchus that killing both snakes would destroy the whole family,

as would allowing both snakes to escape. If the female snake were killed, OPPOSITE

Cornelia would die, but Gracchus himself would die if the male snake was Statue of Cornelia and her sons Tiberius (in the toga) and Gaius killed. Gracchus killed the male snake, and died soon afterwards. (nude). This statue is a modern Roman aristocratic girls often married as soon as they were viripotens French recreation of a Classical statue which reAected Cornelia's (capable of intercourse). So a girl in her early teens could wed a man 25 or desire to be known not as the more years her senior, making widowhood highly probable even without an daughter of Scipio African us, but as the mother of the Gracchus ophidian curse. Roman demographics were as lethal with young children as brothers. with elderly husbands- all but three of Cornelia's children died, leaving her BELOW

with Tiberius, her eldest son, his brother Gaius, and a daughter, Sempronia. Gaius Gracchus weeping before his Rejecting offers of remarriage, including one from the ruler of Egypt, father's statue. This mid-1gth century engraving by B. Barloccini Ptolemy, Cornelia threw herself into her children's education. Herself the emphasizes both the tragic failure of daughter of a philhellene, she spoke fluent Greek, and her Latin diction was the Gracchus brothers and the contrast with their father. The older superb. Her letters survived until the time of Cicero, who comments Gracchus was a highly successful politician and soldier, but made no favourably on them. To the mother's formidable abilities were added the ora­ attempt to correct the problems torical tuition of Diophorus of Mytilene and the philosophical talents of which were destroying Rome.

Blossius of Cumae, whom Cornelia engaged as tutors. None doubted that Cornelia's offspring were destined for greatness, least of all Cornelia, who repeatedly reminded her children that she should be remembered not as Cornelia, daughter of

Scipio, but as Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.

Tiberius Gracchus started promisingly. Under the command of his relative, Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus,

Tiberi us was the first man over the walls of Carthage when the

Punic Wars resumed in 149 BC. Aemilianus himself married

74 FROM ITALIANS TO ROMANS

Sempronia, and was to give invaluable help to the family. Tiberius was fight­

ing in Spain, a place where his father had campaigned with great distinction.

At this point, however, the Roman army was trapped and facing extinction

until Tiberi us negotiated a truce. Instead of praising him for saving the army,

however, the Senate arrogantly rejected the treaty, and if Scipio Aemilianus

had not lent his support Tiberius would have been impeached as well. In 133

BC, an avenging army under Scipio wiped out the Spanish. In Rome, a politi­

cally wounded and bitter Tiberius was elected Tr ibune of the Plebs.

As the official champions of the common people, tribunes could both

propose laws and stop them being passed. Tiberius proposed to reinvigorate

Rome's army and peasant stock by giving them land-l and which, perhaps not

coincidentally, many Roman aristocrats had illegally seized for themselves

and which would instead end in the hands of Tiberius' supporters among the

common people. The aristocrats, hardened political in-fighters, at once got

another tribune to block the proposal. With typical Roman stubbornness

Tiberius refused to back down and if one tribune was blocking his proposal,

he in turn would block all other business of the Roman state. He finally broke

the deadlock by controversially having the obstructing tribune deposed from

office. His furious opponents claimed that Tiberius planned to become king

of Rome. On the news that Tiberi us planned to serve another year as tribune,

his uncle Scipio Nasica led a lynch mob that fell on Tiberius' supporters and

slew Tiberius himself. Aemilianus refused to condemn outright the murder of

Oil painting from 1785 entitled Cornelia Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures, by Angelica Kauffman. The concept of enlightened motherhood was popular at this time, and the painter has emphasized her theme by a choice of gentle lighting and pastel colours.

76 FROM ITALIANS TO ROMANS his brother-in-law, and when he died soon afterwards Cornelia's enemies

alleged that she and Sempronia had con pired to poison him. How Cornelia

felt about her son's tribunate is unknown, but she encouraged, or at least

failed to prevent, Gaius from following in his brother's footsteps.

When Gaius became tribune in 124 BC, Cornelia persuaded him not to

persecute the tribune who had opposed Tiberi us, although other enemies were

prosecuted or exiled. Mother and son remained close whilst Gaius passed a frenzy of legislation that helped to change Roman governance from that of an

Italian city-state to suzerain of a Mediterranean empire. Like Tiberius, Gaius rapidly alienated the Roman conservatives with his abrasive style, his support for the non-Roman people of Italy and his passing powers from the

Senate to the equestrians of Rome. Like his brother, Gaius refused to compromise with his aristocratic opponents, and was killed by the Senate amid scenes of civic chaos. Ultimately much of the

Gracchan legacy survived, but the short-sighted selfishness of Rome's elite successfully blocked reforms which might have averted the Italian rebel- lion of 90 BC, and the Senate's own eventual subjugation to the Caesars.

Having outlived both her sons, the grieving

Cornelia withdrew from Rome. Her household in Misenum became a centre of learning and a beacon of Hellenic culture. She continued to be idolized by ordinary Romans, and in her old age was honoured by a statue commemorating her as she had wished- as mother of the Gracchi.

CORN ELlA I RUT ILl US RUFUS 77