Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (154–121 BC) was a Roman Popularis politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. His election to the office of tribune in the years 123 BC and 122 BC and reformative policies while in office prompted a constitutional crisis and his death at the hands of the Roman Senate in 121 BC.

Gaius Gracchus was born into a family who had a strong tradition in the politics of ancient Rome. His father, Tiberius Gracchus the Elder, was a powerful man in Roman politics throughout the 2nd century BC and had built up a large and powerful clientele largely based in Spain. His mother was Cornelia Africana, daughter of Scipio Africanus, a noble woman who was a major influence on the Gracchi; as a widow, she refused the marriage proposal of Ptolemy VIII, the King of Egypt, preferring to devote her life to the upbringing of her sons.

The family was attached to the Claudii faction in Roman politics despite his mother's background. It can be supposed, however, that both the Gracchi brothers would have come into contact with powerful members of both the Claudii and Cornelii Scipiones factions.

Gaius Gracchus was the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus, by about nine years. He was heavily influenced both by the reformative policy of his older brother, and by his death at the hands of a senatorial mob. Plutarch suggests that it was "the grief he had suffered [that] encouraged him to speak out fearlessly, whenever he lamented the fate of his brother." Certainly aspects of his reforms, and especially his judicial reforms, seem to have been directed at the people responsible for his brother's death.

Gaius's political career began in 133 BC, when he served with Tiberius's land-commission. In 126 BC, he became a quaestor in the Roman province of Sardinia, where his merits advanced his good reputation. During his quaestorship, he honed his skills in oratory.

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