A Lack Of Compromise: Are The Brothers Reformers Or Opportunists?

A Lack of Compromise
What is the significance of the Gracchi movement for Rome’s transition to Empire and for the ability/inability to maintain balance between the optimates and the populares politically? Are the brothers reformers or opportunists? Beard begins her history of the decline of the Republic by citing Sullust’s description of greed as the primary downfall of the Republic; however, violence - “the legacy of Romulus and Remus” (215) also was instrumental. This began with Tiberius Gracchus, a “thoroughly honest and well-meaning man . . . so entirely convinced of the righteousness of his own intentions and the wisdom of his own measures” (Oman, 12) that he resorted unconstitutional and violent measures to pass the reform he wanted.
He then resolved to remedy this by resettling the urban poor onto public land, entirely ignorant of the economic realities that both Beard and Oman point out that led to the situation. An unpopular measure with the optimates, it was passed only after removing his fellow tribune by appealing to the people. In his quest to return to tradition, Tiberius became a radical. In appealing to the people, he set the precedent that would lead to the downfall of the Republic; Tiberius simply ignored the Senate and the rest of the government. His heavy-handed actions further exacerbated the disparity between the optimates and the populares. Additionally, to defend his reform, he attempted to stand for re-election; in doing so, a riot erupted and he was killed. The fratricide that lay at Rome’s founding reappeared and would soon visit
His most famous achievement, subsidized grain, was only one of many initiatives. This made him dangerous in the eyes of many; it was seen as a bid for increased personal power and a radical reordering of the relation between the people and the Senate. Plutarch records how Gaius turned away from the Senate to address the people in a revolutionary break with precedent. In the end, Gaius was killed as he tried to prevent his reforms from being undone; when violence spread, the Senate authorized the consuls to “‘make sure the state should come to no harm’” (SPQR, 232). These dictatorial powers further weakened the Republic as those in power used violence against the opposing faction, further aggravating the balance between the optimates and populares. Gaius, like his brother, was a sincere reformer who thought that the balance of power needed a radical readjustment. This readjustment led to more violence on his death and sparked the Social War a few years