τῶν δὲ νόμων οὓς εἰσέφερε τῷ δήμῳ χαριζόμενος καὶ καταλύων τὴν σύγκλητον, ὁ μὲν ἦν κληρουχικὸς ἀνανέμων τοῖς πένησι τὴν δημοσίαν, ὁ δὲ στρατιωτικός ἐσθῆτά τε κελεύων δημοσίᾳ χορηγεῖσθαι καὶ μηδὲν εἰς τοῦτο τῆς μισθοφορᾶς ὑφαιρεῖσθαι τῶν στρατευομένων, καὶ νεώτερον ἐτῶν ἑπτακαίδεκα μὴ καταλέγεσθαι στρατιώτην δὲ συμμαχικός ἰσοψήφους ποιῶν τοῖς πολίταις τοὺς Ἰταλιώτας.
Of the laws which he proposed by way of gratifying the people and overthrowing the senate, one was agrarian, and divided the public land among the poor citizens; another was military, and ordained that clothing should be furnished to the soldiers at the public cost, that nothing should be deducted from their pay to meet this charge, and that no one under seventeen should be enrolled as a soldier; another concerned the allies, and gave the Italians equal suffrage rights with Roman citizens;
ὁ δὲ σιτικός ἐπευωνίζων τοῖς πένησι τὴν ἀγοράν. ὁ δὲ δικαστικός, ᾧ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀπέκοψε τῆς τῶν συγκλητικῶν δυνάμεως, μόνοι γὰρ ἔκρινον τὰς δίκας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φοβεροὶ τῷ τε δήμῳ καὶ τοῖς ἱππεῦσιν ἦσαν, ὁ δὲ τριακοσίους τῶν ἱππέων προσκατέλεξεν αὐτοῖς οὖσι τριακοσίοις, καὶ τὰς κρίσεις κοινὰς τῶν ἑξακοσίων ἐποίησε.
another related to the supplies of grain, and lowered the market price to the poor; and another dealt with the appointment of judges. This last law most of all curtailed the power of the senators; for they alone could serve as judges in criminal cases, and this privilege made them formidable both to the common people and to the equestrian order The law of Gracchus, however, added to the membership of the senate, which was three hundred, three hundred men from the equestrian order, and made service as judges a prerogative of the whole six hundred.
τοῦτον τὸν νόμον εἰσφέρων τά τε ἄλλα λέγεται σπουδάσαι διαφερόντως, καὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πάντων δημαγωγῶν πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον ἀφορώντων καὶ τὸ καλούμενον κομίτιον, πρῶτος τότε στραφεὶς ἔξω πρὸς τὴν ἀγορὰν δημηγορῆσαι, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὕτω ποιεῖν ἐξ ἐκείνου, μικρᾷ παρεγκλίσει καὶ μεταθέσει σχήματος μέγα πρᾶγμα κινήσας καὶ μετενεγκὼν τρόπον τινὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐκ τῆς ἀριστοκρατίας εἰς τὴν δημοκρατίαν, ὡς τῶν πολλῶν δέον, οὐ τῆς βουλῆς, στοχάζεσθαι τοὺς λέγοντας.
In his efforts to carry this law Caius is said to have shown remarkable earnestness in many ways, and especially in this, that whereas all popular orators before him had turned their faces towards the senate and that part of the forum called the comitium, he now set a new example by turning towards the other part of the forum as he harangued the people, and continued to do this from that time on, thus by a slight deviation and change of attitude stirring up a great question, and to a certain extent changing the constitution from an aristocratic to a democratic form; for his implication was that speakers ought to address themselves to the people, and not to the senate.
ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἐδέξατο τὸν νόμον τοῦτον ὁ δῆμος, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνῳ τοὺς κρίνοντας ἐκ τῶν ἱππέων ἔδωκε καταλέξαι, μοναρχική τις ἰσχὺς ἐγεγόνει περὶ αὐτόν, ὥστε καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον ἀνέχεσθαι συμβουλεύοντος αὐτοῦ. συνεβούλευε δὲ ἀεί τι τῶν ἐκείνῃ πρεπόντων εἰσηγούμενος·
The people not only adopted this law, but also entrusted to its author the selection of the judges who were to come from the equestrian order, so that he found himself invested with something like monarchical power, and even the senate consented to follow his counsel. But when he counselled them, it was always in support of measures befitting their body;
οἷον ἦν καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ σίτου δόγμα μετριώτατον καὶ κάλλιστον, ὃν ἔπεμψε μὲν ἐξ Ἰβηρίας Φάβιος ἀντιστράτηγος, ἐκεῖνος δʼ ἔπεισε τὴν βουλὴν ἀποδομένην τὸν σῖτον ἀναπέμψαι ταῖς πόλεσι τὸ ἀργύριον, καὶ προσεπαιτιάσασθαι τὸν Φάβιον ὡς ἐπαχθῆ καὶ ἀφόρητον ποιοῦντα τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐφʼ ᾧ μεγάλην ἔσχε δόξαν μετὰ εὐνοίας ἐν ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις.
as, for instance, the very equitable and honourable decree concerning the grain which Fabius the pro-praetor sent to the city from Spain. Caius induced the Senate to sell the grain and send the money back to the cities of Spain, and further, to censure Fabius for making his government of the province intolerably burdensome to its inhabitants. This decree brought Caius great reputation as well as popularity in the provinces.
ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ πόλεις ἀποικίδας ἐκπέμπεσθαι καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς ποιεῖσθαι καὶ κατασκευάζεσθαι σιτοβόλια, τούτοις ἅπασι πραττομένοις αὑτὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ διοικητὴν ἐφιστάς, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἀποτρυόμενος τῶν τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ θαυμαστῷ τινι τάχει καὶ πόνῳ τῶν γινομένων ὡς μόνον ἕκαστον ἐξεργαζόμενος, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς πάνυ μισοῦντας αὑτὸν καὶ δεδοικότας ἐκπλήττεσθαι τὸ διὰ πάντων ἀνύσιμον καὶ τελεσιουργόν.
He also introduced bills for sending out colonies, for constructing roads, and for establishing public granaries, making himself director and manager of all these undertakings, and showing no weariness in the execution of all these different and great enterprises; nay, he actually carried out each one of them with an astonishing speed and power of application, as if it were his sole business, so that even those who greatly hated and feared him were struck with amazement at the powers of achievement and accomplishment which marked all that he did.
οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ καὶ τὴν ὄψιν αὐτὴν ἐθαύμαζον, ἐξηρτημένον ὁρῶντες αὐτοῦ πλῆθος ἐργολάβων, τεχνιτῶν, πρεσβευτῶν, ἀρχόντων, στρατιωτῶν, φιλολόγων, οἷς πᾶσιν ἐντυγχάνων μετὰ εὐκολίας καὶ τὸ σεμνὸν ἐν τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ διαφυλάττων, καὶ νέμων αὐτοῦ τὸ ἁρμόττον οἰκείως ἑκάστῳ, χαλεποὺς ἀπεδείκνυε συκοφάντας τοὺς φοβερὸν αὑτὸν ἢ φορτικὸν ὅλως ἢ βίαιον ἀποκαλοῦντας. οὕτω δεινότερος ἦν ἐν ταῖς ὁμιλίαις καὶ ταῖς πράξεσιν ἢ τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος λόγοις δημαγωγός.
And as for the multitude, they were astonished at the very sight, when they beheld him closely attended by a throng of contractors, artificers, ambassadors, magistrates, soldiers, and literary men, with all of whom he was on easy terms, preserving his dignity while showing kindliness, and rendering properly to every man the courtesy which was due from him, whereby he set in the light of malignant slanderers those who stigmatised him as threatening or utterly arrogant or violent. Thus he was a more skilful popular leader in his private intercourse with men and in his business transactions than in his speeches from the rostra.
ἐσπούδασε δὲ μάλιστα περὶ τὴν ὁδοποιΐαν, τῆς τε χρείας ἅμα καὶ τοῦ πρὸς χάριν καὶ κάλλος ἐπιμεληθείς, εὐθεῖαι γὰρ ἤγοντο διὰ τῶν χωρίων ἀτρεμεῖς, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐστόρνυτο πέτρᾳ ξεστῇ, τὸ ἄμμου χώμασι νακτῆς ἐπυκνοῦτο. πιμπλαμένων δὲ τῶν κοίλων καὶ ζευγνυμένων γεφύραις ὅσα χείμαρροι διέκοπτον ἢ φάραγγες, ὕψος τε τῶν ἑκατέρωθεν ἴσον καὶ παράλληλον λαμβανόντων, ὁμαλὴν καὶ καλὴν ὄψιν εἶχε διʼ ὅλου τὸ ἔργον.
But he busied himself most earnestly with the construction of roads, laying stress upon utility, as well as upon that which conduced to grace and beauty. For his roads were carried straight through the country without deviation, and had pavements of quarried stone, and substructures of tight-rammed masses of sand. Depressions were filled up, all intersecting torrents or ravines were bridged over, and both sides of the roads were of equal and corresponding height, so that the work had everywhere an even and beautiful appearance.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις διαμετρήσας κατὰ μίλιον ὁδὸν πᾶσαν τὸ δὲ μίλιον ὀκτὼ σταδίων ὀλίγον ἀποδεῖ κίονας λιθίνους σημεῖα τοῦ μέτρου κατέστησεν. ἄλλους δὲ λίθους ἔλαττον ἀπέχοντας ἀλλήλων ἑκατέρωθεν τῆς ὁδοῦ διέθηκεν, ὡς εἴη ῥᾳδίως τοῖς ἵππους ἔχουσιν ἐπιβαίνειν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἀναβολέως μὴ δεομένοις.
In addition to all this, he measured off every road by miles (the Roman mile falls a little short of eight furlongs) and planted stone pillars in the ground to mark the distances. Other stones, too, he placed at smaller intervals from one another on both sides of the road, in order that equestrians might be able to mount their horses from them and have no need of assistance.
Cite This Text